The Gevalia Crown Competition

As I mentioned in my first post after our trip to Kona, Gevalia introduced a second competition this year to the Kona Coffee Competition: the Crown Competition. The Crown Competition was open to all farms that had large enough crops to submit 3,000 lbs. of coffee to be considered for an exclusive Gevalia Kona Coffee. This year, there were 11 entrants, and the winning coffee was ‘Ono Kona Coffee, from Arianna Farms.

Arianna Farms is a 40-acre farm in Holualoa with an elevation of 1,600-2,000 feet. The farm is many decades old, and for the last eight years it has been run by owners Sharon and Bob Wood. Of the farm’s 40 acres, 12 are in full-production of coffee, four are planted with the coming Kona crop and six are ready to be planted. You can learn more about Arianna Farms at www.ariannafarms.com.

In addition to owning a successful farm, the Woods are a wonderful example of dedicated growers. The Woods came to Kona for the first time on their honeymoon in 1993, visited the Kona Coffee Festival and fell in love with the Big Island. In the years since, they moved to Kona, had a daughter, Arianna, and began their coffee adventure on their farm in Holualoa.

I spoke with Sharon Wood following the competition and she and Bob told me that one of the most important things about being growers is being good stewards of the land. The Woods themselves have lovingly cultivated a selection of old Kona trees they have been growing organically. In addition, the Woods have received a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a program they have started that reintroduces native Hawaiian plant species to Hawaii. Even on their small farm in Holualoa, the Woods have found trees and plants native to their land – Koa, Hibiscus, etc. – and have reintroduced them to the unique Kona soil.

I was delighted when Arianna Farms was awarded first prize in the Crown Competition. The Woods are an important part of Kona coffee today, and I am looking forward to working with them to produce the exclusive Arianna Farms Kona Coffee from Gevalia, scheduled to be available in spring 2008.

The Kona Coffee Farm Experience

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is traveling to the world’s coffee production regions. This year’s trip to Kona was particularly memorable, as it marked David’s first tour of a Kona coffee farm.

Greenwell Farms was the first Kona farm we visited. Tommy Greenwell has been a friend for many years, and his grandparents began farming coffee at Greenwell Farms in the early 1900s. Amazingly, some of the first coffee plants still bear fruit – and this was the first stop on our tour of the farm. As you can see by the photograph below, the red berries are ready for one of the pickers to come by and harvest them.

Tommy, David and I then visited the pulping vats and drying roofs. In the vats, the cherries are cleaned away until only the coffee beans inside remain. Then, the wet beans are spread carefully and evenly on one of the nearby roofs to dry in the sun for several days. An interesting tidbit: it rains nearly every day in Kona, albeit briefly. As you can see from these photographs, the roofs are flat but there is a peaked portion that moves on runners and is pulled over the drying beans to keep the rain out during the storms.

After the beans dry, they are sorted by bean quality. At this point, the Kona peaberry is separated out from the Kona coffee beans. The peaberry accounts for about 3% of all Kona coffee, and occurs when the coffee cherry yields one round, pea-shaped bean rather than two halves (what we envision when someone says “coffee bean”). Kona peaberry coffee is highly sought-after coffee and is the most expensive type of Kona available on the market today. David and I sampled and compared Greenwell’s Kona and Kona peaberry coffees, and found the latter to be slightly lighter with a bit of a sparkling taste.

Once sorting has taken place, the beans are bagged and prepared for shipment. The beans are shipped as green beans to ensure freshness – we roast them once we receive them in Gävle to make sure we offer only freshly-roasted coffees to our customers.

As David said to me at the end of the day, “The more I learn, the more I want to learn.” I think most people who are passionate about coffee feel this way, too. So please do share any comments or questions with us about Kona, coffee production regions, farms or anything else that’s on your mind.

Kona: 2007 Gevalia Cupping Competition

David and I have just returned from our week in Kona. It was David’s first trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, and my eighth, and we had a marvelous time. We were shown tremendous island hospitality by everyone at the coffee festival and by our friends like Trent Bateman and Tommy Greenwell, two of Kona’s coffee growers. Over the next few times I write to you, I am going to share our experiences in Kona: cupping, farms, people and David’s experience at his first cupping competition, where he served as a guest judge. Today, I’d like to share this year’s competition winners.

For the first time this year, Gevalia hosted two coffee competitions: the Classic Competition and the Crown Competition. The Classic Competition is open to all Kona coffee farms, and entrants must submit 50 pounds of coffee to be considered for the prize. This year’s winner was Kona Old Style, a 2 ½ - acre organic farm in Kealakekua, Hawaii, owned by Una Greenway and her husband, Leon Rosner. Although David and I and the other three judges sampled 66 submissions, there was simply no comparison: Una and Leon’s Kona coffee was a clear winner. Second prize was awarded to Malia Ohana and third prize went to J. Yokoyama. Talking with these winners was a very special part of the competition, and I will tell you more about each farm in upcoming posts. I’ll also let you know how you can visit them on the Web or in person when you find yourself in Kona.

This year, Gevalia introduced the Crown Competition, open to larger farms that were required to submit 3,000 pounds of Kona coffee to be considered. This year, David and I sampled the coffee from eleven finalists in this competition, and were delighted to award first prize to Ono Kona Coffee of Holualoa, Hawaii, owned by Sharon and Bob Wood. The Woods were awarded an exclusive contract with Gevalia, which will purchase their 3,000 pounds of coffee and create a limited-edition Kona coffee from their beans.

In my eight years at Kona, this was the best coffee I have tasted. Since the crop was early this year, the beans had plenty of time to reach optimal maturation, and the taste was reflective of this. I’ll share more soon, but in the meantime, please let me know your thoughts and questions – or, even better, please let us know if you were able to visit us this year in Kona. We would very much like to hear your thoughts on the coffee and the competition, and to share our photos with you.

Leadup to Kona: Current Climate Conditions and Preparations for the 2007 Kona Coffee Cupping Competition

In a little more than a week, David and I will be working hard to choose next year’s Kona coffee for Gevalia. After last year’s competition, in which over 70 farms participated, we are very excited to sample this year’s Kona crop. From the moment our plane touches down in Kona, we will be on the move, visiting Kona farms and catching up with our friends, the growers. We will also become acquainted with the other members of the judging panel for the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition, and prepare for the two-day tasting.

I look forward to introducing David to Kona, since this is his first visit to Hawaii and one of the most important parts of his role as Master Taster Apprentice. After many years of judging the competition and working with the growers, it is a privilege to be able to introduce them to David. Although I have worked with generations of growers, this is the first time the next generation of Gevalia Master Taster has been introduced to the coffee community, and is truly a unique occasion.

Throughout the year, our growers in Kona have kept us abreast of weather and climate news. We are in for a wonderful trip: temperatures are about 75-85°F during the day and there is a light breeze of up to 10MPH. There have been some rainstorms, but this should not impact our trip or the Kona crop in the slightest.

Kona at Home: How to Store This Year’s Winning Kona Blend

As every coffee drinker knows, maintaining the freshness of beans or grounds is essential. People are always sharing with me their methods for storing coffee, and I am often asked for my recommendations for storing coffee. And I always give the same advice: it is necessary to maintain optimal temperature and air conditions.

As any coffee drinker can tell you, there is nothing worse than the taste of coffee brewed from stale beans or grounds. In our tasting setting in Gävle, David and I are very careful to maintain an agreeable temperature. Even though beans are hard to the touch, they are as sensitive in their response to adverse temperature conditions as a painting or an instrument. So, we must always keep coffee at temperatures that ensure the best aroma, color and taste.

As I have shared previously, the ideal temperature for cupping is 62-65°C (144-149°F), and we strictly adhere to this guideline every day at Gevalia, since we know that doing otherwise would impact our taste experience. When it comes to storing coffee, temperature also remains paramount. It is my recommendation that coffee be stored at 8°C (46°F). This is on the colder side for a refrigerator, but, in my experience, this storage temperature guarantees optimal results for bean color and aroma as well as the perfect brewed cup down the road.

The other important factor to consider while storing is air. As with fruits, which become overripe when left to out of refrigeration for too long, or breads, which harden with too much exposure to the air, coffee can also be adversely affected by air. As such, I recommend storing coffee beans and grounds in an airtight container to maintain freshness and guarantee later enjoyment. If temperature and airtight conditions are met, one will be guaranteed a lovely cup of brewed coffee when the time is right.

If you follow these guidelines, you will always have a fresh cup of coffee, no matter how long your beans or grounds have been in refrigeration. Combined with a tight seal, you are guaranteed success – no matter what the bean or the blend.

Cupping Kona: the Subtleties Involved in Cupping Different Beans

This will be my ninth year serving on the judging panel at the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition in Kona, Hawaii. Although I cup coffee every day in Sweden for Gevalia, the cupping experience at Kona is truly unique.

While I employ a consistent method to tasting all blends and beans, the charged atmosphere of the Kona Competition requires that a particular and undivided attention be given in a very intense and exciting situation. In Sweden, David and I cup between 250 and 300 cups of coffee daily, but the challenge of choosing the winning bean at Kona requires two intense days of four judges each cupping over 600 cups per day. If this year is as successful as last year for the Kona growers and the crop produced, I anticipate that more than 70 farms will enter their coffee into the competition.

David and I often discuss how important it is to cup in the same manner from day to day. There is, of course, a science that we follow closely. But as the number of cups I work with doubles for two days at Kona, I will need to rely on things beyond the science of cupping, and trust that decades of honing my senses of smell and taste will serve me well. And, of course, I will be carrying my lucky cupping spoon with me. I never cup coffee without it.

My Sense of Responsibility to Millions of Coffee Drinkers: the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition

At Kona, it is always very exciting to cup the world’s most exclusive coffee bean. Kona coffee grows only on the volcanic slopes of the Kona region in Hawaii, which certainly limits the acreage on which coffee can be grown.

In my travels, there is one constant theme: people always share stories about their favorite cup of coffee. While each story is unique, the storytellers share a devotion to coffee. And for Kona drinkers, the amount of coffee grown per year is limited, and it is essential that only the best beans be offered to customers. So, for everyone whose favorite cup of coffee is Kona, the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition is of utmost importance. Indeed, while I am at Kona, I know that cupping the year’s coffee harvest is pivotal for the drinkers of the year’s Kona offering.

My goal at Kona is to choose the Kona bean that will mean every Kona drinker enjoys his or her cup of coffee to the utmost. The responsibility to Kona drinkers is always on my mind when I am in Hawaii, and I hope that when you enjoy your cup of Kona coffee, you will remember that your favorite cup of coffee has been selected with care.