Big Island Coffee: Kona, Ka'u, Puna and Hamakua

While visiting California last year I met someone in a library who was talking about the Kona coffee he had with breakfast that morning. "You know there is only a little bit of land in Hawaii to grow coffee," he told me, "that's not enough for everyone in the country to be able to drink it."
Looking up from my book I smiled, "Yes," I said, "I know, I live there."

For the past hundred years coffee from Kona district has been the internationally famous face of Hawaiian coffee. Kona is also the producer of some of the world's most expensive coffees. What most people don't know is that of the 7 million pounds of coffee produced in Hawaii every year, only half of it is from Kona.

Hawaii Island District Map
from google images

 

Coffee is grown industrially on five of the Hawaiian islands, most prominently on the Big Island where there are four major coffee districts: Kona, Ka'u, Puna and Hamakua.

 

Being a world famous and very expensive coffee, Kona coffee is often sold in bags of 10% Kona to lower the price. Kona farms are also very tourist friendly and you can visit many of the famous brand's farms and their manufacturing areas. There is also an annual Kona Coffee Cultural festival in early November. You can visit the site here

http://www.konacoffeefest.com/

 

Ka'u coffee is generally described as floral sometimes with chocolate, cherry, coconut, orchid or citrus flavors. "It's less acidic than Kona coffee." A girl at a Hilo farmer's market booth told me. Ka'u has done very well in both regional and international competitions. Over the last four years it has placed top ten in the Coffee Association of America Convention. Having earned a reputation as "one of the best coffees anywhere" Ka'u coffee is described as being on the rise in the coffee world. Ka'u coffee can be bought online, even Starbucks has some Ka'u coffee in stock occasionally. It can also be purchased on the island at the farms themselves, the Farmer's Market or the Ka'u Coffee festival held in May. You can see the Ka'u Coffee Festival site here: http://www.kaucoffeefest.com/Main/default.aspx

 

Coffee picking.
A naturally dried coffee bean in Puna.

 

Puna coffee, grown between Hilo and Volcanoes Nation Park has been described by the County of Hawaii Agriculture as being "an outstanding coffee with very full body, heavy, with nutty overtones." One of my favorite places to get Hilo coffee is at the Xpresso Coffee Cooth in Prince Kuhio Mall. In my experience Puna coffee is deep and delicious with a stronger caffeine buzz.

 

Hamakua has a few coffee farms on the slopes of Mauna Loa and is usually described as incredibly rich. The few times I've tried Hamakua coffee I've been pleasantly surprised at its wonderful body and aftertaste.

 

If you have a hankering for Hawaiian coffee it's worth looking into the award winning brands from different Hawaii districts and finding out which one you prefer.

 

Yours Caffeinated,

Arah