Kona Coffee

Our next trip to Hawai'i island is still more than two months away, and as I sit in my living room over 2000 miles away, I am sipping a delicious cup of freshly-ground, freshly-brewed Kona coffee. Sadly, I know by looking at my dwindling supply, just a quarter pound of beans left, that I will run out before the next resupply can occur. Every four months or so, I carefully gauge how much coffee to bring home, looks like I underestimated last time. By now you might be thinking, "just go online and buy some," and herein lies the kernel of this post.

There are many small coffee farms in that beautiful rugged country above Kailua town. If you are a true coffee lover, you should budget at least a full day of exploration in this region. These small farms usually offer tours and tasting. Some are just a few acres in size. As with fine wines, the real gems lay, not in the mass market, but in the tiny, almost anonymous farms that you really must go looking for. 

Kona coffee has a mild, yet complex earthy flavor and aroma. I can taste a hint of the volcanic soil which the coffee trees seem to love so much, as well as the cool, slightly humid mountain air of the higher elevations in which they grow. A cup of Kona coffee immediately transports me back to a sunny morning on my lanai, where I can hear the coconut trees rustling in the trade winds and the songs of the early-rising birds as they begin the days hunt for food.

Coffee was first planted on Hawai'i island in the early 18oo's and quickly became a major crop in the region due to the unique soil and climactic conditions, along with a steady supply of chinese labor, required due to the immense amount of manual labor required in tending the plants and harvesting the fruit. As the days of the mega plantation waned after the coffee market crashed in 1899, the large plantations broke apart into individual smaller farms of just 3 to 5 acres, and so it remains today.

It is true, I could probably find plenty of excellent Kona coffee online and with a few clicks have it delivered to my door. It wouldn't be the same as buying it from the back of the pickup truck just outside the Costco parking lot in Kailua, the bags still warm from the just-roasted beans. For me, Kona coffee isn't just another way to feed my well-developed caffeine addiction, it is a connection to place for which I have aloha mau, an unceasing love.