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Kona coffee – insight from the inside

 
 
 
 

Two and a half weeks ago, during the annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, the staple Gevalia Kona Cupping Competition took place.  To the best of my knowledge, there is no greater collection of Kona coffees in one place than this competition.  Submission is free and any farm in Kona is permitted to submit a sample.  This year, for the first time, I had the honor and pleasure of judging the competition.

While there are many coffee competitions around the globe, I suspect that no other has a pool of coffees from such a narrow geographical range.  Moreover, I doubt any has a collection that carries the myriad of reputations that Kona coffee’s carry.  Let’s face it; some folks are absolute believers in Kona coffee while others propose that the quality does not support the price.  With well over 600 farms in Kona, every spot on the spectrum of quality is likely to be produced.

And that is precisely what I discovered.  During the competition, I tasted defective coffees as well as extraordinary coffees that would easily vie for any coffee geek’s adoration.  As expected, the vast majority of the coffees were neither terrible nor exceptional.  Rather, they fell in the middle, as any normal distribution (bell curve) would predict.

There’s a lot more going on with Kona coffees than most folk realize.  I submit that there is a coffee in Kona to satisfy every person’s desired quality.  Yet, few people take the time (or expense) to explore the possibilities.  While this is understandable, is a shame, since the coffees from this origin and region are so accessible!   

There’s a great deal about the competition I’d like to write about.  However, I’m not keen to make this post a short story.  Thus, I’ll throw out some topics for you to ponder.  If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on them, post a comment here or get in touch with me directly. As all the topics are posed as questions, I encourage you to take a stab at answering them (and sharing that answer with me)!

Some of those topics, in no particular order:
-This competition could do more to improve the quality of Kona coffee than anything else.  Why is it seemingly having no effect whatsoever?  
-There were plenty of complex, thought-provoking coffees on the table.  If they exist (and the coffees I judged represented a random sample), why don’t more customers know about them?  Is it because customers seeking such coffees aren’t looking hard enough, because the coffees are roasted too dark, because the farms aren’t even sure which bag of coffee they drew the sample from, or something else?
-This competition aims to identify the coffee that most exemplifies the “classic” Kona profile.  What, if anything, is so special about that profile?
-Considering these coffees were the result of perhaps the worst drought Kona coffee farmers have ever experienced, why were so few coffees defective?
-Why was the number of submitted samples relatively low this year?
-With these coffees being so young (from harvest), how will they taste in 6 months?
-Why is this competition, so important to the festival and Kona, hardly known outside of the Big Island?

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REVIEWS & COMMENTS

  • KONA IS A BIT LIKE MERLOT

    Wakeknot | Sat, 11/05/2011 - 11:34

    there is great stuff out there, but there is bad stuff, too, and the key is to make sure people find the good stuff.

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  • I THINK YOU RUN INTO A

    intrepid510 | Wed, 10/26/2011 - 02:07

    I think you run into a problem as the cost is prohibitive to really see this in third wave bars when you can Ethiopian coffees for half the price. Then the only people that think it's good are people that are just buying because they think its good and only get a blend that might have 10%. So in other words the coffee doesn't really have a good name in my opinion.

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  • THE BRAND

    EricBNC | Wed, 09/07/2011 - 22:00


    By separating themselves from the pack they will dilute the over all image of Kona coffee - right now most people think Kona is great because it is supposed to be - if individual farms deviate then the increase in price for some would be offset by forcing lesser crops to sell for lower prices which damages the mystique of the brand thus driving prices into a decreasing spiral.

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  • I LIKE THE POST AND AGREE

    Gerald Kinro | Tue, 11/30/2010 - 15:24

    I like the post and agree with many of your answers. If I may make a some commets, however.

    I liken the cuppping competetion to a beauty pageant where I look at the winner then take a walk downtown where I see many that could rival her. They just did not enter. I know several farmers who are unwilling to part with even 50 pounds of beans. Some enter every five years or so.

    The classic Kona profile. I believe this came about before any of us were born. In those days, and in succeeding years, there were few, if any, private labels. Most of Kona coffee was a blend from different Kona farms. With the rise of private labels, there is an increase in variation.

    For nostalgia's sake, I try to find the cup that matches the one I grew up with in Kona several decades ago. Just a few come close, and one of them is from Kau. One of the subtle themes in my book is that Kona was or is grown with heart--where a farmer loved and cared for each tree as if it were his/her child (My 90 pound mother hauled water in a bucket to offer a drink to a suffering tree during periods of drought.)

    That said, I still enjoy Kona coffee and purchase regularly. While I especially enjoy the ones grown, processed, roasted, and brewed at home by old friends, I see that many of the changes in taste and the inductry are for the good.

  • ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS

    Lee Paterson | Mon, 11/29/2010 - 12:35

    -This competition could do more to improve the quality of Kona coffee than anything else. Why is it seemingly having no effect whatsoever?

    Becauase Gavalia sees this as a competition rather than a quality improvement event. Think of a foot race where the victor is lauded but the coach refuses to tell either the victor or the other racers what they can do to run faster. No one leaves the Gavilia compeition with any idea of how they can improve their growing practices. I have had winners tell me they don't know why they won.

    =There were plenty of complex, thought-provoking coffees on the table. If they exist (and the coffees I judged represented a random sample), why don’t more customers know about them? Is it because customers seeking such coffees aren’t looking hard enough, because the coffees are roasted too dark, because the farms aren’t even sure which bag of coffee they drew the sample from, or something else?

    I beleive it is because coffee tends to be judged by origin rather than by farm. If you tell someone you tried Napa wine and didn't like it, the obvious response is "Whose label did you try?" In contrast I have read numerous "experts" opine about Kona Coffee without identifying any label. Until Kona coffee is identified by farm, Kona coffee's reputation is going to be determined by the large container loads of mediocre coffee that are being shipped by the major distribtors.

    -This competition aims to identify the coffee that most exemplifies the “classic” Kona profile. What, if anything, is so special about that profile?

    What is the profile? Kona coffee is any coffee grown on a coffee tree in the Kona Coffee belt. There are at least fifteen different varieties of coffee being grown in Kona, so how can there be a profile?

    -Considering these coffees were the result of perhaps the worst drought Kona coffee farmers have ever experienced, why were so few coffees defective?
    The drought ended in May. For many famers that saved a partial crop.

  • DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

    joachim | Mon, 11/29/2010 - 02:35

    Winning this competition is a double edged sword for a small farm: Supply is limited and prices will therefore go up to prevent sellout of the annual harvest within weeks. Both will disappoint the regular steady customers who order from the small farm. Those are the most precious and profitable customers! Never ever disappoint them--they have found you on their own and love your product. Love them back by giving them what they want, at the price they are used to.

    There's a high demand for the annual Kona Cupping winners coffee. And this is in most cases a notoriously finicky crowd: Always needing the insurance to get what is officially the 'best'. They are here today, but gone with the next years winner. Again, not the customer to win over to stabilize a business. Yet like frantic sheep, the Kona farmers run to this competition in hope that a win would solve their marketing problems.

    Farmers shouldn't compete with each other, but nurture their products. Plus nurture relations amongst themselves and to their customers. This brings me to the other question: How can a competition like this nurture the overall Kona coffee quality? The one year we participated, we got somebody else's beans back, mixed with macadamia nut shells (!?!). A fellow farmer showed me the same in her returns. So whose beans of the 'winner' were these actually?

    It is high time to change the roaster for the competition, get a better, multi-party screening of the WHOLE process from dry milling to roasting to cupping. That would reinstall lost credibility to the competition with the farmers again. And more would participate.

    Then there's an inflation of local cupping competitions. Including the obligatory 'People's Choice'. Which is most often not the judges opinion. There are so many ribbons, buttons, stickers floating around on bags, its creating more confusion than help for the customer. The festival itself is wonderful, quirky, fun and very aromatic. It is actually really well known to the crowd who should attend. It certainly is not a buyer or roaster trade show event.

    I am overjoyed that we'll get our University of Hawaii Kona office field agent position filled again. Since more than a century this job is a cornerstone in the betterment of Kona coffee. Let's see how this will show in raising the overall quality of the small farms. I agree that there are a bunch of farmers who think just being 'small' allows them to cut corners. But they all learn; some faster, some slower. With the agent, we Kona farmers will get better fast.

    Aloha from the sunny isles!

  • DRINKING KONA IN HAWAII

    Lavarock | Sun, 11/28/2010 - 15:13

    Almost every island here produces coffee and certainly Kona is the best known (lately, Kau coffee is giving Kona some competition). Maui residents have re-energized a farm over there and Molokai has been producing coffee for quite some time. Kauai has a very large coffee producer, however their coffee is machine picked, unlike Kona coffee that is hand picked.

    On the Big Island most of the big stores carry mostly 10% blends. For example, K-Mart and Target have little 100% Kona on the shelves. Looking at Royal Kona Coffee brand, on my last trip to Target I counted 44 rows of 10% blend and 4 rows of 100% Kona. Often there is no 100% Kona there. It is not that it flies off the shelves, but that tourists are looking for an inexpensive gift to take home and think a 10% Kona blend is Kona Coffee (hint: 90% of it is not).

    Most resorts serve a Kona Blend. A resort manager told me the coffee distributors offer "coffee service". They supply coffee machines and packets of coffee for the rooms and pump pots and supplies for the restaurants all at a fixed price. If the resort wants 100% Kona, the price goes up. The resorts are looking to keep their costs low, so they go with the cheaper alternative.

    Many restaurants offer "Kona Coffee" and if you ask the server, they tell you "Yes, it's Kona", because they don't know better. When asked to produce the bag or tell which farm the coffee comes from, the bag eventually shows that it too is a blend. I don't think the servers are lying, they just don't understand.

    Jack In The Box advertises nationally "Kona Classic Coffee" with a registered trademark symbol by the Classic, yet it is a blend. Here in the islands the farmers complained and the local restaurants off the coffee as "Hawaiian Paradise Coffee".

    So to answer your question, many small farms offer 100% Kona for sale and to taste. The so called "Welcome Centers" and stores sell mostly blends.

    I can tell you that probably the best selection of 100% Kona coffees for sale is at the small out-of-the-way supermarket called "Choice Mart" in Captain Cook. They have perhaps 20 different 100% Kona Coffee farms presented. Mainlanders looking for 100% Kona should probably buy directly from a farm via the Internet.

  • THE COMPETITION

    Lavarock | Sun, 11/28/2010 - 14:47

    When you stated that anyone could enter the competition, that is not quite correct. In 2008 Willy Peterson (Master Taster for Gevalia) wrote "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." The year before they had to submit 50 pounds.

    It USED to be that all Kona Coffees were compared side by side. As I understand it, small farms kept winning the competition and those farms did not have enough coffee to allow Gevalia to buy it in any quantity large enough to sell. You can infer from this that the acutal winner of the "Crown" competition may not be the best of all the Kona Coffees tasted, it may just be the best of the large farms.

    I don't fault Gevalia for the decision to split the competition, because their reason for supporting it is to get a quality coffee to sell. Still, as I say, the best may not be the biggest.

  • COOL POST. LET ME ASK: ANY

    broseph | Sun, 11/28/2010 - 14:46

    Cool post. Let me ask: any idea how much Kona is drunk in Hawaii and how much is shipped to the contiguous, or elsewhere? Is it like good Chinese tea, where the locals keep the best stuff for themselves?

    As for the appeal of the classic Kona profile. My mom loves it and gives a pretty good explanation. That super mild taste is coffee. *Is* coffee. Coffee stripped of the high acidity or floral or crazy fruit that coffee pros in particular seem to like. Coffee *essence.* To her anyway, and I suspect to many others. It's what people think about when they think about coffee flavor, maybe in part because coffee flavored things (like ice creams and candies) aren't that far off from the profile.

    Brazilian pulp naturals get a similar response.

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