Kona Coffee 101: An Introduction

We have all heard of Kona coffee, but I knew little about the coffee growing process, and specificlly how labor intensive it is. We spend the day at a local coffee plantation and this is what I learned.

Greenwell Farms is a fourth generation coffee plantation started back in 1850 when Henry Nicholos Greenwell left England with his wife, and relocated to Kona to start a cattle farm. Coffee was a sideline business for the family, with only a few acres of trees dedicated to it on the land and the majority of the area was used for cattle ranching.  He would export some to relatives back in Europe. In 1873, Greenwell's coffee won a recognition diploma at the worlds fair in Vienna, and his Kona Coffee was now on the world map.

When he passed, his wife, who had no interest in continuing to cattle ranch, slowly converted the farm more to coffee and other fruit trees. Today, the fourth generation runs the 90 acre farm and has about 70 acres of coffee, 10 of macadamia nuts and 10 of random fruit trees, to include avocado, apple banana's, pineapple, and island oranges. - needless to say it would be hard to starve on this island.

Coffee trees are a pretty hardy bunch and grow like weeds, in very little or no topsoil, but they like the very rich volcanic rock. Taking a page from viticulture, in order to be 'Kona' coffee, it has to be grown in this terror, a section of the island about 20 miles long and only 1000 feet or so wide (in elevation). Not unlike a  vitas vinifera varietal, pure Kona coffee must contain at least 90% Kona Typica plant. In another interesting parallel to wine, a 1990 infestation of the rodi-knot nematode damaged many trees in Kona, and was solved using root grafting to a resistant strain. 

A coffee tree left alone will grow to 20 feet high, and mechanical harvesting still has not resulted in an adequate solution, due to the steep terrain and difficult landscape. As a result most Kona coffee is harvested by hand. Another reason its prices command a premium. To help facilitate this, coffee trees are cut - a process called 'stumping' ever three years or so (photo below) After a tree is stumped, it will not fruit the next year so usually a third of a farms coffee trees are not producing in a given season. Reason two its expensive.

A tree will bear fruit three or four times during a harvest season - from October to February. Fruit is harvested when the cherry is red. Wait too long and the result is bitterness.

These trees were harvested last a couple of moths ago and are just now beginning to show buds of flowers again. When in full bloom, the flowers are white and completely cover the trees - hence the term Kona snow.

 A typical tree will yeald about 15 pounds of fruit, which results in about 2 pounds of coffee, once all the multiple layers of the cherry are stripped away.

Once the cherries are harvested, they are 'wet processed' in a pulper that removes the bean from the cherry pulp.

As an interesting side note: this pulp used to be returned to the ground, but has recently been found to have extremely high levels of antioxidants. As a result t is now typically sold off to companies that will then juice the pulp, and turn it into a health drink such as Kona Red.

Once the coffee beans have been through the pulper, they have a green slimy surface layer on them called the pectin layer, that is full of sucrose. If they are not processed in a day or so, they will mold (yuck) and the flavor profile will be put off. In order to accomplish this, they travel down the PCV pipes, and get an overnight soaking in a big vat. This process is called fermenting.

Another interesting side note that I did not know: most coffee cherries contain two beans, and look similar to the two halfs of a peanut. Occationally (about 5% of cherries) however, contain only 1, smaller whole and round bean. This is called a peaberry. Initially thought to be 'runts' and discarded, the peaberries are now separated from the rest and when roasted correctly, produce a very good (some consider premium) coffee. - so its sold at a premium! I never knew where the "Peaberry Coffee' name came from…. now you do too.

Back to our little coffee story. Once the beans are done in their tub, they move to drying. they are laid out on large slabs and the sun kicks in and is allowed to naturally dry the beans. every couple of hours the workers use a rake to turn them and the moisture content is slowly reduced. - It''s pretty labor intensive to do it this way rather than use a mechanical drier. Reason number three Kona coffee is expensive.

Greenwell uses these cool little houses to dry their coffee beans. When the trade winds bring a shower, the roof of the building can be slid on and off (shown here in its closed position) to keep the rain off of the drying beans.

Finally, when the beans are dry enough, they head to a mill for processing. Here the beans are graded, and separated by size into several size classifications, that produce different flavor profiles. The peaberries are also separated at this point and the last couple of layers (the parchment and silver-skin) similar to a peanuts red skin is removed. 

Once processed and separated, the 'green' beans are then shipped to cofee suppliers who will roast them and possibly add other flavors, based on their particular specifications.

Our fantastic tour guide Keko, let us know that only about 1% of the total coffee market is comprised of Kona coffee. for Greenwell, they ship 90 percent of their beens wholesale to coffee roasters such as Starbucks and reserve about 10% to roast themselves and sell on the farm, so you won't see the name in stores, but yo can order it online from their website.

Our personal favorite is their chocolate macadamia nut. An A-M-A-Z-I-N-G blend produced with what else, local Kona chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Keko said that their farm produces about 250,000 pounds of coffee annually. If I'm doing the math right - at an average retail of $18-$20 a pound, - that farm is doing just fine, thank you very much.

Overall - a very interesting way to spend an afternoon in my new home, here in Kona. I would highly recommend the (free) tour, and the (not so free) coffee if you're in the area.

More random photos below.

There is one section of the farm that still has very old coffee trees on it. These are about 110 years old. a coffee tree will last about 125 years, but apparently its yield will significantly reduce after about 25 years or so. As a result most are replaced at that time.

these trees were 'stumped' last year and will not produce anything this year.

Shot of the Greenwell Farm

In the fall, during harvest season migrant workers from mexico also head here. its backbreaking, not very fun work so no one here wants to do it, similar to agriculture on the mainland. These are their bunkhouses. It takes 30-40 of them to harvest this farm.

this is the old processing house on the property - very cool

one of my new favorite things to eat on the island are these apple bananas. A local grown little dude thats about a third the size of a regular banana, and incredibly good.

There are several different varieties of avocado here also - some as big as a melon

A little baby pineapple growing near the old mill house

This has nothing at all to do with coffee - but the hibiscus on this island - just growing wild and in random places is absolutely beautiful. 

It comes in many different colors and we often find them just lying on the side of the road after falling from their plant. All you need is a hair clip and you're all set.

I also like the fan palms in several places here. They are pretty cool.

Again - nothing to do with coffee or the farm - this was just a random old dump truck that is sitting on Ali'i drive about a mile from our condo. Looks like it has been there quite a while!

Aloha! - another great day in paradise.

Today I make wine! - Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. Come follow along...

Yea!  Today is wine making day. This will be batch three for me, with the first two being an Argentinean Malbec and a big red California Zinfandel. The Malbec, my first, was not so great but from it I learned a lot. I did not get all of the CO2 scrubbed off of it before I bottled it, so it had a carbonated mouth feel. The second batch I made, the Zin was completely yummy but unfortunately is now completely gone... so once again it's wine making day. This time I will blog about all the steps and equipment as I have now become a true fan of making your own wine!

I have to give credit for getting me hooked to a friend that has been making her own wine for several years now. She invited me to a grape pressing party and open house at her new place down by Franktown and I have been hooked ever since. She has since progressed to buying her own grapes in yard lots, and pressing them - hence the pressing party - but she said that she stared with wine kits. The day was very fun and by the end of it I was covered from head to toe in grape must. I think her and her husband are planning on planting some vines soon, so this can be as easy or as difficult as you choose. I like easy and the kits are lots of fun.

I did a little research and found that the local beer brew hut on Chambers and Hampden has all the supplies you need to get started for about $150.00. This includes a 6.5 gallon primary brew bucket, a 6 gallon carboy, long stirring spoon, stoppers and air locks, an auto siphon (very helpful for racking - transferring the wine to another container) and tubing, a hydrometer for measuring the specific gravity, and a bottle filler.

A few other things I have picked up along the way include a second pail, with a spout (makes bottling much easier) a carboy carrier because six gallons of wine is not a light thing and this will save your back. I am using the plastic carboys. I have read that some people will only use the glass ones. They are heaver, break and are much more expensive. I am unsure of the advantage....

Finally, invest in a drill mounted paint stirrer - above - you will thank me later.  Primary fermentation is yeast eating the sugar in the grapes and producing ETOH (Good) and CO2 (Bad) - During a later step, you will need to scrub off all the CO2 that you can, so you don't end up with champaign and trying to do that by hand with a long spoon is not very easy.

Today I chose a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. The brew store has several kits available ranging in price from about $75 to $150 depending on the grape, region and brand. This one was Selection International and was $109. It will produce about 30 bottles when done or about $3.60 a bottle for very good and definitely drinkable wine.

The kit comes in a box that contains a bag with 6 gallons of grape juice from the vineyard, yeast, oak chips, potassium metabisulphite, a package of isinglass (clarifier), a package of bentonite clay, and some instructions.

The first step is to clean, clean clean - and then when you think everything is clean, clean it one more time. Bacteria is no friend to wine making and can quickly turn your $100 batch of wine into a foul smelling nightmare, so I can't stress this enough. I found the same when Marty and I used to make beer, so take the time, and wash your stuff more than once. There are special cleaning agents available from the brew store that kill wild yeasts and work very well. They also have a no rinse sanitizer that I mix up in batches and keep in an old spray bottle. Spray everything with a good coating of the sanitizer before it touches the grapes. Also, spray the lid to the bag of grapes before you open it, etc. If you are diligent, you will find it pays off in the long run.

Next put two liters of warm water in the bottom of your primary fermenter and mix in the bentonite clay powder. Bentonite has an affinity for yeast and also stays in suspension in the grape juice, not settling to the bottom. This will help your yeast evenly distribute itself across your grape juice and provide for an even fermentation.

Next add the bag of grape juice, being careful to not splash everywhere - grape juice stains everything it touches, including the counter. Wipe up any spills as soon as possible if you want to stay married. Fill the grape juice bag with about a half gallon of water and slosh it around to get every drop of juice and pour that into the bucket. Then fill to the six gallon line with water (I use tap water, as ours tastes pretty good, but the instructions suggest you may want to use bottled water or filtered water from the fridge if yours does not)

Mix will with the spoon (don't forget to sanitize it first) and incorporate the bentonite throughout the grapes.

The next step is to check the specific gravity.  The wine thief that comes in the kit is a great little tool and you drop the hydrometer into it and shake it up and down in the bucket. It sucks up the wine until the hydrometer floats and you can get a measurement. Mine is 1.084. This measurement will tell you the sugar / ETOH content in your wine and is how you monitor the fermentation process. As the yeast eats the sugar and produces alcohol, the specific gravity decreases until it is ready, below 0.996. Did I mention that making wine is also lots of fun with a glass of wine in your hand? The only problem is that the longer it takes, the harder the hydrometer gets to read....

Once you have your first hydrometer reading, the next step is to mix in the oak chips that came with the kit. This gives the wine some character and mimics aging in an oak barrel. Some kits come with chips, other with an oak cork screw stick that steeps in the grapes like a tea bag. Some kits also come with elderflowers or other items based on the type of wine you are making.

Mix well to incorporate the oak chips under the surface of the wine. Check the temperature of your grapes, and ensure it is between 65-75 degrees for the yeast to work its magic. It is easiest to modify this by adjusting the temperature of the water you add when topping up to six gallons. Finally sprinkle the packet of yeast onto the surface of the grapes, but do not mix it in.

Place the lid on the primary fermentation bucket (Spray the inside lip well with sanitizer after cleaning, before you close it) and put an air lock into the hole. Place your bucket someplace within your house that maintains a relatively stable temperature between 65-75 degrees. In my case, we have some lockers in our laundry room that work just perfectly. If all goes well, the air lock should begin to bubble (fermentation should start) within 24-48 hours. The wine should remain in this bucket until primary fermentation has lowered the specific gravity to 1.010 or below - about 5-7 days. The lower the temperature, the longer this will take.

Come back next week and we will move to step two - racking and secondary fermentation.

Step two is Here

How I consume news now - and why newspapers are definitely dead.

I'm probably much later to this than most tech geeks - but I had an epiphany yesterday based on some research and a confluence of technologies that all came together for me.  For about the last six months or so, I have been consuming most of my news and information via RSS feeds.  RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a network protocol that allows you to subscribe to a website. (that orange icon on the right) Anytime a website that supports RSS changes, or receives new information  it is then sent to you. Rather then have to check six or seven of my favorite websites for whats going on each day the information comes to me sort of like a daily paper, landing on my virtual driveway.

I was able to 'produce my own newspaper', it contained the sections I wanted to see by the producers and authors I liked, and left out the junk I did not care about. I could subscribe to my favorite tech blog, Mashable, read up on geek gadgets at Engadget, stay in touch with whats going on at my favorite company at Cult of Mac and get a little social commentary at Dvorak. Real news comes in the form of amazing photo journalism at The Big Picture and don't forget a dose of off-color celebrity gossip from The Superficial. This was a huge benefit, but also produced a problem.

What problem you ask? Well, I don't consume all of my media in the same place. I may be on my work laptop, or in my home office, or on my iPad on the couch. I was getting three 'newspapers', one in each location. What I really needed was a way to synchronize the feeds so that they knew - yes, I've read that already or no I haven't read that yet.

Enter Google reader - a way to subscribe to multiple feeds and consume them on multiple devices and formats, while keeping track of what I have seen before and what is new. On my Mac's I use NetNewsWire, on my iPad, Mobile RSS HD and they all sync with Google. If I happen to be on my work laptop, and stuck in the Windows world, Outlook makes a great portal into the info. - Articles appear in a separate inbox just like new emails and if I have already read them someplace else, they are there but don't appear as new. You have to modify your preferences a bit. In the all mail items column on the left, right click the RSS feeds icon and choose properties. in the window that opens, go to the home page tab and check the show homepage by default button then make the address http://google.com/reader

Walla! - your entire newspaper, magazine and blog post collections, neatly packaged into a single pipe and consumable across multiple platforms and on multiple devices. If you read something cool (like this post) you can share it on Facebook, or Twitter with just one click.

Add my blog to your virtual newspaper stream with this link.