Kona Coffee: A Delicious Blend of History, Culture, and Fascinating Facts

Anyone who drinks coffee should know about Kona Coffee. Even if you don't drink coffee at all, you'll be interested in Kona Coffee because it's a trendsetter among coffee connoisseurs on the market today. You might be surprised to learn that there are some key tips you need to consider before buying Kona Coffee.

Nine Interesting Facts About Kona Coffee

Kona coffee is famous for its exclusivity, quality, and chocolate-like flavor, but buying truly top-grade, true Kona coffee is more difficult than it appears. Due to its scarcity and high price, the area has occasionally been a source of mislabeling, counterfeiting, and misinformation. In some cases, this has been the result of well-intentioned coffee farmers who didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to produce and sell their coffee. So, what should you be aware of before visiting Hawaii or buying authentic Kona coffee online? Read on.

Kona Coffee Exceeds the Fair-Trade Law

Coffee must have complied with basic labor and sustainability criteria from seed to cup to be certified as Fair Trade. The majority of coffee consumed worldwide is not Fair Trade certified. Because of this, coffee farmers all around the world frequently receive low prices for their harvest, leaving them unable to upgrade their farms or way of life. However, Kona coffee is an exception to this. Due to US law, coffee growers in Kona are paid a fair living wage. This indicates that Kona coffee exceeds Fair Trade requirements rather than just meeting them.

Kona Coffee Counterfeiting Continues to Take Place on the Mainland and Above

Despite legislation aimed at preventing it, counterfeiting of Hawaiian coffee occurs. For example, it is not uncommon for Ka'u coffee to be mislabeled and sold at a significantly higher price than Kona coffee. A package of coffee must contain just Kona-grown beans to be labeled as 100% Kona coffee. Coffees that bear labels like "Kona mix" or "10% Kona coffee" are not entirely made from genuine Kona beans. For Kona coffee, authenticity is a major concern. Because of this, more than 600 Kona coffee growers are suing distributors, wholesalers, and retailers in a class-action lawsuit for selling Kona coffee that was falsely branded. By lowering costs and damaging consumer perceptions, this mislabeling hurts real Kona growers.

Finding Authentic Kona Coffee Outside of Hawaii Might be Challenging

While Hawaii has rigorous regulations regarding the labeling of Kona coffee, the rest of the country does not. Regrettably, the Kona coffee brand is not shielded by federal law. or coffee to be labeled as "Kona coffee" in Hawaii, at least 10% of the coffee must come from Kona beans, and additional origins must be mentioned. Outside of Hawaii, terms like "Kona Roast" and "Kona Style" can be found on coffee bags that were grown in another country. Keep a tight eye on your coffee's origins and verify that it was roasted by a recognized Hawaiian coffee company if you want to be sure you're getting the real deal. Furthermore, genuine roasted Kona coffee should not be sold for less than $20 per pound. This is why: Farmers charge between $19 and $23 per pound for unprocessed, raw Kona coffee. Kona green coffee beans that have been milled and refined cost $25 to $35 per pound. Each procedure results in attrition or loss. That means if you have 100 pounds of unprocessed (parchment) Kona coffee at the beginning, you will end up with only 60-65 pounds of roasted Kona coffee. In other words, if you see 100% Kona coffee being offered for $18 per pound, the raw, unprocessed parchment Kona coffee costs $11.50 or less.

TYPICA, PACHE, AND CATURRA are the Three Main Varieties of Kona Coffee

The most popular Kona coffee variety is Typica, which was brought to the Big Island from Guatemala in the 1800s. Thanks to Kona's chilly temperatures, regular rainfall, copious amounts of shade, and the volcanic soil's nutrients, Typica has flourished there for a very long time. However, Kona coffee growers now plant hundreds of varieties. Typica is the most popular, but other varieties (such Caturra and a Typica variant called Pache) are also becoming increasingly common.

Hawaii Was Among the Last Places to be Affected by Coffee Rust

Coffee leaf rust was discovered in Sri Lanka in the nineteenth century. Since then, it has crossed the globe, impacting nearly every coffee-producing country. The fungus that causes leaf rust prefers warm, moist environments. The coffee plant becomes weaker as a result, and its leaves get discolored and covered in fine orange-brown dust. If untreated, this can completely damage the plant and impair its output and quality. Until recently, Hawaii coffee producers had been fortunate. We were one of the few origins unaffected by the fungus. But in 2020, rust was discovered for the first time on Maui's wild coffee trees, and it quickly spread to Hawaii's coffee farms. Rust will eventually drive up Kona coffee costs, while farmers search for the best effective treatment methods.

Kona Coffee is Very Rare

The Kona District's coffee "belt" is around two miles broad and thirty miles long. In this region, there are over 800 farms ranging in size from five to ten acres. To put it into perspective, note that some single farms in Brazil are bigger than the entire Kona coffee-growing region. The fact that genuine Kona coffee is grown in a small region and is entirely hand-harvested is another factor in its higher price.

Kona Coffee is Priced Highly for Very Important Reasons

• It is completely hand-picked.
• It is fair and sustainable since everyone in the supply chain is paid a living wage.
• Because there is a scarcity, demand (and consequently price) rises.
• There is a modest amount of appropriate farmland.
• Production expenses are high.

Kona Coffee Must be Picked by Hand

Each Kona coffee is hand-picked. It takes a lot of time and effort to do this, and it's believed that it adds about 40% to the price of Kona coffee. Several factors require cherries to be hand-picked. First off, mechanical harvesting is impossible due to the region's rugged and uneven surface. It also aids in ensuring optimal ripeness, which increases the quality of each Kona coffee bag sold by a farmer. Despite being time-consuming, this process contributes to the exceptional quality of Kona coffee.

The Majority of Kona Coffee Farms are Family-Run and Owned

The small, family-owned Kona coffee farms typically have yearly sales of under $10,000 and are usually between five and ten acres.  Surprisingly, this is mostly due to things that occurred more than a century ago. When the coffee market crashed at the end of the nineteenth century, farm owners leased tiny parcels of land in Kona to some of their employees to recover their losses. As a result, the Kona District now contains hundreds of smallholder farms.

Where Can I Get the Best Kona Coffee?

It's not that easy to answer this. Each year, the "best" Kona coffee is determined by the competition, the reviewer, and the variety. The best Kona coffee, nevertheless, typically shares the same characteristics. They will be highly expensive, family-grown by proprietors with many years of in-depth technical coffee knowledge, correctly preserved away from the elements in air-tight bags, and stored correctly. One guiding principle should be kept in mind while looking to buy Kona coffee: if it's inexpensive, it's probably fake or not pure Kona coffee. At Dr. Paulo's Kona Coffee and Macadamia Nut Farms, we sell only 100% Kona coffee, grown and hand-picked from our small, family-owned farms. Visit our website to see all the products we offer.