Organic Coffee Review: Organic Kona Coffee

Organic Kona coffee is gaining in popularity, but many people who buy it don’t actually know much about it. Kona is the market name for coffee grown on the sloops of Mauna Loa and Mount Hualailai in the Big Island of Hawaii’s North and South Kona Districts. This coffee has an excellent reputation, and it’s illegal to call coffee not grown in these districts by that name.

There are a few special characteristics about the Kona districts that make them great for coffee growing. Sunny mornings, rainy, humid afternoons and nights of mild weather mean that coffee grows well here. First introduced in the 1820s, Kona coffee was a plantation crop in the 19th century, but land was later leased to workers. Currently, farms are run mostly by families consisting of people of Japanese, Filipino, European and American ancestries. There are about eight hundred farms in the area, each averaging less than five acres. About two million pounds of green coffee are produced yearly.

Kona coffee is rinsed and dried in the open for one to two weeks, and a hundred pounds of fresh green coffee will produce only twelve pounds of roasted coffee. This makes it unsurprising that Kona coffee is more expensive than many other types. If you see cheaper coffee labeled as Kona, they’re probably a Kona blend (also called Kona Style or Kona Roast Coffee), including up to 90% of cheaper coffees, and only ten percent of Kona. These are much lower quality than real Kona coffee. In Hawaii, blends must be labeled with their percentage of Kona, but there’s no matching federal law in the mainland US.

Organic producers of Kona coffee put in extra labor to make sure that their coffee is grown without pesticides and according to US organic standards. This coffee is more sustainable than traditionally grown types, and lacks pesticide residues that could be dangerous to consumers’ health. Not all Kona coffee is organic, so you’ll want to pay attention when buying. There’s no need to look for the Fair Trade label, however. Kona coffee is produced in the United States, and farmers and workers do not suffer the problems caused by middlemen elsewhere in the coffee world.

Kona coffee is some of the highest quality and highest priced coffee in the world. However, it’s worth it to many people. Just make sure that you check out the labeling on your organic Kona coffee to make sure it’s the real thing. There are lots of imposters out there.

Organic Kona Coffee