More on Waialua Estate Coffee

Actually being on a coffee farm, surrounded by coffee plants filled with 'soon to be ripe' cherry - is a site to behold and excites us at Kohana Coffee. It's a chance for us to view the new crop while making decisions in our head of how we'll add to, change or take away from the product line we currently offer. But more importantly, it's the promise of what's ahead. If we see healthy, full plants and know of optimum conditions that took them there - we visualize how great that coffee will cup and the expressions on the faces of satisfied customers.

In the Waialua Estate Coffee fields (waialuaestate.com) we saw every example of cherry on the plant. The photo here is green cherry beginning to hedge yellow before the red of ripeness. We saw raisin - that's basically overripe cherry that's protected in it's dried fruit covering. We also tasted those coffees and marveled in the added fruit present in the cup.

Our tour and tasting was led by Derek Lanter and our group was Victoria, myself, my son - Zach, his girlfriend - Sarah Kate and a local foodie/cyclist/ Lori Barth of Sugarmillbikes.com. We learned a lot - as we always do - and came away feeling smarter about the craft we love dearly.

We love being on the North Shore - have I said that lately?

Piper

Catching up...whew!

Kohana Coffee has kept us busy in the Aloha State. We've been a lot of places and talked a lot of shop - all worthy of note - so this is my catch up time.

To start, we've had several visits with Waialua Estate Coffee http://waialuaestate.com/our-coffee.html Derek Lanter has been gracious enough to host us for tastings, cuppings (a bit more extensive evaluation of coffees we want to taste, compare, evaluate, etc) and farm tours. What this time gives is a close look at several things important to us at Kohana; a birds eye view of washed vs. naturally processed coffees, comparison of past and new crop (and opportunity to taste both side by side), and upcoming crop with continued impressive yields Derek has worked hard to bring from his coffee plants. It also gives us time to talk shop - which we always enjoy with him.

We love Hawaiian coffee and buy our infamous 100% Hawaiian Select and Prime coffees from Waialua Estate Coffee. We also use them as a highlight in our North Shore Blend, Acoustic Soul, Kohana and Sunrise Blends - be sure to check out our summer Hawaiian Coffee internet specials at http://www.kohanacoffee.com/specials.php

We thank Derek for every effort he puts into providing us these coffees - he knows his craft - and our faithful customers appreciate it as much as we do.

More to come...

Piper

Say 'Aloha' to our Hawaiian Specials

Summer means Hawaii for Kohana Coffee. This time of year we focus on our aloha inspired offerings and our relationships with our Hawaiian coffee growers. It’s the hours and effort we spend getting to know these producers and their practices that ensures the quality and consistency of our coffees.

The journey begins on the North Shore of Oahu with the Waialua Estate and their single origin premium 100% Hawaiian Coffee beans. Located on 155 acres of Arabica typica coffee plants, their rich, volcanic soil provides the beautiful surf, mountain and sea essence we search for in our cup. This is the home to our 100% Hawaiian Select and 100% Hawaiian Prime coffee beans as well as key components of our signature Kohana Blend, Sunrise Blend, Acoustic Soul, and North Shore Blend.

With the harvest season running from September to February, now is the perfect time to inspect the young beans and evaluate the upcoming crop. It also gives us valuable opportunites to learn from and strengthen our relationships with our Oahu grower partners.
What does this island of rich mountains and world-class waves offer in a cup? A smooth, medium bodied and well-balanced escape with just a hint of chocolate and pleasant, lingering after notes.
Next stop: Lion’s Gate Farm in the Kona region of the Big Island, home of our 100% Kona Estate.

OFFER:
As a valued customer, we’d like to show our Aloha spirit and offer 10% off of our Hawaiian inspired coffees: 100% Hawaiian Select, 100% Hawaiian Prime, Kona Estate, North Shore Blend, Acoustic Soul, Hawaiian Hazelnut and Island Cacao http://www.kohanacoffee.com/specials.php

Aloha from Hawaii

All work and no play makes....well, not much fun. Even though this time in Hawaii is meant to cultivate relationships with coffee growers/farmers and deepen our awareness of those coffees we're so crazy about - we're also here to foster relationships with current customers and potential new ones. We want everyone to know of the Kohana Coffee brand we're so in love with. We also want everyone to know these coffees (Kona Estate, 100% Hawaiian Select, 100% Hawaiian Prime) and why we consider them worth slowing down for.

Some of this feels like our day to day in Austin, some of it feels surreal because we're in HAWAII working. Work and Hawaii almost feels like an oxymoron...what, you mean I have to get out of the water for a call? Wait, get the saltwater out of my eyes, sand off my hands...

So we set our work hours in the early morning - trying to coincide with those working so hard in our absence at Kohana headquarters in Austin. We get as much done as we can in that window of time - and then we relax, or at least we try our best with the little ones pulling to play.

Summer is Hawaii time...

If you haven't already picked up on it - Hawaii is not only inspiration to Kohana Coffee but a big part of our coffee product line as well. One of our pleasures is to offer Hawaiian coffees at affordable prices and bring what we love most to those that appreciate as much as we do. Two of those coffees are 100% Hawaiian Select and 100% Hawaiian Prime.

Fortunately, and we mean this, we're in the heart of birthplace to these two great coffees right now. Both the Select and Prime are from Waialua Coffee located on the North Shore of Oahu - a perfect location for producing world class coffee. We've had the distinct pleasure of making friends with Derek Lanter, who continues to improve these coffees with great attention to quality - which is evident in the coffees we roast and eventually cup. We'll be bringing more to you on this later.

As an added treat - the North Shore is also home to some of the most famous surf spots in the world. Even though surf is small in non-winter months we sometimes have the opportunity to see it - pictured here is a day at the 2008 Triple Crown in December - Bonzai Pipeline.

Aloha for now...

Piper