Kona Gourmet Coffee

Gourmet Kona Coffee hails form the lovely land of Hawaii.  This tropical coffee is highly prized throughout the world for its full bodied flavor and pleasing aroma.  I mean it comes from Hawaii, so how could it be bad?  Even if you can’t make it to Hawaii, you can order it online.  So what makes Kona Coffee so special?  Read on to find out.

So here is a bit about the Kona Coffee Story.  Coffee trees thrive on the cool slopes of the Hualalai and Mauna Loa Mountains in rich volcanic soil and the pleasant afternoon cloud cover. Growing in this unique environment, Kona coffee has a distinct advantage over coffees grown in other parts of the world because of the lush qualities of the soil and climate. Coffee trees typically bloom after Kona’s dry winters and are harvested in autumn.

Coffee cultivated in the North and South districts of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii is the only coffee that can truly be called Kona Coffee.   – KonaCoffee.com

All Kona coffee is hand picked, pulped, dried and hulled.   This is a labor intensive process where you and I, the everyday coffee drinkers, can reap the benefits.  Machinery at the coffee mill sorts the beans into different grades by size and shape. Peaberry is top of the line.  This is the creme de la creme!  FYI: a peaberry bean is formed when one side of the flower fuses with the other leaving only one bean in the coffee cherry. This gives the peaberry a more concentrated flavor and makes up only about 5% to 10% of the total Kona Coffee harvest. Clearly, Peaberry is where it is at!  A 1 pound bag of this coffee currently retails for around $36.

From the process involved custom roastings, that is considered a true art form!  What emerges is dark roasts such as: French Roast, Italian or Espresso.  Medium roasts such as: Full-City and Vienna.  There is also flavored gourmet Kona coffee available.

To purchase 100% pure Kona Coffee, check the label. KONA BLEND means it may only contain 10% Kona beans. These are usually mixed with lower grade beans from Brazil, Central America, Africa and Indonesia. If you’re coming to the Big Island of Hawaii and the Kona Coast be sure to check out the numerous farms and coffee mills in the Kona Coffee Belt. – KonaCoffee.com

It partly depends on what you are after in your coffee. Are you looking for a particular taste, or maybe you just want to sample coffee from many different exotic regions. Though the differences between various types of gourmet coffee may be subtle, they are certainly there.

Blue Mountain coffee is considered to be one of the best gourmet coffees out there, but you may be disappointed in it if you enjoy a really bold cup of coffee. The flavour of this Jamaican coffee is actually very mild and won’t appeal to everyone. For something stronger, try some Kona beans from Hawaii. Still a smooth cup but with some spicy hints that make it a bit more interesting. Coffee beans from Ethiopia, like the Harrar or Yrgacheffe regions, will give you a coffee with very noticeable fruity tones, or even a “winy” taste.

So if you have a particular palate, do a bit of reading on the various gourmet coffee regions before spending a fortune on a pound of beans. You may find that the taste isn’t what you were expecting. Of course, that might be half the fun for someone who likes variety. Check out your local coffee shop and see if they have any freshly brewed coffee with these regional beans. Then you can taste for yourself before you buy.

You may also want to keep some ethical issues in mind when choosing gourmet coffee. Organic coffee means it was grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and fairly traded coffee means that it was purchased for a fair price, usually directly from the coffee growers. Another environmentally friendly choice is shade-grown coffee, found in plantations where the natural forest hasn’t been cleared and the coffee is just grown among the existing trees.

For anyone cutting back on caffeine, don’t worry. Nearly any gourmet coffee you can buy is also available in decaf.