If It’s Not 100%, It’s Not Kona coffee!

Have you ever processed coffee cherries on a coffee farm? Just yesterday, I returned from the Big Island of Hawai’i where Hans Eckert and his family showed my wife and I their Lyman Kona Coffee Farms where I helped process green beans. I hope to visit again soon and participate more fully in the process.

Pure Kona coffee is recognized around the world for its unique flavor and aroma, prized for it’s high quality. With high demand and a limited supply, it is one of the most expensive coffees to buy. In contrast, coffee labeled “Kona Blend” typically contains 10% Kona beans, mixed with other less-expensive coffees from other islands or parts of the world. Kona blends can be tasty, but most coffee aficionados agree that if it’s not 100%, it’s not Kona coffee. At Lyman Kona Coffee Farms in Kailua-Kona, only the real stuff is offered, and it’s excellent!

In the Kona region, there are about 750 coffee farms; most are small family farms, usually just two to three acres in size. Nearly 90% of all Kona Coffee is sold as Cherry by these small farms, directly to large processing companies—right after picking. While most of the 100% Kona Coffee comes from these large processors and represents good Kona Coffee, it can never be called “Estate” coffee because it comes from many different farm origins, from high to low elevation, and from growers who apply vastly differing levels of care and quality control to their product. Less than 10% of all Kona Coffee farms are Coffee Estates.

Lyman Kona Coffee Farms produces Estate coffee. With 3,200 Coffee Arabica (Kona Typica variety) trees at 2000 feet in North Kona, which has over the last 120+ years become the hallmark of Kona’s best, Hans and his helpers, including volunteers from WWOF (Willing to Work On Organic Farms) harvest red cherries almost year round. Growing his own coffee seedlings, pruning, using organic weed control, and applying only organic fertilizers, Hans puts quality first. And that is an understatement. Wet milled on location where the cherries are pulped, they dry in the Hawaiian sun on a drying deck, and are sent to a climate controlled facility after being sorted into Select, Peaberry, and Private Reserve.

Waking up every morning to a cup of French pressed coffee, Hans and I talked coffee for hours on end. And like many other coffee establishments, he has started to join the conversation online, having set up a Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook account.

If you plan to visit the Big Island of Hawai’i, consider staying at the Mango Sunset Bed & Breakfast Inn where you’ll get to know the Eckert family and their Lyman Kona Coffee Farms. Enjoy the 100% Kona coffee and make sure to strike up caffeinated conversations with Hans and his family about the coffee trees on the hillside right below the lanai.

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