Kona Coffee Beans: How They Get to the Mug

March 19th, 2009 by Geoff Marks

The Kona coffee plant is one of the most precious gifts to the coffee community. It yields an extremely full-bodied, smooth bean that has been known to make some of the best coffee available. Farmers in Hawaii take great care to make sure that the kona coffee beans that come in a Kona bag are of the utmost quality. They make it that way by a series of strict guidelines that come down to a fine art.

The first step is in the growing portion of the year. The plant blooms a white flower in January, and this period is known as “Kona Snow”, as the ground is covered in blossoms. The berries grow on the trees after the blossoms have fallen off, starting at green, and then maturing to a deep red. Once they are at their perfect condition they are harvested.

The harvesting process is one that occurs year-round. Because the plants can be picked between six and nine times a year, workers are always busy finding the perfect cherries. It takes about seven to eight pounds of cherries to make one pound of coffee beans, so a massive amount needs to be harvested to meet the increasingly popular demand. Each plant yields around thirty pounds of berries each year, so this means many days of picking, considering there are almost three thousand acres available to grow coffee.

The processing portion of the coffee’s life is not nearly as time consuming. The coffee is put into a fermentation chamber for between 12 and 24 hours depending on the elevation. Then the beans are completely removed from the pulp, and are rinsed to clean them. Once the beans are clean, they are place on a special rack made to dry them out. This usually is around a full day before they are ready for parchment.

The final phase is grading. The beans are graded on size and density. They are bagged together in their respective classes to ensure that they produce an even flavor. Once grading has been completed, they are roasted and put to parchment. Once they are on parchment, Kona coffee bags are ready for shipment.

This is a long process, but nonetheless a valuable one in the pursuit of great coffee. The kona coffee beans that are produced are some of the best in the world, and coffee lover’s everywhere toast the hard work that gets this bean to the mug.