GLOBAL COFFEE SHORTAGE

Don’t panic.  We don’t buy coffee from Brazil.  But, for example, usually during this time of year, the delicate Arabica coffee plants in the mountains of Brazil, where most of the world's coffee comes from, are maturing. White, fragrant flowers have appeared, followed by cherry-like fruit, each containing two seeds: Arabica coffee beans, the most popular in the world.

But last month, the worst drought in decades hit Brazil's coffee belt region, destroying crop yields and causing the price of coffee to shoot up by more than 50 percent so far this year. The drought is historic, with more than 140 cities in Brazil forced to ration water. The country's leading newspapers reported that some neighborhoods are receiving water only every three days.

For now, retail prices for coffee are stable. Roasters typically have enough supplies to cover themselves for a few months. But if the price of the Arabica beans continues to rise, consumers could start seeing the cost of their morning coffee creep up later this year, according to Jack Scoville, a futures market analyst specializing in grains and coffee, among other commodities.

Coffee bought, roasted and packaged for the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company comes from Kona, Hawaii, of course, along with central America, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the finest coffee available to enjoy by the cup.  You’ll get a great cup of Joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity.  CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day.  And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane!   We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!   If you are a Chai drinker, you’ll love the Coconut or Mango Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu. 

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more!  Order on line and we’ll do our best to get it to you as fast as possible.  Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com and look at the coffees.  Go to the “Chocolates” page and find our new Cowboy Coffee Choco-Drops, a coffee caramel smothered in milk chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder!  We have new Mescalero Morning Cowboy Coffee Candles on our “Bath Products” page, too.

The purpose of this missive is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Join up, become a member, comment and have fun!  You can also join the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/.   You can also find us on tweeting onTwitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster.  And look us up on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you can type sixty words per minute ... with your feet!  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!