Coffee, Coffee Arabia, is native to tropical Africa and is in the same family as the gardenia. The first coffee seedlings in Hawaii were brought to Oahu in 1813. The first known coffee planted in Kona was in 1828 by the Rev. Samuel Ruggles. Guatemalan coffee, the variety most commonly now grown in Kona, was introduced in 1892 by Herman A. Widemann, who at one time was minister of finance under Queen Liliuokalani.
Coffee was eventually planted on all the major islands and reached a peak of 13,947 acres statewide in 1898. By 1920, virtually all of the commercially-grown coffee was in Kona. Growers who couldn’t care for their large acreage subdivided their fields into 5 acre plots. They leased them to former plantation laborers who had completed their sugar contracts and come to Kona looking for independence through farming. Most of the current 600 current Kona coffee growers farm part-time or grow other crops in addition to coffee.
SUPERIOR QUALITY: Kona coffee has been defined as “mildly acid, with a striking character”. In the coffee trade “acid means sharp and pleasing to the taste. Rather than referring to an amount of actual acid, it describes a coffee that is smooth and rich. Kona coffee has developed a regional identity and is marketed as a high quality, gourmet coffee from Hawaii. The Nearly ideal coffee growing climate of Kona , and the years experience of among growers in the culture of the trees and handling of the crop combine to produce the distinctive aroma and flavor of Kona coffee.
KONA’S FAVORABLE COFFEE GROWING CLIMATE: The coffee belt, a strip of land in Kona approximately two miles wide, between 700 and 2000 feet elevation, and running almost parallel to the coast, is ideal for growing coffee. The porous, volcanic soil provides the excellent drainage important for coffee growing. Another element that makes the district optimal is the combination of morning sun with afternoon sun with afternoon cloud cover and rainfall.
The climate throughout the year, as well as the daily conditions, is exceptionally favorable to the production of high quality coffee. The weather in Kona district is unique in the Hawaiian Islands. The dry period occurs during the cooler winter months and the wet period during the summer. Annual rainfall of 60 to 80 inches is optimal to the various growth stages of the crop.
FLOWERING AND FRUITING: The flower buds are formed during the dry period that coincides with the coldest temperatures. They open a week or two after the first heavy rain of the year, usually in late February or March, covering the trees with delightfully fragrant, white blossoms. At first glance the trees appear to be covered with snow. Two to three more flowerings occur in the following two months, each prompted by a soaking rain. This is followed by a period of gradually increasing rainfall and warmer temperatures that provide prime conditions for the growth and development of the coffee cherries. In the fall as the harvest season approaches, the drier and cooler weather provides a favorable environment for the maturing berries.
The coffee fruit is commonly called “cherry” due to its size, shape and bright red color. It usually contains two seeds, called beans, found in the center which are flat on the sides next to each other. In some cases only one bean is produced; when this happens it is round and called a “peaberry”. The beans are covered with a thin membrane called the silver skin which is covered by a tough and difficult to remove parchment skin. An adhesive mucilaginous layer covers the parchment skin. Between the mucilage and the outer skin of the berry is soft flesh which, after its removal is called pulp.
HARVESTING: Only fully ripe coffee is harvested in Kona to insure high quality. Coffee berries do not mature all at once so they are picked individually. Berries in several stages of development will be found on any one tree, necessitating 4 to 8 rounds of picking each season, with a 3 to 4 week interval between rounds. The cherries are ready to pick when they turn slightly red. When fully ripe they are a beautiful, shiny red. In lower elevation coffee ripens from late August to December with the last 2 weeks of September to early November being the busiest period. In the mauka (mountain) sections of Kona, the harvesting period stretches over an even longer period. Experienced pickers harvest between 200 and 400 lbs. of coffee a day when the season is at its peak. Harvesting is the biggest expense of coffee growing. According to a 1986 study, harvest labor accounted 72% of variable expenses for coffee production in Kona. The equipment used to harvest is simple. Baskets are fastened with a belt around the waist to hold the harvested coffee berries. A holding hook made of a 3 to 4 foot long coffee or guava branch to which a cord is attached is used to bring branches into position for picking. Containers to haul large quantities of berries from farms to the processing area are also required.
Annual pruning is done after the last of the crop is harvested.
PROSSESING: The coffee cherry must be pulped within 24 hrs of harvest to maintain high quality and avoid “sour beans”. The cherries are generally put through a pulping machine which removes the skin and mast of the pulp. The next step is fermentation to remove the mucilage to a soluble material which can be washed off with water. The process takes 14-18 hours.
Next the coffee is dried; a combination of sun and forced hot air drying is most popular in Kona though it can be dried completely by either method. The coffee will dry in the sun for 3-5 days if the skies are clear the beans are spread evenly on platforms and raked form time to time to insure even drying. A movable roof (hoshidana) over the platforms protects the beans from rain. The beans can be put in mechanical for the final drying. The coffee can be ruined if it is heated to above 150F so dryers must me carefully monitored. It is dried to a final moisture content of about 12%. Experienced processors can judge dryness by the hardness and color of the bean. At this point the bean still has the parchment and silver skin covering and is called parchment coffee.
Hulling, which is done by machine is the process in which the parchment and silver skin are removed. The hulled coffee is now called green coffee. Hulled beans are graded by size and number of imperfections contained in a pound of coffee. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture grades green coffee in Kona into 5 grades. Trey are, in order of increasing quality, Number 3 Kona Prime, Kona Prime, Number 1, Kona Fancy and Kona Extra Fancy.
Five hundred pounds of cherry coffee must be picked to get approximately 125 pounds of parchment coffee, when hulled will yield about 100 pounds of green coffee, and when roasted will weigh about 80 pounds.
Maui Coffee Roasters
1-800-635-2877
Virginia Easton Smith,
County Extension Agent
University of Hawaii,
