Importance of the Competition and the Significance of the Winning Bean

In the Kona region of Hawaii’s Big Island, there is no greater honor for a farm than to be named as producer of the winning bean at the Gevalia Kona Coffee Cupping Competition. Last year, more than 70 farms competed by submitting their Kona coffee samples within the competition’s rules for consideration. Over the two-and-a-half days I spent working with my fellow judges in cupping over 600 cups of submitted Kona coffee, I was struck by how much competing farms were enjoying the camaraderie of their special coffee community and how the annual Kona Festival speaks to the underlying enthusiasm the local growers hold for the Kona region, soil and coffee – and for their colleagues in the Kona region.

In my time spent on the slopes of Mount Hualalau and Mauna Loa in the Kona Districts, I have visited enormous coffee farms covering acres and acres, and have visited some farms that grow coffee only on an acre or two. But regardless of the total acreage of coffee crop produced by a particular farm, all entrants are equal at the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition. Each coffee farm submits a 50-pound sample of its Kona crop, from which five pounds are entered into the competition. The Kona Coffee Cupping Competition is a blind tasting, and as such, each five-pound sample of beans is assigned a number.

Once the field has been narrowed to 15 competitors, new numbers are assigned. This way, we judges are even more aware of maintaining an acute palate and can approach each cupping with a “blind tongue,” if you will. In addition to cupping each sample, we also examine the green and roasted beans of each submission to evaluate the properties of the beans. The beans are given marks in six categories: fragrance, aroma, taste, nose, aftertaste and body. The sample given the highest score becomes the winning bean – and the acreage of the submitting farm is never taken into consideration.

The equality amongst competitors from the outset of the Gevalia Kona Cupping Competition is what makes the competition such an integral part of the Kona crop every year. Gevalia relies on the Kona beans selected by the cupping panel to produce its Gevalia Kona Select Varietal coffee. When I am home in Gävle, cupping our Kona coffee, I am proud that it has come from a region so rich in coffee quality and worthy competitors.