Understanding How Kona Coffee is Made and Sold
Kona Coffee and Tea that is produced exclusively in the North and South districts of Big Island, Hawaii are known to be one of the most expensive coffee and tea in the world. They are perfect for the fact that the climatic conditions and soil richness is the best in the world giving the Kona Cherry grown here, a very rich and flavored taste to it. The high elevation, south-seas climate, perfect amount of sunshine, right amount of cloud cover & rich volcanic soil all contribute to this.
Process Involved
In the month of February, the Kona coffee blooms throughout the entire plantation and it is called as Kona snow as the flowers cover the top of the plants giving it a look of snow covering the tree tops. It is indeed a beautiful sight. By August, the flowers become red cherries and are ready to be picked.
Twenty four hours after the Kona Cherry is handpicked, they are pulped, dried, hulled and then sent to a fermentation tank to enable fermentation overnight. The beans are categorized into various grades. The Type I bean is the cherry that has two beans in it, where one is flat and the other is oval. Other names for this grade are- Kona Extra Fancy, Kona Fancy, Kona Number 1, Kona Select, and Kona Prime. The Type II bean which is also called a peaberries has only one bean per cherry and in any plantation, approximately 5% of the cherry picked up will be peaberries. They can be also named as Peaberry Number 1 and Peaberry Prime.
Apart from these two grades, there cannot be a third legal grade as the State of Hawaii does not legally accept or recognize any grade from these two. These are also roasted to perfection and to the desired levels to get the perfect levels of coffee. The oxidization process after this keeps the coffee even fresh. However the process of making Kona tea is slightly different. This red color Kona Berry Tea is made from the bright red skin of the cherry that is picked.
Selling Konaberry
Though only a few companies are involved in growing and maintaining the Kona plantation, with growing commercialization, there are a considerable number of retailers selling it in the market. In reality, procuring Kona Berry coffee is quite hard, as not much is produced in this area and they are the demand does not match the supply. Retailers sell Kona Berry in wholesale in the market and sometimes these are blend coffee because of the rarity of the availability of this. It is often sold as ‘Kona blends' with coffees from other regions like Columbia, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, etc. This Wholesale of Kona Berry is usually 10% Kona coffee mixed with 90% coffee from the other regions. Kona Berry Tea and Kona Berry whole beans coffee are best sold in air tight containers where the shelf life of this would be more than three months. In the case that it is sold as ground coffee, then the shelf life would be lesser- a little more than a month.
Process Involved
In the month of February, the Kona coffee blooms throughout the entire plantation and it is called as Kona snow as the flowers cover the top of the plants giving it a look of snow covering the tree tops. It is indeed a beautiful sight. By August, the flowers become red cherries and are ready to be picked.
Twenty four hours after the Kona Cherry is handpicked, they are pulped, dried, hulled and then sent to a fermentation tank to enable fermentation overnight. The beans are categorized into various grades. The Type I bean is the cherry that has two beans in it, where one is flat and the other is oval. Other names for this grade are- Kona Extra Fancy, Kona Fancy, Kona Number 1, Kona Select, and Kona Prime. The Type II bean which is also called a peaberries has only one bean per cherry and in any plantation, approximately 5% of the cherry picked up will be peaberries. They can be also named as Peaberry Number 1 and Peaberry Prime.
Apart from these two grades, there cannot be a third legal grade as the State of Hawaii does not legally accept or recognize any grade from these two. These are also roasted to perfection and to the desired levels to get the perfect levels of coffee. The oxidization process after this keeps the coffee even fresh. However the process of making Kona tea is slightly different. This red color Kona Berry Tea is made from the bright red skin of the cherry that is picked.
Selling Konaberry
Though only a few companies are involved in growing and maintaining the Kona plantation, with growing commercialization, there are a considerable number of retailers selling it in the market. In reality, procuring Kona Berry coffee is quite hard, as not much is produced in this area and they are the demand does not match the supply. Retailers sell Kona Berry in wholesale in the market and sometimes these are blend coffee because of the rarity of the availability of this. It is often sold as ‘Kona blends' with coffees from other regions like Columbia, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, etc. This Wholesale of Kona Berry is usually 10% Kona coffee mixed with 90% coffee from the other regions. Kona Berry Tea and Kona Berry whole beans coffee are best sold in air tight containers where the shelf life of this would be more than three months. In the case that it is sold as ground coffee, then the shelf life would be lesser- a little more than a month.
Source...