Around The World Without Flying: Hawaii Part 2

It is hard to beat a chocolate farm, but I must say our visit to the Kona Joe Coffee Farm was equally fascinating and delightful. Like the chocolate farm, it also was accompanied by tantalising aromas, this time the aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans.

This is the only coffee plantation in the world where the coffee plants are grown on trellises. The owners have found the trees grown in this way are more productive and the quality of the beans is more consistent. This is because the ‘cherries’ have better, more even exposure to the sun.

In many ways the production of coffee beans mirrors that of the production of cacao beans. The ‘cherries’ are picked by hand when they are red, which means they are ripe. The coffee beans inside are encased in a sticky white substance, which is removed before drying the beans.

The beans are then carefully graded and separated according to their size and origin, according to strict regulations. Regular inspections are carried out by the appropriate authority, to ensure the highest possible standard are maintained, as this coffee is exported across the world.

When I say origin, the farm will also process beans from other trees grown by locals, but they are kept strictly apart from the ones grown on the trellises on the farm.

There is a large roaster as well as a smaller one on site, to produce the final product. The company prides itself on being one of the few coffee companies that extracts and treats all the gases produced during the roasting so they are not released into the air.

I wish I could remember more of the finer details of all the different kinds of coffee beans, with fascinating labels such as 'mother beans', but I can tell you that the more the beans are roasted the lower their caffeine content and the less flavour they have. So a moderately roasted coffee is far more flavoursome than a dark roasted one, because the oil content of the beans, which is what produces the flavours and aromas and contains caffeine, stays within the bean. With further roasting, the oils are evaporated out of the beans.

I found out from this why American coffee is simply awful. I used to think that perhaps the reason behind this is they do not use 100% Arabica beans, but it is worse than that. Their beans are roasted to the point of being burnt, removing all the flavoursome oils! Yet here is a company on American soil that produces wonderful coffee. It makes no sense to me. And yet, of course, higher quality coffee is far more expensive. All I can say is I am very glad that Australia has the best tasting coffee in the world! More and more overseas visitors are recognising this. I can’t wait to get home to have a decent cup of coffee at one of our many Australian coffee lounges.

The company also produces other value-added products - chocolate-coated beans, tenderisers for meats made using herbs grown on the property and roasted coffee beans, and so forth.

When we arrived at the farm we were all treated with a cup of their lovely coffee. Of course, at the end of our very worthwhile time with our passionate and informative tour guide, we all bought some of their expensive but wonderful coffee beans, as well as other products, and were delighted to be presented with one of their coffee mugs.

As we drove around, our driver-guide pointed out how many locals had gardens full of coffee plants as well as tropical fruits. He said the cost of living is very high, mainly due to sky-high prices for groceries, but these locals supplement their income by selling the coffee beans that they have grown to companies like Kona Joe Coffee Farm. How great there is a local market for their produce like this.

In my next post I will talk about our other tour that day - and the lovely soap we all bought.