A Kona coffee blossom. 2008 Creative Commons photo by Tim
Wilson
A consortium of coffee industry leaders in Hawaii is
reprising a cupping event introduced last yeardesigned to provide farmers
impartial assessments of coffee quality, and help educate them on the factors
determining that quality.
The cupping is is not to be confused with the Hawaii Coffee
Association’s 7th annual statewide cupping competition, a more traditional
quality-focused competition being held on the same day that celebrates the
great work already being done by Hawaiian producers. This is less about
reaching buyers (consumers, roasters) and more about confidential assessments,
information-sharing and quality-building.
“This workshop will focus on the farmer,” Andrea Kawabata,
coffee and orchard crop extension agent with the University of Hawaii College
of Tropical Agriculture, said in an announcement of this year’s program.
“Farmers will learn about their own coffee and will leave with a sense of
awareness and understanding of what they can do to improve quality and flavor.”
Kawabata is involved with the college’s Areawide Mitigation
and Management for CBB project, in coordination with the USDA, which began in
2013 and is scheduled to run through 2018. Coffee borers have presented huge
problems on several parts of the big island, and most recently have been found
in Oahu, causing a recent quarantine. While that dark cloud looms over the
heads of many Hawaiian producers, the workshop promises to explore numerous
other factors affecting the cup, such as water management, fertilization,
disease- and pest-mitigation, poor harvest practices, over-fermentation, under-
and over-drying, and improper roasting. Says Kawabata, “These factors can cause
major production, market, financial, labor and potentially legal risks for
coffee growers.”
Lee Paterson, owner of Hula Daddy Kona Coffee, will provide
assessments of each participating farm’s parchment and green coffee, while
Miguel Meza of Isla Custom Coffees and Ka’u’s Rusty’s Hawaiian will conduct
assessments of roasted and brewed coffees. Participating farmers are being
asked to bring with them individual bags of parchment coffee, green coffee and
some sample of their lightest-roasted coffee. The assessments will be followed
by confidential evaluation forms mailed to each participating farmer.
The Coffee Quality Workshop for farmers is being held on
July 18, in conjunction with the Hawaii Coffee Association’s 20th annual
conference and trade show, which runs July 16-19 at King Kamehameha’s Kona
Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona.
source: dailycoffeenews com
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