OUR COMPANY

Ka `io Farms is a small specialty coffee business operated on one of our several coffee farms on the volcanic mountain of Hualalai, in the Kona District of the Island of Hawai’i.

We purchased an old-fashioned Japanese coffee farm in Kona in 1992 and named our business Ka’io Farms for the Hawaiian hawk which nests only on the island of Hawai’i and is often seen soaring in the skies of Kona. Since that time, we have consistently sought to give our customers the best tasting Kona coffee produced. We process Wings of the Morning Kona coffee with the same labor-intensive Old-Hawai’i style methods, using wet-milling, parchment drying, and moisture-controlled storage that results in the exceptional flavor of our coffee.

Our commitment is that we will deliver the highest quality Kona coffee possible to you and your family.

OLD-HAWAI’I STYLE FARMING PRACTICES

Exceptional coffee begins with the optimal variety of Arabica coffee trees, nutrient-rich volcanic soil and the perfect coffee climate. Then, we apply meticulous care to each step of the process, from picking to roasting. The result is an exquisite cup of coffee. With its distinctive taste and low acidity, Kona coffee has been recognized for its excellence throughout the world. Our farming practices are designed to bring out the best of these qualities in every cup. The production of Kona coffee is very labor-intensive. The steep volcanic terrain of Kona is not conducive to mechanical cultivation or harvesting, so almost all the work is done by hand. Handpicking of the mature bean is much more selective than machine picking and results in a pure, gourmet quality product.

 

Picking

Coffee that is ready to be picked is called cherry , and harvesting is always done by hand so that only the ripe cherry is picked and the green immature fruit can be left to ripen. A Kona coffee orchard will be handpicked in three or four rounds over a period of several months.

 

Wet Milling

Once harvested, the red cover or pulp on the cherry is removed by a simple procedure called wet milling, and the beans, beige in color at this point, are covered with water and left to soak in a fermentation tank for twelve to fourteen hours. Naturally occurring bacteria causes fermentation which loosens the sticky covering on the newly milled beans. The coffee beans are then agitated with hand tools to remove the sticky substance.

Drying

The coffee at this stage is called parchment . It is rinsed in fresh water and put out on a hoshidana , a traditional Japanese style deck, to dry in the sun. Here the beans are spread evenly and raked repeatedly to accomplish uniform drying. Depending on the amount of coffee coming into the mill at any one time, a particular lot may be pushed off the deck into a mechanical dryer to finish. When dried to 9-12% moisture content, the parchment is then put into burlap sacks and placed in moisture controlled storage. Parchment is very stable, and, if the storage facilities are adequate, it can be held for many years without loss of quality.

 

 

Dry Milling

The beige husk on the beans is ground off in a machine and the resulting greenish grey beans, now called “green coffee”, are weighed and sorted. Size and weight determine the grade and market value of the coffee.

 

Roasting

If you chew on an unroasted coffee bean, it doesn't have much taste. Roasting releases the flavor. The longer and hotter coffee is roasted, the more some chemical compounds are extinguished and others come to the fore. The duration and temperature of roasting are critical in achieving an optimum result. A good coffee roaster is an artist. Many discriminating coffee drinkers believe that a medium dark roast is the best roast for Kona coffee. We agree and roast all of our coffee this way.

 

Packaging

After our gourmet coffee is roasted it is packed in heat-sealed mylar/foil bags with one-way valves. Coffee continues to release a gas after it is roasted, thus the wonderful aroma of freshly roasted coffee. The valve releases the pressure built up in the bag, preventing it from rupturing. It also prevents the entry of oxygen into the sealed bag.

 

Blending coffee

 Wings of the Morning is 100% Kona coffee. We do not blend our coffee . The best way to drink a gourmet coffee is straight up – not blended