There’s nothing quite like that first cup coffee in the morning, unless of course you’re sipping it while on vacation in Hawaii! What many people don’t realize is that Hawaii is home to Kona coffee which is largely considered one of the best coffees in the world.
What makes Kona coffee so special? Hawaii of course! Not only is this state one of the most beautiful places on earth, it is also an ideal environment for the cultivation of coffee beans that create the perfect cup of Joe! The combination of climate, altitude and volcanic soil all work together to produce beans with the distinctive, full bodied flavor that makes Kona coffee one of the most famous and albeit expensive in the world.
Make no mistake, growers can’t just throw a label on any old coffee here in Hawaii and call it Kona. You may find “Kona Blends”, or “Kona Style” coffees around town however, but in order to don the exclusive “100% Kona Coffee” label, the beans must have been grown in north and south Kona on the Big Island. Everything else will have been blended with cheaper imported coffees. There are hundreds of coffee growers in the Kona region who’ve been perfecting the art of growing and roasting some of the best java in the world for generations and many of them are more than happy to share their knowledge.
There are several tourist attractions in Hawaii yet perhaps one of the least well-known are the Kona Coffee country tours, and the Kona Coffee Living History Farm is one of the best! Here is where tourists will learn the history of coffee cultivation in Hawaii and discover what it is about the region that makes its coffee so special. There is also the added bonus of the seemingly bottomless cups of coffee guaranteed to make this a memorable experience for the true java junkie.
If you’d like to learn more about Kona coffee, you can visit one of the following sites:
Kona Coffee Council: http://www.kona-coffee-council.com
Kona Coffee Living History Farm: http://www.konahistorical.org/index.php/tours/kona-coffee-living-history-farm
