December 14, 2014
Kona Coffee?
Over the course of this blog we have looked at quite a few of the unique features of Hawaii, from the volcanoes to the jungles of the east side to the cattle country up north. But surely one of the best known aspects is Hawaiian coffee, from an industry that is centred on the slopes of Mauna Loa, on the west side, near the towns of Holualoa and Captain Cook.
Initially, it is not so much the fabulous quality of the coffee that one notices, but the prices - up to $70 a pound (when bought by the pound) more expensive in smaller packages. Something that can command that price ought to be good, so for us, anyway, the second question is what does it actually taste like?
Lots of shops and estate farms offer tastes, and we tried them out, without being at all wowed. But maybe it is just us, we thought, or maybe filter coffee in a thermos tester, served up in a little paper cup, is not the best format for a real trial. So we bought a pile of bags from various sources and brought them home.
At home we have three different kinds of experts to check with. First up is Dave, Laurie's partner. Aside from being an avid coffee drinker (and beer brewer), Dave has a Ph.D. in Chemistry, and should be reliable in terms of careful comparisons.
Next we have our brother-in-law Erhard. Erhard is from Austria - the little village of Oblarn, along the Enns River, not so far from Vienna. That should be a very strong qualification for a coffee tester.
Finally we have Melissa, Jeremy's partner. From Saltspring Island, she is immersed in the West Coast culture. The coast is the home base of world famous Starbuck's Coffee. Some would debate this as a qualification (but they would be wrong).
So this morning (December 14) we started off with Dave. He used an Aeropress. The aeropress.com website says: "The AeroPress by Aerobie, Inc. brings out the best in every bean. Its unique brewing method gives the richest coffee flavour, with less bitterness and acidity, and no grounds left in your cup!"
After a suitable amount of measuring and pouring, Dave produced one batch of coffee, using the beans from Imagine, Estate Grown, 100% Kona Coffee, on Bishop Road in Holualoa. Their website is here. (Note: this site does not work on my Samsung tablet).
Imagine seems to be part of a local consortium called Bhudda's Cup You can look at that here.
This coffee in a 6 oz package at Hilo Hattie cost $17.49, which is $46.64 per pound. On the website, the price is given as $15.50, and a whole pound is a mere $32.50 there.
So this is not the most costly Kona coffee. It is however, six times more costly than the competitor Costco coffee.
Imagine describes their coffee this way: "Aromatics: Jammy, rich, berry, jasmine. Complex, sweet, viscous syrupy body, honeyed, multidimensional. Flavor of rich tobacco, honey, cedar raspberry. Amazing as a drip and espresso."
So, the results: Laurie could not tell the difference. Steve and Dave claimed to detect a difference, but they could not really say which was better.
Stay tuned, there are still two more contests to come!
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