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Kona Coffee

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Hawaiian Coffee

Kona Coffee is considered to be one of the purest coffees in the world. Only grown on the big island of Hawaii, in the Kona growing region. Kona coffee requires a special amount of sunlight and water that only Hawaii’s warm climate can give.  The coffee is harvested by hand ensuring only the best beans. The ripe berries are red when they are ready to be picked, they are then dried, pulped to remove the outside skin and hulled before being sorted by a machine into different grades depending on their size. The biggest beans are more expensive because they are said to be the most flavorful.  After the sorting, they are roasted and sealed in a can to preserve freshness, and are ready to be sold all over the world.

History

Samuel Ruggles was the first man to introduce Kona coffee to Hawaii in 1828. Although at the time it was known as arabica coffee, it later became known as Kona coffee after growing so well in the Kona region that was home to thick volcanic soil that made for perfect conditions for growing coffee of all kinds. After many different cultures had experienced the rich and flavorful Kona coffee, its popularity grew immensely, and became one of the greatest economic developments of the 1880s. Farmers experienced ups and downs during WWII, but the sales slowly progressed afterward and have been booming ever since. Most people consider this rare and delectable coffee to be one of the finest, and certainly the most expensive coffee of the past few decades, and this statement is probably true, even Mark Twain wrote about it saying “I think Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other be it grown where it may.”

Buying Kona Coffee

It is important to pay close attention to labels when buying Kona coffee some companies say that their coffee is the purest and finest, but some of the time this is not the case.  Some of these coffees only contain a very small amount of the actual Kona coffee, they are usually blended with some sort of  South American coffee. For this reason, be sure to buy 100% Kona beans from a true Hawaiian market. Online is usually the best way to find Kona beans because most cannot find them in a regular market, and they are usually fresh and can be shipped in just a matter of days.

Grades of Kona Coffee

Kona beans come in many different grades, like Extra fancy, Fancy, Kona #1, Prime, Kona#1 Peaberry, and Kona Peaberry prime. Kona beans are usually graded by size with some farmers saying that bigger is usually better, others say that it does not affect the end taste of the coffee. One of the most important parts involved in making the coffee taste well is the harvesting and processing part of the job i.e. hat is where only the best Kona beans are picked and processed leaving only the finest to be sealed and shipped. It is better to buy whole Kona beans rather then ground, because of freshness, the whole Kona beans will last for months, while the ground will only last about one month at the most. Kona coffee has been around for hundreds of years and has no sign of slowing down in popularity. It is sure to go on being the best coffee of the age.

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