Left Coast Farm...Long Mountain Coffee

Kim Johnson epitomizes the core values of the Kona Coffee farmer.  She runs Left Coast Farm like a one man band, and yet this three acre plot of heaven in the rising slopes of Honaunau is one of Kona's finest coffees.  Left Coast Farm won second place in the Gevalia Cup in 2005, and she grows, harvests, packages and markets her coffee under two brands, Left Coast Farm and Long Mountain Coffee.  While her husband Lewis continues his work at USC in Los Angeles, Kim is in Honaunau for extended periods running the farm from their amazing bungalow in the sky high above Kealekekua Bay and the City of Refuge, 2000 vertical feet below.

Kim is extremely active in the Kona Coffee community, and makes the most of her coffee growing enterprise, tirelessly keeping the farm going while upgrading both the cottage and the tending to the triangular forest of  coffee trees. Above you see the view from the back porch of her bungalow, looking down towards the ocean.

Here is Kim standing on the other end of that porch, a recent addition to the house, next to an Oheo Tree column from the notable hardwood tree felled on her property a year ago.  Kim produces around 3000 pounds of coffee a year, and its quality is consistently amazing.  The farm is actually on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa volcano, hence the name for one brand, for Mauna Loa means Long Mountain in Hawaiian. The label for Long Mountain Coffee is meant to resemble a wine bottle, and this is fitting, as the boutique coffee chateaus of Honaunau are to coffee what the small boutique wineries of Napa and Sonoma are to wine. Her Left Coast Farm brand comes in a vibrant cloth bag, but both brands reveal their true colors when brewed and poured in a cup, a sumptuous, rich, full bodied coffee with a glowing aroma and a deep smooth taste. Kim is a vibrant hard working and captivating woman who enjoys the challenge of running a coffee farm and is no stranger to hard work and long hours.  

You can find Left Coast Farm and Long Mountain Coffee on the internet at two websites: www.leftcoastfarm.com and www.longmountainkona.com or call 808 328 9039.

Kona Rain Forest Farms

Kona Rain Forest Farms is, without question, the Devil Dog's favorite Kona Coffee.  This is casting no aspersions on the numerous other amazing coffee farms in Kona, which are abundant in quality and devotion to their craft, but Kona Rain Forest Farms, for the Devil Dog, has a significant qualitative twist that sets it apart....the roasting. Set in the far southern reaches of Honaunau, at mile marker 95, Kona Rain Forest Farms roasts its orders on Monday, and ships them out Monday night, so when you receive your order on Wednesday it practically leaps from the bag.  The freshness and aroma when you open the bag is intoxicating, the taste is extraordinary, the quality speaks for itself.  Kona Rain Forest came in third place this year in the Gevalia Cup competition, its first time finishing in the top three, though it has been a finalist several times.  Most importantly, Kona Rain Forest Farms was selected from a number of estate coffees to be served at the White House on special occasions, the first time for the National Governors Conference three years ago.  Since then the White House has ordered Kona Rain Forest Farms  coffee another 10 times or so, and with Hawaii native Barack Obama taking office in January the Devil Dog sees no reason to expect it to change.

Owners Robert and Dawn Barnes have owned the farm since shortly after that first order, having been trained in its operation by original owners Howard and Stephanie Conant. Howard and Stephanie were ardent ocean going sailors, having taken numerous trips from Australia to California in their 51 foot aluminum sailboat before settling in Kona and carving out the coffee farm from the virgin rain forest. Robert and Dawn have continued their meticulous organic tradition and taken it to the next level, expanding the coffee acreage from 5 to 9 acres, instituting reforms in cultivation and processing, while maintaining an excellence and attention to detail that is unsurpassed in quality and consistency.

Kona Rain Forest Farms coffee can be purchased over the internet at www.konarainforest.com or by phone at 808 329 1941.

The farm itself is 20 acres or more, with a guest house on the property that is available for rental. Set at 2200 feet above sea level, the farm has coffee trees growing in several fields both above the main house on a rising peak and in a natural bowl, and below the mill and roasting house in a sloping extravaganza of extraordinary beauty. It truly feels like a different planet, an oasis of amazing beauty with a crop of incredible richness.

Last year Robert and Dawn sold almost 50,000 pounds of their coffee, an amazing feat in terms of keeping their quality so high while expanding their production. They had spent 18 years in Papua New Guinea learning and teaching indigenous languages, building and maintaining health clinics before returning to Seattle, building and selling several internet businesses, and then buying Kona Rain Forest from Howard and Stephanie.  Howard would not sell to just anyone. He had built this from scratch and passed on his techniques to Robert and Dawn, effectively apprenticing them to assure the continued growth and success of Kona Rain Forest. He succeeded magnificently.  

Above you see their Hashi Danna where the beans are dried before milling.  Below is Robert and Dawn standing on the porch of their house as the Pacific Ocean stands ourt in the distance below.

Kona Rain Forest Farms is the peak of what Kona Coffee is all about.  The Devil Dog urges you to check out their web site, www.konarainforest.com, and order some coffee. Like all 100% Kona coffee, it is an extraordinary product, only more so.  

Pau Hana Estate

Pau Hana Estate is  one of Kona's finest coffee farms, with a heritage stretching back more than a dozen years. Current owners Carol Weaver and Sandy Masterson live on five acres of sheer paradise at the top of Koa road in Captain Cook.  The farm is at an elevation of 2400 feet, produces superior organic coffee, is impeccably groomed, and has views all the way to the ocean.  Pau Hana Estate won second place in the Gevalia Cup in 2006, and in its previous incarnation as Woods Captain Cook Estate under early coffee pioneers Merle and Kathy Wood it won first place in 2001 and third place in 2002.  Carol and Sandy have continued this tradition of excellence and are an integral part of the Kona Coffee community.  

Their coffee can be purchased over the internet at www.pauhanaestate.com or by calling them at 808 328 8099. It is hard to understate the richness of their coffee, the powerful aroma of their beans in the bag and its smooth full throated taste in the cup. Pau Hana Estate stands out as one of the most distinctive coffees in Kona, and one of my favorites. 

As readers of the Devil Dogs recent columns on Kona Coffee may have noticed, Pau Hana is part of the legendary Captain Cook or Koa Road ahupuaa, which also boasts Kuaiwi Farm, J Yokoyama (Kona Bob), and Koa Farms.   As always, the Devil Dog heartily encourages you to support the estate coffee farmers of Kona by buying their product directly over the internet. 100% estate grown Kona Coffee not only makes a perfect gift, but also supports the independent entreprenurial artisan farmer crafting a fine high quality product.  

Pau Hana Estate upholds the finest aspects of that tradition, and Carol and Sandy have taken their corner of paradise and continue to be a leading player in  premium Kona Coffee market. Check out their web site at wwwpauhanaestate.com.  

Hidden Home off Bamboo Road

Driving down the narrow one lane Bamboo Road in the hills above Captain Cook the Devil Dog spied this hidden two story A-frame home in the center of about four acres of property behind a wall of young banana trees.  The picture resonates with me somehow....a depiction of a lifestyle set back from the stresses of modern society, a hidden oasis in the hills of paradise, a reality that one can still find refuge from the rigors of life without giving up the amenities of modern society.   Hawaii, and the southern reaches of Kona in particular, abounds in such properties, places where the individual can find their own private nirvana in the boundlss realm of the mid-Pacific.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this great American holiday let us all be thankful for the blessings of a rich life  in a great country on a planet on the verge of monumental positive change.  One cannot help but be uplifted at the possibilities that lie ahead in spite of the struggles of a somewhat volatile year.  

The Devil Dog is grateful for all the blessings of a life lived in sync with the moment, cast about to the ends of the earth, blown across the sky in aluminum tubes of passenger airlines to discover the joys of the distant reaches of the planet.  He is grateful for his wife and family, his friends and his cats, and all those along the way who have touched his heart or become a part of his life.  He knows that riches come from the heart and not the pocketbook, and that the least expensive item in life is the joy of being aware of just how special it is to take the full measure of each moment we have.

Honaunau House in the Sky

Mystical magical Honaunau is an amazing place, and the Devil Dog has frequently imagined the joy of living in a house set high above the trees with a commanding view of the rain forest and the ocean below.  There are a lot of them there....like this house.  Just above Left Coast Farms, one of my favorite coffee farms, sits the home of owner Kim Johnson's neighbor, a beautiful isolated structure with a commanding view of  all that lies about and beyond. The coffee trees build to a peak and surround this glory of a home that sits like a castle in the sky in the radiant sunlight of a brilliant day.

Kuaiwi Farm -Una and Leon

Una Greenaway and Leon Rosner have a Kona Coffee pedigree that is hard to beat.  Last year Kuaiwi Farm won  the Gevalia Cup, placing first by a wide margin, and this year they placed second.  The consistent excellence of their coffee owes as much to the integrity of their organic farming as to the rich soil of their incredible location.  Kuaiwi Farm is in Captain Cook, up Koa Road and tucked away into a five acre corner of the mountain off Bamboo Road.  Their neighbors have pedigree too - award winning coffees J Yokoyoma (Kona Bob), Pau Hana Coffee and Koa Farms are all on this same ahupuaa, this same wedge of land.  In the picture above you can see Una And Leon with a 100 pound bag of green coffee. 

Una and Leon are meticulous about their coffee, picking the beans themselves at the peak of ripeness.  Their coffee can be ordered over the internet at www.kuaiwifarm.com or by calling 808 - 328- 8888.  Above you see Una out among her coffee trees.                                                      

There is much more to their farm than coffee. They grow taro, cocao, and make their own chocolate, macadamia nut butter, and lilikoi (passion fruit) jelly, all of which can be ordered over the internet. They live in two geodesic domes attached by a connective structure.  The Devil Dog was amazed at the beauty of their property, their sheer determination to live in paradise on terms that are at one with their natural environment. It is an idyllic, committed, joyous and hard working existence.

Their property even contains a number of jaboticaba trees, a South American fruit similar to acai, whose fruit grows right on the bark of the tree, as seen in the picture above, and which tastes indescribably delicious, like a ripe plum meets a concord grape.

Una and Leon will produce about 1500 pounds of ultra quality coffee, which they call Kona Old Style, and  which almost always sells out every season.  In addition to their stellar achievement in and commitment to Kona coffee they exemplify a lifestyle that is in sync with the very essence of what modern life in Hawaii can be if you seek it out.

The day the Devil Dog showed up they were making chocolate in the kitchen....actual chocolate from cacao they grow themselves, an enormously special and complicated process involving harvesting and fermenting the cacao bean.  You say you never saw a cacao bean before.  Neither had the Devil Dog.  Thats it in the picture above, a particularly large and ripe pod from one of many cacao trees on their farm

Be sure to visit their website....www.kuaiwifarm.com.    Mahalo.