Before coffee drinkers can savor a cup
of Kona coffee, several processes must
first occur. Coffee cherry is pulped
through rough rollers that separate
seeds from the red skin and sticky pulp.
These seeds formed within the coffee
cherry are the all-important coffee
beans. After pulping, the beans are
soaked in water for eight to 12 hours
and then dried.
Two common drying methods are used. The modern method employs
a hot, rotating drum dryer and takes a skilled operator only a few hours.
The traditional
method is a slower
sun-drying method
that can take anywhere
from six to
eight days, depending
on weather. Beans are
spread out on a flat
platform known by its
Japanese name, hoshidana, and exposed to the sun. The beans are
raked often with a special wooden rake for uniform drying. Innovative
Kona coffee pioneers designed the hoshidana with a roof that rolls out
to shelter the drying coffee beans at the first sign of rain. Many Kona
coffee farmers hold to the traditional drying method.
At this stage, dried beans are called parchment due to their stiff, white
parchment-like skin. Milling removes the parchment skin and leaves the
beans polished. Beans that have been milled but not yet roasted are
“green coffee.” The green coffee is now ready for sorting by quality
grades. A set of screens separates green coffee by size and shape.
Unroasted, green coffee is bagged in 100-pound sacks and sold on the
world market. Delivering Kona coffee in Napoopoo
by mule power in 1915.
RAY