The Kauai coffee company is an important part of Kauai Island history and commerce. Here is some information pertaining to the Kauai coffee company history and production of its unique and flavorful crop.
The Kauai Coffee company began in the early 1800's as the McBryde Sugar company. This was one of the first sugar growers in Hawaii and has grown substantially over the years.
The Kauai coffee company owns a total of 22,000 acres of land on this island which makes it one of the largest landowners. In 1987, McBryde Sugar Company became the Kauai Coffee Company.
Although the company has prospered over the years, it suffered a significant loss in 1992 when Hurrican Iniki hit the island and caused significant damage to the coffee crop. However, it recovered and continued to develop. In 1996, the company harvested the highest volume of coffee from the entire Kona region.
Since coffee is a type of fruit, it develops beautiful blossoms. These later develop into coffee cherries. Each cherry usually has two seeds which is what is processed to eventually become the coffee bean.
The blossoming of these coffee plants normally begins in February. The young fruit begins to form around May and when is becomes fully ripened in September, then the harvesting begins.
The harvesting is similar to how grapes are harvested in areas like the Napa Valley. The harvesting period normally begins around mid October and runs through December.
As the cherries are harvested, they proceed to a wet processing plant where the cherries are separated depending on their state of maturity and quality. The Kauai coffee company produces five different grades of coffee from this wet processing plant.
The next step of the process is called pulping where the ripe coffee cherries get the skin and fleshy fruit portion removed. Then these pulped beans are washed with high pressure water in order to remove a sticky coating.
At that point, the drying process begins. The beans go through several stages where moisture is carefully removed to bring it to about a 12% concentration.
Following this the beans go through a milling process to further process the beans and remove unwanted materials. At that point it gets subject to a variety of inspections, sorting, and grading processes.
Once the beans have been properly sorted, they are ready to be carefully roasted. The beans are roasted right on the Kauai coffee company estate for maximum freshness and quality control. Once completed they can be shipped for you to enjoy.
This summary of the Kauai coffee company history and production processes will hopefully provide you a better appreciation for how this region to provide you with such flavorful and enjoyable coffee.