Kona coffee is a highly regarded gourmet coffee grown in the Kona districts of Hawaii. It is protected by law and known for its high quality, grown on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mount Hualali. Kona blends are also available, but must contain at least 10% Kona coffee.
Kona coffee is a type of coffee grown in the Kona districts of the Big Island of Hawaii. This coffee is protected by law, ensuring that only coffee grown in a particular region can be sold as “Kona coffee,” and is a highly regarded gourmet coffee that can fetch a very high price on the open market. This coffee is known for having consistently high quality and the stringent quality control measures used in Hawaii to ensure that only the best coffee is sold under the Kona label.
This coffee is grown on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mount Hualali on the leeward side of the Big Island. The plants are intensively managed, with many farms hand-picking their beans in several cycles to obtain fruit when it is at the optimum level of maturity. Farmers can choose to process their own “cherry,” the fruit of the coffee trees, or they can pool their cherry with other farmers in a larger processing facility that will handle the drying and roasting of the beans.
Type I Kona coffee is made from the cherry that has grown with two seeds and is divided into various grades based on quality. Type II Kona coffee is cherry with only one seed, rather than the more common two, and is also known as peaberry. It is also divided into several grades, based on quality. A lower grade, Type III, cannot be sold under the Kona label.
Because Kona coffee can be very expensive, it’s not uncommon for companies to sell Kona blends. The blends are made with a small percentage of Kona coffee and a higher percentage of cheaper beans. No less than 10% of the blend may be Kona coffee, and the quality of those blends can vary considerably depending on the amount of Kona beans used and the cheapest beans used to fill the blend.
Coffee has been grown in Hawaii since 1830. Kona’s climate is particularly suited to coffee, and the coffee from this region has been of high quality for a long time. Several grower associations exist to protect Kona coffee, promote coffee production in Hawaii, and regulate quality to ensure the Kona name continues to be associated with coffee quality. These organizations have designed a number of logos used to identify Kona coffee to consumers.
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