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.

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Hawaii has strict rules on it’s coffee industry.  To be called by the name “kona” the beans have to be from the specific part of the region where the beans are currently grown.  Some lower cost versions of Kona coffee are mixed with Arabica beans from Columbia and Brazil.  While these Kona coffee blends are still full of flavor, they are not the true variety hat has brought such renown to this delicious bean.

The coffee plant was originally brought to Hawaii by a Brazilian man in the 1800′s.  It never really came of any significance until the coffee market crash of the 1890′s.  During this time, the land owners leased the land to the farmers, who began to grow sugar cane.  Japanese farmers came to the island for work, and began to grow coffee again in the same area.  They refined the process of growing the plant, which led to an amazing improvement in the reliability of the coffee crop.

The Kona blend gets it’s unique flavor from the climate and weather conditions of the Hawaiian Islands.  A combination of sunny mornings, strong, short storms, and mild nights combine for optimum growing conditions.

The cherries that are picked from the plan ts go through a strict process to get to their premium texture.  They are removed from their pulp and placed in a fermentation chamber for 12-24 hours, depending on elevation.  Then, they are placed on a table to dry.  The building that they are in has a retractable roof to cover the beans in case of rain.  After that, they are placed in a parchment to prepare for shipment.  It takes between 7-9 pounds of cherries to get a pound of coffee.

The flavor is of extremely high strength and quality, and the result of the climate is delicious. Full flavored Kona coffee beans are certainly among the finest tasting coffees in the world.