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Hawaiian Kona coffee is classified as a "variety of arabica", but it is usually known as Arabica-Kona Hawaiian coffee and it has a world fame as a high-quality drink. Kona coffee grows only on the west coast on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai mountain. Hundreds of small farms produce about 1 million pounds of blue-green beans per year.
How did the story of Kona coffee begin? Those times were very unstable, the business went up and down, the laws of immigration changed, and different people brought changes in the lives of Hawaii - the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Japanese, the Koreans - everybody contributed to the history of coffee. In 1825 King Kamehameha II, Queen Kamalumalu, Governor Oahu, and other leaders formed a delegation from the Islands of Hawaii and went to London. It was the first time they drank coffee there. Unfortunately, in London the King and the Queen contracted measles, and both died.
Hawaiian tribal chief Bogi was returning from London with the bodies of the King and the Queen. On the way home he stopped in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro where he bought his first coffee trees which are now known as Kona coffee. As soon as the tribal chiefs returned to Oahu, the trees were given to the settler from the East Indies - John Wilkinson. He planted the plants in the Manoa Valley on Oahu. Unfortunately, throughout his life, Wilkinson could not grow coffee trees. They grew badly, there was no harvest. In 1928, Father Samuel Lugress took one coffee tree with him on a large island and planted it on his parcel for beauty, because coffee flowers smell good and look like snow on the bushes.
To his great surprise, the trees began to grow rapidly and the branches were covered with beans. Within a few years, people began to plant trees throughout the territory in Kona. Climate, altitude, everything was favorable for the growth of coffee. So it developed to a great industry and now the west coast of the island is both travel and coffee production. The territory which it grows on is called "coffee belt".
Coffee grows at an altitude of 300-800 meters above sea level. The soil is rich in minerals, there is practically no wind, the temperature is moderate, the difference between day and night temperature is small, and all this creates favorable conditions for beans ripening. When the coffee blossoms, one might think that the trees on the mountains are covered with snow, but this snow smells good and makes a good harvest of coffee beans.
The period of blossoming is called "Kona Snow" and it lasts only 3 days. The harvest season lasts from September to February. Every red berry is picked by hand, machines for collecting coffee cherries are not used here. It takes about 3.5 pounds of coffee cherries to make a half kilo of roasted coffee. All the harvest is collected in bags and transported to the factory for cleaning, washing, drying, and roasting. Until the 50s, donkeys were used to transport coffee.
In 1860 sugar cane has almost replaced coffee, and only two coffee plantations in Kona and Hamakua remained. Agreement between U.S. and Hawaii gave great benefits in favor of sugar cane. Coffee production was only for local population. Because of a sad state on the coffee market, the German owner of a large coffee plantation, WW Brunner, divided his plantation into a few small parcels of 5-15 acres, so that families could handle a parcel themselves.
That is how the development of private small family coffee business began. Most of the business owners were Japanese, who had the privilege to immigrate to Hawaii. They grew, harvested, and processed coffee by themselves. In the 1890s, a rise in prices for coffee in the world market encouraged American and European investors to invest in the development of the Kona coffee plantations.
Since then, a boom for the Kona coffee began. The First World War in 1914 and the second world war in 1940 makes coffee to rise in price, because the army is buying coffee for the soldiers. To control the rise in prices the U.S. government makes a price ceiling for coffee. After the war, prices for coffee continue to rise all over the globe over the next few years. Strong global demand for coffee is rapidly increasing world market prices, and Kona coffee soars in price.
In the 1990s, despite the high price of Kona coffee many coffee farmers are forced to diversify their production. Donkeys, known as "Kona Nightingales", were replaced by jeeps. In 1994 because of drought harvests were very poor and farms suffered from heavy losses in that year. And, in 1994, Kona coffee was like a drop in the ocean of global production of coffee.
In 1996 Hawaii remains the only U.S. producer of coffee, and Kona coffee remains a uniquely rare. More than 600 coffee farms in Kona occupy from 2 to 3 acres of land. Especially for coffee gourmets, the market continues to prosper, and the high demand for Kona coffee encourages farmers to produce high-quality coffee.
How did the story of Kona coffee begin? Those times were very unstable, the business went up and down, the laws of immigration changed, and different people brought changes in the lives of Hawaii - the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Japanese, the Koreans - everybody contributed to the history of coffee. In 1825 King Kamehameha II, Queen Kamalumalu, Governor Oahu, and other leaders formed a delegation from the Islands of Hawaii and went to London. It was the first time they drank coffee there. Unfortunately, in London the King and the Queen contracted measles, and both died.
Hawaiian tribal chief Bogi was returning from London with the bodies of the King and the Queen. On the way home he stopped in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro where he bought his first coffee trees which are now known as Kona coffee. As soon as the tribal chiefs returned to Oahu, the trees were given to the settler from the East Indies - John Wilkinson. He planted the plants in the Manoa Valley on Oahu. Unfortunately, throughout his life, Wilkinson could not grow coffee trees. They grew badly, there was no harvest. In 1928, Father Samuel Lugress took one coffee tree with him on a large island and planted it on his parcel for beauty, because coffee flowers smell good and look like snow on the bushes.
To his great surprise, the trees began to grow rapidly and the branches were covered with beans. Within a few years, people began to plant trees throughout the territory in Kona. Climate, altitude, everything was favorable for the growth of coffee. So it developed to a great industry and now the west coast of the island is both travel and coffee production. The territory which it grows on is called "coffee belt".
Coffee grows at an altitude of 300-800 meters above sea level. The soil is rich in minerals, there is practically no wind, the temperature is moderate, the difference between day and night temperature is small, and all this creates favorable conditions for beans ripening. When the coffee blossoms, one might think that the trees on the mountains are covered with snow, but this snow smells good and makes a good harvest of coffee beans.
The period of blossoming is called "Kona Snow" and it lasts only 3 days. The harvest season lasts from September to February. Every red berry is picked by hand, machines for collecting coffee cherries are not used here. It takes about 3.5 pounds of coffee cherries to make a half kilo of roasted coffee. All the harvest is collected in bags and transported to the factory for cleaning, washing, drying, and roasting. Until the 50s, donkeys were used to transport coffee.
In 1860 sugar cane has almost replaced coffee, and only two coffee plantations in Kona and Hamakua remained. Agreement between U.S. and Hawaii gave great benefits in favor of sugar cane. Coffee production was only for local population. Because of a sad state on the coffee market, the German owner of a large coffee plantation, WW Brunner, divided his plantation into a few small parcels of 5-15 acres, so that families could handle a parcel themselves.
That is how the development of private small family coffee business began. Most of the business owners were Japanese, who had the privilege to immigrate to Hawaii. They grew, harvested, and processed coffee by themselves. In the 1890s, a rise in prices for coffee in the world market encouraged American and European investors to invest in the development of the Kona coffee plantations.
Since then, a boom for the Kona coffee began. The First World War in 1914 and the second world war in 1940 makes coffee to rise in price, because the army is buying coffee for the soldiers. To control the rise in prices the U.S. government makes a price ceiling for coffee. After the war, prices for coffee continue to rise all over the globe over the next few years. Strong global demand for coffee is rapidly increasing world market prices, and Kona coffee soars in price.
In the 1990s, despite the high price of Kona coffee many coffee farmers are forced to diversify their production. Donkeys, known as "Kona Nightingales", were replaced by jeeps. In 1994 because of drought harvests were very poor and farms suffered from heavy losses in that year. And, in 1994, Kona coffee was like a drop in the ocean of global production of coffee.
In 1996 Hawaii remains the only U.S. producer of coffee, and Kona coffee remains a uniquely rare. More than 600 coffee farms in Kona occupy from 2 to 3 acres of land. Especially for coffee gourmets, the market continues to prosper, and the high demand for Kona coffee encourages farmers to produce high-quality coffee.
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