Take a shot

We have been here long enough and had enough visitors that we have exhausted a large proportion of the attractions within a reasonable driving distance. We have begun repeating ourselves. We visited Greenwell Farms again today. It was a great tour (free) and I learned some new things.

This is our tour guide. He was a 26-year English teacher and also was responsible for programs to provide troubled youth with opportunities to work on coffee farms. I think you can tell that he has experience in education from his way of sharing his knowledge.

Some new things I learned.

The Kona coffee is labeled for the region in which it is grown. I had wondered about this because I know that there are two basic kinds of coffee - arabica and robusta - and that nearly all the coffee we drink is arabica. I was not sure if there were different kinds of arabica as there are different kinds of apples and tomatoes. Kona coffee is grown within the Kona coffee zone which is different from the Kona region (I think of this as a county). I never did determine if you were allowed to call coffee grown outside the official coffee zone as Kona coffee. I don't think so.

I thought I understood what peaberry coffee was (the coffee cherry has one rather than two beans) and answered the guides question like one of those obnoxious kids who not only raises his hands but repeats "I know, I know". It is more than just one bean in a cherry. The shape of the bean is rounded by the shape of the cherry and this can influence how roasting influences the bean. The peaberry beans were originally discarded as deformed, but it was discovered that they have a unique and pleasing taste so peaberry beans are now sold at a higher price.

The outside part of the coffee cherry is removed and was discarded and typically composted. Someone learned that this pulp had desirable properties (antioxidants and such) and the extract from this pulp is now sold as part of a health drink.

The coffee in Kona grows on very small farms and is hand-picked. There are advantages in hand picking. I remember the guides on the huge coffee farm we visited in Kauai said they produced one pound of coffee from each plant. The Kauai plants were also larger. On Kona, they get 1.5 pounds per plant. If you pick the beans by machine, you get all of the beans in one pass and they are in various stages of maturity. You must discard the fruit that is not ripe. Evidently, the immature cherries float. However, some of the beans in intermediate stages of maturity are still processed and this influences the flavor. Kona beans are more consistent because they are picked when they are ripe and the picking continues over an extended period of time getting most of the beans from any given plant.

The hand picking and the small growing area means there is little Kona coffee available. The quantity in combination with the taste makes Kona coffee more expensive than the coffee most folks regularly drink.

Our guide did not over promote Kona coffee. He says people should drink what tastes good to them. Comparing coffee to beer, he suggested that we used to drink generic beer, but greater interest in differences among beers and even globalization which increases our awareness (of coffee) has created interest and people begin to find there are differences and they prefer some over others.

Oh ya - the take a shot comment. He asked whether any of the group were sensitive to caffeine and found they could not sleep if they drank coffee in the afternoon. He suggested such coffee drinkers try drinking a shot of espresso in place of a cup of coffee later in the day. He explained that it is not the lower caffeine of darker coffees that was the basis for this technique, but the lower amount of liquid and the quick ingestion. The caffeine from a shot hits your system faster, but also lingers for a shorter amount of time. Sounds good to me.