Kona Coffee
Bean
The kona coffee is the one
which a special of it’s kind. It is grown only in one place in the world.
Coffee which is
grown on the volcano lava slopes of Kona since the 1800s off the west
coast of the big island of Hawaii is known as Kona. It could be due to
the richness of the soil caused by volcanic activities that the Kona
Coffee Bean has got that unique taste unlike any other coffee in the
world. The coffee beans are harvested in autumn and the afternoon cloud
cover which is the unique climatic advantage of
Hawaii
and in particular Kona helps in the growth of the coffee plant. The
ideal time for plucking the coffee beans is between the months of August
and January as they are said to ripen during this period. All the coffee
trees are handpicked of their coffee beans several times during this
period.
In an era where
machines are employed to do the coffee bean picking work the Kona coffee
is still handpicked. It is then pulped, dried and later on hulled. At
the coffee mill the machinery later sorts the beans as per the size and
shape and grades it accordingly. At the time of been handpicked the Kona
coffee bean has the pulp as its outside base. The first process after it
is picked is to extract the bean from the pulp and this process is
usually done within twenty fours. The beans are run through a machine
called the pulper which does the extraction work.
It is then put
into a fermentation tank and left to ferment overnight. The beans are
then rinsed and dried on a drying sack which is also traditionally known
as the hoshidana. The beans have to obtain a maximum moisture content
of 10-13% and it takes about five to seven days to do so. The beans are
then parched and the roasting process starts which determines the aroma
and quality of the coffee.
The
classification of the Kona coffee bean is done based on the seed type.
The beans are sorted as Type I and Type II and there is a further
classification based on this. The Type I grade consists of two beans per
cherry and Type II consists of one bean per cherry. After these the
coffee beans are further classified based on size, moisture content and
purity of the bean. All this process ensures that the coffee you drink
is the best you ever had.
