Gift from Heaven ─ Hawaiian Coffee

Across latitudes 19 to 22 degrees, south of the Tropic of Cancer, the trade-wind-blown Hawaiian Islands is a perfect coffee-growing area. The 50th state of the United States, 2400 miles from the west coast of the United States, is the only state in the United States that produces coffee. Hawaii's coffee is also internationally famous and is regarded as one of the best coffee in the world.

The volcanic soil and tropical climate, coupled with slight humidity and regular afternoon showers, create an ideal planting environment that can only appear in idyllic poetry, and add some meticulous but unique flavor characteristics to the coffee beans here. Generally speaking, the viscosity of Hawaiian coffee is thinner and the aroma is medium-strong, which is in harmony with the brighter acidity. "this is definitely the best coffee in the world, with drupe and chocolate flavors, and it tastes smooth and delicious," said David Kingman, head of Kona Mist, a roaster and retailer on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Even though Hawaii has superior geographical conditions for growing coffee, it has historically experienced a rugged road to growing coffee, and the development of the place was undervalued at first. It was not until 15 years ago that the coffee industry in Hawaii began to take off. "said David Gridley, president of the Hawaiian Coffee Association. Although in modern history we can see that two hundred years ago, many people wanted to take advantage of Hawaii's unique geographical conditions to grow coffee beans commercially and make a profit from it, but we can see that they only learned a painful lesson in the end!

In 1825, the merchant ship H.M.S. Blonde left gloomy England for Sandwich Islands on the other side of the world, carrying the bodies of King Kamehameha II and the Queen, who died of leprosy during a visit to London. Oahu Sheriff Chief Boki, an accompanying official, decided to escort the bodies of his leader back to his distant homeland. On his way back to the Pacific Ocean, he recruited a man named John Wilkinson to join them. While in London, Chief Boki bet on a fashion at the time: cafes, and Wilkinson was a coffee expert.

Wilkinson spent several years overseeing local coffee and sugar cultivation in the West Indies, and Sheriff Chief Boki believes that with Wilkinson's expertise, he will be able to develop a fertile land behind his hometown of Honolulu in the Manoa Valley into the first ideal commercial coffee growing area in Hawaii. During their short stay in Brazil, Wilkinson picked out some coffee seeds and planted them as soon as he returned to Hawaii. But two years later, just as the coffee tree was maturing, Wilkinson gave up, leaving the visionary coffee garden unmanaged.

Although other examples seem to see the possibility of the development of the coffee industry in Hawaii, coffee trees have also been transplanted to other valleys or other islands on the island, and after a while, coffee trees have been planted on almost all the major islands in Hawaii. At first, coffee trees were very popular here as exotic gardening plants, not for commercial use. Many people just planted one or two coffee trees in their backyard. It took 20 years for coffee trees to be planted in large quantities for commercial purposes. The second attempt was in 1841, in the Hanalei area of Kauai Island, where a 1, 000-acre coffee plantation was developed to grow coffee trees transplanted from the Manoa Valley. three years later, the coffee plantation first exported Hawaiian coffee beans abroad with a quantity of only 245 pounds. Since then, the output has increased, but still a small amount. Although there were still attempts and failures, by 1870, Hawaii's coffee bean exports had reached 415000 pounds.

Just when the coffee crop had just gained a foothold on the island and had the status of a major crop, the tragedy happened again: there was a major drought and insect pests, so the Hanalei coffee plantation was forced to close in 1855. The coffee plantation on the big island seems to have better planting conditions than the lower Hanalei, but at this time the big island also suffered great losses due to white shell pests (white scale blight).

Finally, in the 1890s, people found a cure for diseases and insect pests. They introduced the Australian lady bird beetle to fight against the diseases and insect pests of coffee trees, so the coffee growing industry on the big island flourished again. However, with the ups and downs of international coffee futures prices and the repeated shocks caused by overproduction, many large coffee plantations are in this torrent. Unable to cope with drastic changes in the economic environment, these large coffee farms were soon replaced by small estates, each of which averaged less than five acres.

In the 1930s, there were more than 1000 small coffee farms on the Big Island, and by the 1950s, 6000 acres of coffee woodland in the Kona region of the Big Island produced coffee beans, and by the turn of the century, almost all of Hawaii's major islands were covered with coffee trees. Now, more than 100 years later, the coffee industry has revived on all Hawaiian islands, growing coffee throughout the state of Hawaii.

But even today, some factors beyond human control tend to have some impact on the harvest in such a successful coffee-growing area as Hawaii. For example, due to some occasional rainfall on the big island and the unusually dry climate on other islands, the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture announced that total coffee bean production in Hawaii fell by 13% in the 2001 / 2002 season, reflected in total exports. Coffee bean exports totaled 7.6 million pounds that year, down from 8.7 million pounds in the previous quarter.

Although coffee trees are grown commercially on all the islands of Hawaii, the Big Island currently has the largest number of coffee farms, about 650, but these coffee farms are relatively small, adding up to less than 2000 acres of plantation woodland, while only 25 coffee farms are operating on the islands of Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Kauai However, the coffee plantations in these places are much larger than those on the big island, and the total output is more than three times that of the big island coffee garden. Surprisingly, Kauai Island has the largest coffee-growing area of any island, with more than 4000 acres, but all are managed by the same operator, while Molokai Island has only 550 acres of coffee-growing land, with even fewer Maui and Oahu. Most Hawaiian coffee farmers still pick fresh coffee cherries to sell today, but in recent years more and more people are committed to adding value to their coffee bean products, so they mostly go to their own post-processing, drying, grinding and baking their own coffee beans.

The most famous coffee bean and coffee producing area in Hawaii is Kona, which is located in the southwest of the Big Island, 20 miles long and 2 miles wide, covering the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa. Only coffee beans grown in this area and subject to the most stringent certification standards can be sold under the trademark "Kona". Today, about 100 farms have produced coffee beans that meet these standards, and more and more farms are expected to follow suit in the future.

Norman Sakada, president of the Kona Coffee Culture Festival, said: "I guess 60% of the coffee farms in Kona have met this standard in the past 10 years. "Kona" Chateau Coffee is now a bit like the winery in Napa Valley. "the Napa Valley mentioned here is a wine region in Northern California. Because the wines in this region have excellent regional characteristics, they are internationally recognized as a good wine worth paying more silver taels.

If it is coffee grown in other parts of the island, it is collectively referred to as "Hawaiian Coffee". Because the price of Kona coffee has soared over the past few years, it has set a good example for island residents to know how popular and profitable the coffee produced in Hawaii is. As a result, coffee trees are becoming more and more popular in other parts of the island.

The coffee planting area on the west coast of the island is gradually expanding, while the areas where sugar cane was originally grown are gradually declining because of the low production costs in other countries. The owners of these lands abandon the crops that have won by quantity in the past, and choose to plant crops with high quality and high profits. In this wave, three new coffee producing areas Kau, Hamakua and Puna, which have been recognized by the Department of Agriculture of Hawaii, have been born. The price of coffee in these areas is not yet comparable to that of Kona, but many experts point out that prices will rise sooner or later in the near future, because the requirements for quality in these areas are not consistent.

In the 2001 Hawaiian Business Journal (The Hawaiian Business Journal), Ted Lingle, executive director of the American Fine Coffee Association (SCAA), mentioned: "in most cases, when people think of Hawaiian coffee, the first thing that people think of is Kona. Other excellent producing areas have not received equal attention because of their recent development. "

According to David Gridley, president of the Hawaiian Coffee Association, the coffee quality standards set by coffee farmers in Hawaii are very strict and are updated every year, which is why Hawaiian coffee products always exceed the standard. He added: "I think as long as people pay attention to the quality of coffee, there is absolutely no doubt about the quality of Hawaiian coffee, because in Hawaii." The requirements for the quality of coffee are the strictest in the world. "

Mike Sheldrake, the head of Polly's Gourmet Coffee in Long Beach, Calif., has witnessed the fruits of such tight control, the introduction of new planting techniques by Hawaiian coffee farmers, and the alternation of generations of coffee farmers. He has been selling Hawaiian coffee in the United States for nearly 30 years. "on this board, I have seen better and better coffee beans grown in Hawaii over the years," he said. The quality of Hawaiian coffee has indeed improved significantly. "the improvement in the quality of Hawaiian coffee is reflected in the price list in Polly's, which continues to supply Hawaiian coffee beans at a price of US $20-25 per pound. Sheldrake has been buying Hawaiian coffee beans from Greenwood Farm, an old estate on the Big Island of Hawaii, which has a long history and is one of the oldest, largest and largest coffee farms on the island.

For other late-start new farms, one of the biggest challenges is how to market the coffee beans they grow to customers around the world, especially since they are mostly small-scale farms. However, with the popularity of the Internet, some coffee farmers and bakers on the island have found this method to be an excellent marketing tool through which they can develop one-to-one sales-supply relationships with customers from a long distance. and can take orders to send coffee beans directly to the hands of customers.

Almost all of Kona Mist's coffee beans are sold online, allowing the company to tailor their coffee products to their customers' needs. "We all bake after receiving orders from customers," David Kingman said. "the concept of fresh baking allows Kona Mist to provide its customers with the freshest coffee beans.

Another marketing direction for Hawaiian coffee farmers is in the east. At present, nearly 90% of Hawaiian coffee is sold to the domestic market in the United States, but Japan is also likely to account for a higher proportion of consumption in the near future. In the year 2000, 15 Japanese coffee roasters were invited to visit coffee farms on various islands in Hawaii. This business exchange was a great success because the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture and the Hawaiian Coffee Association signed an agreement with the Hawaiian Coffee Association to allow a number of Hawaiian representatives to visit Japan every other year.

Kauai Coffee Co. The company's Frank Kiger told the Hawaiian Business Journal: "our company has developed a new marketing plan, and the upcoming trip to Japan will be an excellent opportunity for us to better understand why our coffee is so popular in Japan. The company is the largest exporter of coffee from Hawaii to Japan.

Similarly, coffee farmers on Oshima are hopeful about the Japanese market. Norman Sakada, president of Kona Coffee Culture Festival, said: "the" The Miss Kona Coffee "celebration is sponsored by a Japanese coffee company. In addition, there are many large coffee companies in Japan that also have large coffee plantations in Kona and sponsor Kona Coffee & Cultural Festival (this year's event will be held between November 7 and 16). In Japan, Kona coffee is very popular and very expensive. "

The Hawaiian Islands have long been recognized as a paradise on earth, and after nearly two centuries of efforts to grow coffee, the term Kona has almost equated with "quality". Now other Hawaiian islands are trying to catch up with Kona's high quality standards. For many beach activities and coffee lovers, Hawaii is really like the image described by Mark Twain as "the most enjoyable place on earth".