Kona Coffee

For serious coffee drinkers, the taste of Kona coffee is unique among other coffees. Some people know that Kona coffee is grown in Hawaii, but there is more to it than that. The history of Kona coffee is as rich as its flavor.

Kona Coffee History

The beginning of Kona coffee can be traced back to the year 1825. The story begins with John Wilkinson of the British warship HMS Blonde. Wilkinson brought a few seedlings to Oahu from Brazil. The coffee plants were planted in the Monoa Valley on Oahu. From there, they were introduced to other areas of Oahu and the neighboring islands.

A few years later, in 1828, a missionary named Rev. Samuel Ruggles decided to plant some coffee trees at his new home in Captain Cook, Kona in West Hawaii. The trees prospered in the hospitable climate. The coffee industry in Hawaii was born from this event.

They have grown coffee in Kona, Hawaii from then on. Today, coffee is raised in an area twenty miles long and two miles wide on the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa. This area contains approximately six hundred independent farms. The farm sizes on Kona average about three acres with a few farms of more than fifty acres. Total Kona coffee acreage is over two thousand acres and annual production is generally over two million pounds.

True Kona coffee is grown only in Hawaii. As with many coffees, Kona coffee bears the name of the region form which it is grown. Any coffee that is not grown in Kona cannot legally bear that name.

Counterfeiters did not stop trying, however. In 1997 the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture took preventative measures against counterfeiters by certifying all Hawaiian coffees by origin. Kona coffee is not true Kona coffee unless it bears this certification.

The Reputation and Flavor of Kona Coffee

Since the area in which Kona coffee is grown is so small compared to that of coffees grown in the Third World, the harvest is small. Kona coffee is marketed as a high-end gourmet coffee because of the short supply and high demand.

The high demand for Kona coffee is due to the flavor, which is unlike any other. Kona coffee is characterized by an aroma that is full, sweet, and mellow with a full-bodied flavor.

You can expect to pay extra for this special flavor. There are varying degrees of Kona coffee:

Peaberry: Top of the line. This bean is formed when one side of the flower fuses with the other leaving only one bean in the coffee cherry. Thus, it has a more concentrated flavor. Peaberry only makes up five to ten percent of the total harvest. The average cost of Peaberry is about $30 per pound or more.

Kona Coffee: Regular harvest coffee. You can expect to pay about $25 per pound.

Kona Blend: Make sure to check the label. If it is a Kona blend, then it only contains 10% Kona beans. The good news is that this kind of coffee is much cheaper than pure Kona coffee, but the flavor that Kona is famous for is reduced.