• Organic Farming and Kona Coffee Trees
	• Hand-picking the Kona Coffee Beans
	• Fully Wet-Method Processing
	• Drying
	• Dry Milling
	• Storage

Coffee grown anywhere else in Hawaii is Hawaiian Coffee, but is not Kona Coffee. 100% pure Kona Coffee is distinguished from all other coffees by its unique island microclimate and extra care taken by generation after generation of coffee farmers.

The Kona Coffee Belt is roughly 1 mile wide by 30 miles long, situated on the western slopes of two volcanoes, Hualalai and Mauna Loa, at an elevation ranging from 500-3,000 feet.
The Koa Coffee Plantation cultivates on the volcanic slopes of Mauna Loa, and is not only the best in Hawaii but is considered to be one of the best tasting coffees in the world. Kona Coffee has been grown on these dark volcanic lava rock slopes of Kona, on the west coast of the Big lsland of Hawaii since the early 1800s.
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Organic Farming and Kona Coffee Trees
The family-owned Koa Coffee Plantation is located on the volcanic slopes in Captain Cook, Hawaii. They currently have 80 acres of Kona coffee and farm-manage an additional 300 acres. The specific varietal of coffee tree that they plant and care for is called Arabica Typica. The coffee grows on the leeward side of Mauna Loa volcano at approximately 2,600 feet and because of this high elevation location; continually producing a larger percentage of the highest and most preferred grades of Kona coffee.

Koa Coffee Plantation employs organic farming practices to foster the ideal conditions for the trees to grow. First, the trees are planted in rich, fertile volcanic soil combined with a blend of natural nutrients and minerals. Each year, each tree is selectively pruned to strengthen them and to encourage a larger production and facilitate harvesting. The pruned branches become the mulch, which helps hold moisture and deter weeds.

Of equal importance, three to four times a year they fertilize using a combination of traditional methods and the cherry skins, a by-product of the wet-milling process, to naturally fertilize and nourish our trees. Likewise, they use the husks (a by-product of dry-milling) around the trees that also provide nutrients to the soil as well as deter weed growth.
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Hand-picking the Kona Coffee Beans
Each coffee cherry is selectively hand-harvested at their peak of ripeness. With handpicking ensures only the ripe cherries picked and the trees are not damaged in any way. Not only does handpicking make coffee cultivation more labor intensive in Kona than in most other coffee growing regions in the world but also because coffee blossoms appear over a several month period due Kona's steady rainfall and different elevations. That is, coffee cherries ripen at varying times causing the typical Kona harvest season to extend from August to April.
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Wet-method Processed
Once the coffee cherries have been picked, they must undergo processing to remove the outer layers of the skin and expose the coffee beans inside. When the coffee cherries arrive at our mill, they are always inspected for freshness and color before being sent into the cherry pulper, processing occurs within hours of their arrival. The pulper machine has rotating discs that remove the pulp (outer skin) by squeezing the cherry until the skin splits. The machine separates the beans and the pulp and protects the parchment (a thin protective membrane protecting the bean). It is these outer skins that are used to fertilize our trees. In 2002, they became the first farm in Kona to use a revolutionary wet-processing system from Columbia that is ecologically and environmentally efficient by lessening water usage (average of 80%) and contamination of our water supply. We believe that this new process contributed to our winning of the 2002 Kona Cupping Contest.
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Drying
After the wet-mill process, they use a new and sophisticated combination drying system to insure quality and enhance the bean flavor. First, the beans are carted out onto our drying deck to be sun dried. Specifically, beans are spread out on a flat platform known by its Japanese name, hoshidana, and exposed to the sun. The beans are shifted and raked often for uniform drying by the sun. Since Kona experiences many cloudy days, which could alter the profile of the bean, they also employ special mechanical dryers from Central and South America. When the beans are dried and reach certain moisture content (11.5%-12%), the coffee is called "parchment coffee", due to their stiff, white parchment-like skin.
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Dry Milling
The next step in the milling process after drying is called dry milling. At this stage, the parchment and silver-skin are removed, leaving the beans without any other protective coating called "green beans." Dry milling utilizes several machines that take the coffee from parchment to green bean. First, the huller is the machine that removes the parchment skin from the actual beans. Next, the green beans are placed in the sorter to be sized. This process separates the beans into different grades of Kona coffee.
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Storage
The green beans are stored in temperature and humidity controlled rooms. This preserves the ideal flavor profile of the green coffees. The Koa Coffee Plantation has found that coffee stored outside of climate and humidity control rooms begin to fade in color, lose its acidity, flatten out and lose its original flavor profile.
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