Kona Joe® Trellised* Coffee Recognized by International Coffee Experts for Adapting Fine Wine Growing Techniques to Coffee Production

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KONA, HAWAII - Kona Joe Coffee LLC uses the same principles as the world’s finest wine producers to cultivate our award-winning "Kona Joe Trellised Coffee*," according to Joe and Deepa-Tiare Alban, owners of the 20-acre estate in Kona’s verdant Kainaliu Region. "This exceptional coffee is the premium ‘grand cru’ of Kona coffees." The unique cultivation process has attracted international attention and recognition among leading coffee trade professionals.

Joe Alban explains, "The inspiration for adapting traditional viticultural practices to coffee growing came from our family vineyard, Alban Vineyards, an award-winning vineyard and winery located in the Central Coast of California.

Training our trees to grow like wine grapes was labor intensive and costly, however we were delighted when our Trellised Coffee won the SCAA Blue Ribbon.

We have also received accolades from coffee enthusiasts from Europe, Asia and throughout the Americas as well as rave reviews from international wine connoisseurs."

Dr. Cecil Goodrich, Chief Minister of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Grower’s Association traveled to Hawaii to examine this unique process first-hand.

Both intrigued and impressed, Dr. Goodrich proclaimed Kona Joe’s pioneering growing techniques as "The single biggest advancement in coffee growing in the last 100 years."

Joe Alban explains, "Kona Joe’s young Arabica coffee trees are trained to grow along the wires of an intricate trellis system. This patented* process requires years of meticulous pruning and tying to open and expose coffee cherries to plenty of sunlight.

As the trees grow, the most mature verticals are tied to the wires and grow in a horizontal direction. Ultimately, these shoots become lignified and each forms a cordon. The coffee tree trunk begins to form a T-shaped configuration. Each cordon then sends off new verticals. The cordon is pruned to produce four verticals resulting in eight verticals per tree. These eight verticals then develop numerous horizontal shoots, which produce the coffee fruit and allow the fruit maximum exposure to the Hawaiian sun."

Rather than using "observation" alone, Kona Joe utilizes state-of-the-art technology to determine the optimum time to harvest the coffee cherries.

"While most coffee farmers pick the cherries when they see that they have turned from green to red, this determination by color alone is imprecise," comments Joe Alban. "Our more scientific approach recognizes the importance of determining the physiologic growth and maturity of the coffee fruit in order to produce a superior cup."

This rigorous testing ensures the superior taste and body. According to Joe and Deepa-Tiare, "Our scientific team monitors our coffee cherries for pH level, sugar concentration and titrateable acid. We want to make sure they have achieved the proper balance of acid and dissolved sugars before hand picking them at their optimum maturity."

*Coffee trellis is a patented creation of Kona Joe Coffee.
US Patent 6,449,898 B1

Like all Kona Joe Coffees, "Trellised Coffee" is HSDA Certified 100% Kona Coffee. For more information, please tour the Kona Joe Website at konajoe.com