A Made in America Coffee Product

Glancing at the advertisements that go along with this blog revealed an ad that I was curious about: namely, Kona Coffee. Kona Coffee is unique in that it is the only coffee that is grown on U.S. soil -- Hawaii, to be exact. Kona Coffee derives its name from a specific region in Hawaii, the north and south districts of Kona, located on the west side of the island. Coffee has been growing there since the 19th century, when a man named Samuel Ruggles brought cuttings imported from Brazil.

Now more than 100 years later, Kona Coffee is grown with the help of more than 600 farms in the region, most of which are small family concerns of little more than five acres. Kona Coffee is harvested between the months of August and January. Within 24 hours of the harvest, the ripe coffee cherries are run through what is called a pulper, in which the beans are separated from the cherry coating, and then placed in a fermentation tank overnight. Between 12 and 24 hours later, the beans are then placed on a drying rack and allowed to dry in the sun. From one to two weeks later, the dried beans are milled in order to remove the "parchment" from the bean.

It takes seven to nine pounds of cherries to make a single pound of roasted coffee, which retails for about $28 U.S.D. The Kona districts average about two million pounds of coffee a year. I am unsure at this point whether Kona coffee can be categorized as "fair trade" or "organic."

The reputation of Kona Coffee has unfortunately led to a good deal of cheating on the part of companies seeking to cash in on its good name. Some companies have been guilty of promoting their coffee as a "Kona Blend" when in fact it contains very little true Kona coffee at all.

Recently, a Kona Coffee Council has been formed to promote the economic interests of true Kona Coffee. They are presently engaged in lobbying the U.S. Federal government to introduce truth in labeling laws that will prevent predatory companies from using the Kona name.