Hawaiian Coffee Ka`u Coffee Information Blue bottle Coffee Cooperative Manor Hawaiian Coffee varieties

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Since so many coffees are grown thousands of miles away, Blue bottle is happy to have the opportunity to work with a coffee grower in the back garden of the United States, Lori of Rusty' s Hawaiian. Obera (Lorie Obra). Rusty Hawaii is a 12-acre (4.9 hectare) coffee farm on the south side of the island. I have visited Rusty in the past and recently decided to go back and learn more about the way the manor coffee is grown and handled.

Rusty is located on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in the Ka`u producing area of the big island, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from the Kona coffee producing area. The estate is located at an altitude of about 2000 feet (611m), which is quite high above sea level by local Hawaiian standards.

Lori is a member of a group of coffee farmers in Ka`u, whose local fame is built by calloused hands. She and her late husband Rusty emigrated from New Jersey in 1999 and built the estate. When they were in New Jersey, they were medical examiners and pharmacists. They wanted to live near Rusty's parents, who had worked for the area's leading sugar cane farm until it was closed in 1996. At first, Lori said, they thought about opening a Dunkin' Donuts franchise or a ── until they visited a friend's new coffee farm, part of which was intended to convert abandoned sugar cane plantations into coffee. According to her description: "We saw the bright red fruit on the manor and the fruitful coffee trees." At the moment, we don't have to talk to each other anymore. we already know what's going on inside us, and that's what we're going to do next. "

The couple rented a large piece of land on the hillside south of Mauna Loa, which is surrounded by mountains and wild sugar cane, with a broad view of the Pacific Ocean to the south. They planted up to 7, 000 coffee trees covering an area of more than 9 acres (3. 6 hectares) using seedlings donated by family friends in the Kona and Ka`u areas, mainly from volunteers. Since the nearest coffee processing plant is located in Kona, they decided to process it themselves, which means buying special equipment, including peelers, shellers and even small bean baking machines. Since both men have scientific backgrounds and have worked in the laboratory, they are well aware of all the factors that may affect quality and want to master all the links.

Soon, Rusty began to have new coffee farmers on other estates who wanted him to lead the burgeoning Ka`u coffee farmers' cooperative (Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative). William the coffee grower. William Tabios once mentioned to Rusty that he felt from the bottom of his heart that it was impossible to achieve anything as a coffee farmer. Rusty assured him that the golden age was coming. Sure enough, in 2007, the American Fine Coffee Association (Specialty Coffee Association of America, SCAA) ranked Tabio's coffee beans as the sixth best coffee in the world. After that, Tabio and other coffee farmers in Ka`u, including Rusty, won such awards year after year.

Unfortunately, Rusty did not live to see the success of the cooperative and his own self-made estate. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he asked Lori to give up the manor because he thought it would be too hard for her to carry it on her own. When Rusty died in 2006, Lori could not find anyone to take over the estate and had to try to keep running it.

In 2008, their landowners invited several coffee experts to meet with coffee growers in the Ka`u area, including Migai, the chief roaster from the Paradise Bakery (Paradise Coffee Roasters) in Ramsey County, Minnesota. Meza (R. Miguel Meza). Miguel became Lori's mentor, and after Migay returned to Minnesota, Lori began to send him samples of raw beans, which represent different post-processing times, involving the number of hours in the fermentation process.

Soon after, Migay moved to Hawaii to work for Hula Daddy Kona Coffee, a grass dance daddy in Kona, and he began visiting Lori on weekends to help her identify coffee trees, conduct more experiments and guide her cup testing methods. Lori's demand for coffee increased, but she received the delivery from the harvest, but she still did it herself. Fortunately, her daughter Joan. Joan Obra and son-in-law Rove. Ralph Gaston, both journalists, decided to leave California and come back to help run the estate. Miguel also moved to Ka`u, while Peter, who won the American Italian barista contest. Pete Licata will soon join their squad. In addition to running Rusty Manor, they are also partners in small Island Coffee (Isla Coffee), a company that works with estates in Hawaii, Taiwan and other places to develop a variety of customized coffee beans.

Rusty Manor has repeatedly won awards, which helped Lori sell more coffee smoothly, which she thought was enough to comfort her husband's soul in heaven. "his dream is to make Ka`u coffee on an equal footing with the world's top coffee." Lori said that she had a tattoo like a bracelet in the shape of a wreath of coffee leaves and coffee cherries with Rusty's name tattooed inside. "I want to be a part of this Ka`u coffee revolution and take Ka`u coffee up the ladder. I have been working very hard to achieve this ideal. "

The market for Hawaiian coffee beans has always been high, mainly because labor costs are higher than in other parts of the world. However, if you see the high-quality coffee beans at Rusty Manor, the cost seems reasonably expensive. Lori told her harvesters to pick only coffee and cherries with full colors, just as they would pick only the prettiest strawberries at the farmer's market. She doesn't want to have beans that are still green, undercooked or brown (for overripe).

According to the standards set by Lori, a worker can harvest about 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms) of ripe red fruit per hour, enough to make about 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of ripe beans. In addition, several hours of post-processing are required for each batch of production.

"Coffee from Hawaii is by no means expensive," says Mr Migay. "it should be said that coffee prices in other parts of the world are too low." The Rusty Manor has planted about 6,000 coffee trees (it has been sparsely planted in the coffee plantation since it was planted), producing about 1 pound (0.45 kg) of raw beans from each tree each year. Most of the estate is used to plant four main varieties: Guatemala Typica, Yellow Caturra, Red Caturra and Red Bourbon. The Ka`u producing area where these varieties are located is called Yunkuan (Cloud Rest).

The growing season in this area usually lasts from November to May, but for the rest of the year, Lori can still buy fresh red fruits from other coffee farmers in Ka`u, depending on the harvest time at different elevations. In her own way and with a high standard of inspection, Lori personally deals with ── coffee cherries, either from her own estate or from ── from other estates.

As soon as the coffee cherries are picked, they are sent to Lori's home in Pahala for post-processing, about a ten-minute drive down the hill from the manor to the small town of Pahara. Post-processing often has to start immediately on the day of the harvest, which means that Lori, often plus Miguel, Peter, Joan and Rove, have to work late into the night for eight to ten months a year.

Lori changes the way she handles it according to the variety of coffee, the climate and the needs of customers. No matter what kind of treatment she uses, the first step she takes is to let the coffee cherries "float", that is, soak them all in water, which is a common practice in this industry. Any coffee cherry floating on the water should be removed because they are low-density light beans, indicating that they are congenitally stunted that they lack flavor and sweetness. The next step is very different from what most competitors do. Lori and her co-workers carefully choose the coffee cherries left behind, eliminating the coffee cherries that are overripe and undercooked, while those that are not yet red or yellow are not used. After picking, Lori began to proceed to the next step of processing.

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Post-processing

Like most people in the coffee trade, Lori uses washing most often. First, she poured the coffee cherries into the leather machine, used a gardening pipe and sprinkled water through the machine. The machine removes the skin from the coffee cherries and spurts out the raw beans, which are covered with sticky exocarp. She then poured the sticky raw beans into the bucket, filled the bucket with cold water, and left the beans to ferment all night. After many attempts and mistakes, she finally found out that about 8 to 10 hours was the most suitable time for her coffee beans to ferment; it also gave her some time to make up for sleep.

The next morning, the raw beans were placed in a thick brown sticky soup. Lori draws out the liquid with a special pump in the pool and rinses the raw beans with clean water. The epidermis has separated at this stage, and today's raw beans feel as rough as sandpaper. They are spread flat on waist-high metal grids for drying, which are set up around Lori's courtyard. Each rack is equipped with a vinyl plastic surfboard, which can be spread out to protect against rain when it rains. Raw beans will be dried in the sun for five to eight days.

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For dry treatment or the so-called sun treatment, Lori will immediately spread the coffee cherries on the drying rack and let them dry until the moisture content is 10-11%; it usually takes three weeks. The time required depends on the weather. Between the third and fifth days, when the skin becomes leathery and less brittle, Lori turns the coffee cherries with a rake every other hour.

With regard to the half-sun treatment, the coffee cherries will be laid flat on the grid for drying after being peeled. They must be turned every 20 minutes on the first day to dry evenly and prevent mildew. Joan often keeps her laptop in the backyard so that she can work a little in the gap between each turn. After that, they only need to turn twice a day, and the whole drying period is about five to ten days, depending on the climate at that time.

The last few processes

Whether washed, tanned or half-sunburned, coffee beans are packed in special bags and stacked in the warehouse after treatment. Raw beans after washing and half-sun treatment are stored for three months, while sun-treated beans are stored for four to five months. As Lori said, "my coffee beans need beauty sleep." Migay explained that this extra step can prevent coffee beans from running out of a grass-like sharp taste.

In any case, the aim is to allow raw beans to be baked within nine months after harvest. When raw beans are ready for transportation, they will first go through a sheller to remove the endocarp, and then they will be selected to get rid of those who are too small and defective. The selected raw beans are inspected and certified by the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture (Hawaii Department of Agriculture) before being shipped or circulated to customers. Unlike coffee from other producing areas in the world, Rusty Manor coffee does not have to go through customs when transported to the United States, which is a big benefit for American customers and greatly speeds up the delivery.

* this article is reproduced from Blue bottle Coffee.

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