History Of Hawaiian Coffee is Short Lived
The history of growing coffee in Hawaii is a short one with the first known plants not arriving on the islands until 1825 when coffee tress were imported from Brazil. With the tropical climate and a growing season that extends from September through January, Hawaiian coffee is the only coffee produced in the United States. Many of the brands of coffee are named for the area of the state in which the beans are grown, but currently the state produces about six and a half million pounds of green Hawaiian coffee beans a year.
Considering that using coffee as a beverage has been around for hundreds of years, the popularity of Hawaiian coffee has grown tremendously in less than 200 years. The first plantation on the island of Kauai was quickly joined by smaller farms on other islands, but a coffee blight nearly wiped out the industry in 1858. Today, farms smaller than five acres join commercial growers in revitalizing the industry and production continued to grow at a remarkable rate.
While coffee grown in the Kona region may be the most well-known and respected brand of Hawaiian coffee, the Arabica blends produced by many other smaller plantations are broadening the appeal of coffee grown on this island state.
Coffee Not Necessarily A Tourist Attraction
While Hawaiian coffee is known for its rich, robust flavor it is not necessarily on top of the list of tourist attractions in the state. Many visitors do venture out to the plantations to see how coffee goes from bean to cup and have a chance to experience the freshest coffee available anywhere in the world. Beans are picked by hand on all but the largest commercial farms and there are personal inspections performed along every step of the process.
Choosing the beans based on size, color and their degree of being ripe as well as the length of the roasting process and the type of heat generated all have a major role in determining the flavor of the finished brew. Hawaiian coffee is often sold as a roasted bean instead of in grounds form to enable consumers to experience their coffee in the freshest mood possible.
In spite of all of the modern techniques in packaging, coffee will begin to go stale as soon as the beans are plucked from the tree. Hawaiian coffee growers understand the need to get the product processed and on the market as quick as possible and many will pick the beans on a daily basis throughout the season, using only the ripe beans on a daily schedule.
