When most people think of kona coffee they tend to think of it as 'honeymoon coffee'. What most people don't know is the story behind the cup. There's a lot of history behind each cup of kona coffee.
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Kona Coffee is Better than Fair Trade.
What do I mean by better? Coffee that is 'fair trade certified' is produced on coffee plantations that meet a certain set of standards, including fair wages and no abuse of child labor. This is designed to ensure that farmers in third world nations are receiving a fair deal.
While its a good system, one flaw is the currency mismatch between first world nations like the United States and third world nations.
While this is a good system, kona coffee is better because there is no nation to 'trade' with: its produced in the United States itself. This means that the family owned farms are getting paid in American dollars, and by buying kona coffee, you are supporting American jobs.
All Kona Coffee Farms Support Local Schools.
Back in the 19th century, a land trust was created by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last direct descendant of King Kamehameha, established the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE), which land includes all of the 600+ farms that make up the Kona Coffee Belt. Every single farm leases out their land, and proceeds of that go to support Kamehameha schools. The main school is on Oahu, but there are several other schools, preschools, and scholarships that are all funded by kona coffee farmers.
Kona's Coffee is Grown at a Much Lower Altitude than Regular Coffee
All kona coffee is grown from 800 ft. to around 3,000 ft. elevation along the Kona Coffee belt. Most of the world's coffee is grown around 3,000 to 6,000 ft. So why does Kona Coffee grow at a lower altitude?
The unique climate of the Kona district make this elevation the ideal for growing coffee. Any higher and a crippling frostbite kicks in at 4,000 feet. The protection from trade winds, the natural shade provided by afternoon clouds and seasonally heavy summer showers all contribute to an ideal climate. Several kona coffee farms below 1,000 ft. have won cupping competitions, so the rule of thumb with kona is not to worry about altitude when choosing your coffee.
All Kona Coffee is Shade Grown - Thanks to the Clouds
Shade grown coffee usually refers to coffee plantations who protect their coffee trees by planting larger trees (such as banana trees) that protect the coffee from direct sunlight. Kona Coffee does not need to do this, since the morning clouds rise up and then sit on top of the coffee trees in the afternoon (when the sun is most damaging). Plus the volcano protects kona from the morning sun, since all the plantations are on the west side (they face the setting sun in the evening).
Kona Coffee is Picked by Hand
Whereas other coffee regions have machine harvesters that collect coffee cherries from plantations, the steep volcanic slope of Kona makes using such machines impossible. Hence, all kona coffee is picked by hand, and inspected for quality and freshness. There's something more intimate about coffee that is created with the human touch.
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