In Hawaii, coffee trees thrive on the cool slopes of the Hualalai and Mauna Loa Mountains in rich volcanic soil and afternoon cloud cover. 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
Before being graded, Kona coffee is hand picked, pulped, dried and hulled. Machinery at the coffee mill sorts the beans into different grades by size and shape. Peaberry is top of the line. 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. Top grades (in descending order) include extra fancy, fancy, No.1 and prime
Kona Coffee is sun dried, then custom roasted depending on desired results and differences in moisture of the beans. A good roasting process (and processor) can make a world of difference. Roasting is referred to as an "art form" by many in the trade. Dark roasts are typically called French Roast, Italian or Espresso. Medium roasts include Full-City and Vienna. Flavored coffee is either sprayed or powdered immediately after roasting for best absorbtion of the added flavor. Just after roasting the oxidation process begins and coffee is at its freshest.
Air tight containers and freezing coffee will optimize freshness. Whole bean stored in this manner retains a recommended shelf life of about three months, ground coffee about a month. Growers suggest buying in whole bean form and grinding just before brewing each pot. ~ Redacted from http://konacoffee.com/coffeestory.html
While I disagree that "freezing coffee will optimize freshness" and that shelf life is "about three months" I have to admit that I am very intrigued with this coffee that is grown in the soil of volcanic ash. I am looking forward to roasting this bean fresh and serving it at the coffee roasting demonstration on Saturday, March 23rd. There are a few seats left if you are interested - email me.
As coffee roasts there are two things that happen.
1. The moisture cooks off
2. The sugars in the beans caramelize
The art is to cook the beans raw enough to leave the natural God given flavor but cooked well enough that those caramelized sugars do a tango on your tongue.
Did you know that I can make green coffee beans dance?
Recently I have started roasting on Wednesdays only. This was an economic decision as well as a family welfare decision. Since I use the family kitchen to roast I recognized that it was not fair to my family to take up the kitchen 3 times a week when with better management I could occupy it only once. And too many times trying to get a fellow coffee enthusiasts order of $6.00 to them I had to make the hard decision that it is just not economically worth spending the 2 hours needed to process an individual order alone. So, Wednesdays it is... Please don't get me wrong, I love $6.00 orders (heck, I love $1.00 orders) but to insure that I don't go out of business in a few months I have to insist that small orders are filled with the larger group of orders.
If you would like to have some coffee roasted, please let me know so I can get your order on the schedule.
I was thinking today how a husband invited me to do a roasting demonstration at his wife's birthday party. It dawned on me that any middle school kid can buy flowers to show his affection to his girl but it takes a man with real insight to get his love such a rare treasure for her birthday. She's going to love it!
Since it is the holiday season, please let me know if I can provide you with some coffee for your special events - your guests will do a double back-flip with a single twist when they taste how good your coffee is. (You do know that is hyperbole right?) Take a look at what I have to offer.
If you have not yet taken the time to find the easter egg on the website - lucky for you there is still time. Go over to the Anchor Bay Roasts website, find that easter egg, and you will be entered in (with the other 3 people) this month's drawing for FREE coffee.
Since I am scheduled to begin supplying the fresh-roasted coffee at our church (VOX Church) I am going to be doing a coffee demonstration this Sunday and feature the Indian Monsooned Malabar. I plan to roast and brew so that people may watch the process and sample the freshest coffee this side of the equator. If you're not doing anything on Sunday come on out and taste the goodness. (learn about VOX)
Well - as promised Thom has seen fit to change his 50% plus of the Coffee Dreams post. John - is seriously considering that allowing me to be a guest blogger may have ended his blogging career.
Here is Thom's take on the coffee roasting experience.
The Other Side…
It was still early, Friday night around 5:30 PM and Malcolm had already called me three times, left voice mails for my wife twice, and sent out several text messages and emails. The messages were all the same: Thom, do not come over before 10 AM – otherwise, you might not like what you find (imagine Malcolm sitting in his wife’s pink bathrobe at his computer creating fabulous stories of grandeur and laughing hysterically to himself).
[I note here that Thom fails to account for the Oatmeal Breakfast Stout in the bathrobe pocket - but then this is his rebuttal - so I shall let him continue]
Due to snow and a pregnant wife asking for just three more things to be done before leaving, I didn’t arrive at Malcolm’s until 10:30 AM. I drove faster and faster though, worried that my friend would not wait for me, but instead pioneer ahead without me. Finally I arrived… and was somewhat concerned at the sight of hazy smoke pouring out as Malcolm guiltily opened the door. He had indeed begun without me; luckily though it was with just a handful of beans in a skillet to make what he repeatedly called Cowboy Coffee. It was wonderful – the smell was deep and strong, the color a black mocha. The steam coming off the mug actually tickled my nose and forced a slight giggle out of me (which I quickly covered with a cough).
After much debate, two spreadsheets, a PowerPoint presentation, and a heads/tails toss of the coin, we started roasting the Costa Rican beans. I spent the first hour trying to distract Malcolm, so as to keep him from continually opening the oven door and frowning at the beans: “Why aren’t you popping!” Finally, after turning up the oven and hearing a few lonely pops, we pulled beans out. We both sampled a few and found them to our liking. We set them aside and immediately began roasting the Brazilian beans. We played with the oven settings – going from 410 to 425, trying to find the golden spot – the perfect temperature. We heard a glorious sound after only 5 minutes... it was a choir of popping, aww yes, such a sweet popping sound, like little angles clapping their hands to our hard work.
The smile upon Malcolm’s face was indescribable – the kind of smile that makes every wrinkle disappear and the eyes glaze over with contentment. We congratulated each other - our second batch was successfully roasting away, quickly approaching the famous 2nd pop… just as we had hoped and dreamed it would.
The process was at its end – we were happy, sad, wired and exhausted.What a morning… why oh why had it taken us so long in life to rediscover the simple and beautiful process of roasting our own coffee.It was at this point I noticed Malcolm fondly holding the bowl of yummy roasted coffee beans close to his chest.He had a look in his eyes… the look of pure determination, “this is mine.. mine.. all mine.”I realized then we had not discussed how, if at all, we were going to divide the beans.I knew I had one chance at breaking through to Malcolm and so I did the only thing I could, I casually handed Malcolm a paper bag and with arms wide declared loudly, “well done my friend, now, let’s hug it out.”Needless to say, I left with half the beans, of which I’m now enjoying my first cup.
Ok – time for a reality check: The process was very fun and exciting, though in the oven on a pan seems to take a considerably long time – about 1-2 hours depending on how dark you want to go.
I’ve heard about a popcorn popper that works much quicker – any comments out there?The taste of the coffee is satisfactory; I would call it a light bodied smooth blended taste.It isn’t nearly as harsh/dark/acidic as I sometimes like my coffee, but still good.I think we needed to roast it longer to bring out a more robust flavor.I’m excited to try again and again and again.
My friend Malcolm has this funny way of getting me into new things. First it was beer tasting, then it was wine tasting, then it was scotch tasting (do you notice a theme?). He likely would have gotten me into cigar smoking were it not for the fact that I had quit smoking after having spent over 10 years with the habit (my wife doth protest this particular vice). So now it is my turn to influence him, he liked the idea of roasting his own coffee so he decided to give it a try.
He obtained some Brazilian Mogiana green beans and decided that Saturday morning he would roast them at 400 deg/f in the oven on a cookie sheet. I have not tried the oven roasting method so I was particularly interested in his results. The only advice that I offered him was to take the battery out of his smoke detector and then I waited to learn how it went.
The following day I took my son out on a Daddy-Son Date and when I returned home I had a 20 second message on my answering machine. Click **** HERE **** to listen to the message.
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