Category: Behind the Cup

In this short educational video, Tom Greenwell narrates as employee Riley demonstrates the specific steps involved in grafting coffee, as practiced at Greenwell Farms. He also describes the reasons they graft coffee and how the use of it can help to combat nematodes in the soil. Greenwell Farms is a coffee farming and processing company in the heart of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Their primary goal is to provide coffee lovers around the world a unique coffee experience. They asked Mahi’ai Creative and Gum Design to produce Read More…

Greenwell Farms is creating a signature series of coffee, using hybrids and varietals, developed on the farm and with the scientists they’ve worked with for the last 15 years. Tom Greenwell describes how they plant “experiment” fields at three different elevations on the farm, to find and grow the best coffee possible, and he introduces the first of the signature series, the “Jenny K,” named after his wife.

  Greenwell Farms is extremely proud to announce Chai Neo’s recent completion of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) Q-Grader training and her successful qualification as a licensed Q-Grader. Chai has been working at Greenwell Farms since April of 2009 in the Retail Department and in the Roasting Room.  She has been cupping coffee here at Greenwell Farms for several years utilizing her natural talent for describing flavors and detecting nuances in coffees. The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) is a nonprofit organization working internationally to improve the quality of coffee and Read More…

It takes 1.25 pounds of green beans to make one pound of roasted coffee. Coffee roasting and packaging are essential processes that determine the final flavor, aroma, and quality of the coffee you enjoy. These steps are a blend of science and art, requiring careful attention to detail and expertise. Roasting and packaging are the two most important processes that determine the flavor, aroma and quality of the coffee you drink. These are a combination of science and art and require attention to detail and expertise. Coffee Roasting: Turning Green Read More…

It takes 1.25 pounds of dried parchment to produce one pound of green bean coffee. Coffee processing is a long journey and one of the key steps in that journey is the removal of the coffee parchment, a thin layer that surrounds the coffee bean. This step is often referred to as “hulling” and is critical in preparing the beans for roasting. The Parchment in Coffee Processing After the coffee cherries are picked they are pulped to remove the outer skin and some of the fruit flesh leaving the beans Read More…

Orchard Establishment – A coffee orchard requires three to four years of maintenance before a significant crop can be harvested. Growing Cycle – Coffee trees typically bloom in the late winter to early spring. Harvesting occurs in the fall through late winter. Mature coffee beans form into clusters of red berries, referred to as a coffee cherry. Harvesting is done by hand. A coffee picker can pick between 200 and 400 pounds of coffee cherry per day. The work is very hard and demanding.

It takes 4.25 pounds of coffee cherry to produce one pound of dried parchment. Each day’s harvest must be processed that day to ensure the highest quality in the final product. Coffee cherry is delivered to a facility called a pulping mill. Here, the under ripened and over-ripened cherries are discarded and the pulp from each remaining coffee cherry is then removed. Each coffee cherry contains two separate coffee beans. After pulping, these beans are referred to as wet parchment. The wet parchment is then held in a fermentation tank Read More…

Coffee brewing is not a science, but an art. For best results, grind your beans just prior to brewing. We recommend using a coarse to percolator grind for the filter-drip system method of brewing. Always use a clean coffee maker. Make sure there is no residue from the previous usage. Use filtered or spring cold water only. Do not start with warm or hot water. Use two level tablespoons for every cup (6 ounces) of water. For an average 10 cup maker, (60 liquid ounces) use about 3 ounces of Read More…

The rains have returned and our new “Konawaena” farm above the Mamalahoa Highway is coming to life. This is a 40-acre farm that we are currently developing and is the source of our award-winning Jeni K Signature Coffee. This first view shows trees just stumped this year in the foreground. Next month, our crews will remove all but the best 3 or 4 vertical branches on each tree. Stumping the trees after two years of production is needed to maintain peak production from each tree. Next season these trees will Read More…