Coffee picking season has begun in the Kona belt, so things are very exciting on the farm. I don't think I've adequately explained the terrain and climate in previous posts - it's a jungle out there! As the coffee pickers from Micronesia race through the fields picking the bright red coffee cherries Tony and I work hard to clear paths through the five foot tall weeds, yanking them up by hand, making way so the coffee pickers can reach the trees with ease.
What makes Kona coffee so special is the discerning pluck of only the red fruit from the trees, leaving the yellow and green fruit to mature on the spindly branches. At this early stage of the season the picking goes slow, usually about 100 pounds of coffee cherries per picker, but as the season progresses our daily haul will be much more significant. Not to discount each day's haul, we're easily processing something close to 1300 pounds of cherry each day. In about four weeks this number will likely double.
What makes Kona coffee so special is the discerning pluck of only the red fruit from the trees, leaving the yellow and green fruit to mature on the spindly branches. At this early stage of the season the picking goes slow, usually about 100 pounds of coffee cherries per picker, but as the season progresses our daily haul will be much more significant. Not to discount each day's haul, we're easily processing something close to 1300 pounds of cherry each day. In about four weeks this number will likely double.
