Kona Cowboy Coffee

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

THE DECAFFEINATION PROCESS

“Do you make decaf?” is a FAQ we hear the most. The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company does not decaffeinate any of our gourmet coffees. And we’ll tell you why in a moment. First, know that whatever the decaffeination process, the resulting coffee beans still retain caffeine. The standard is 97% of caffeine removed. In Europe it is 99.9% free by mass.

The original process, invented by Ludwig Roselius in 1903, steams the coffee beans with acids or bases and then uses benzene to remove the caffeine. Thankfully, due to health concerns related to benzene, this process is no longer used. Whew! The following methods are used:

SWISS WATER PROCESS calls for soaking green coffee beans in water to remove caffeine. Oils and solids that give coffee its favor are also removed so they first saturate the water with components they’re going to remove. Doesn’t that sound natural?

DIRECT METHOD steams the coffee beans with Dichloromethane Ethyl Acetate for about ten hours then steams them again for another ten hours to remove the solvent. So, with that method, you can have your java with cream, sugar and dichloromethane ethyl acetate! Yummy!

I
NDIRECT METHOD soaks the coffee beans in hot water for a few hours and then that good old Dichloromethane Ethyl Acetate that we all love is used to pull out the caffeine. It is recycled over and over again, too.

CO2 PROCESS immerses the pre-steamed coffee beans in liquid carbon dioxide in a pressure chamber. The caffeine and CO2 are removed by charcoal filters. They decaffeinate tea the same way.

TRIGLYCERIDE PROCESS soaks green coffee beans in a mix of hot water and coffee (yes, coffee immersed in coffee) to float the caffeine to the top and then soaks the beans in coffee oils they get from old spent coffee grounds. Doesn't that sound appetizing? The beans are then dried and the caffeine is removed from the oils to sell to caffeinated beverage makers such as Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper.

Let’s get back to that FAQ: “Do you make decaf?” I’m a Tennessee Whiskey drinker. It’s a product that goes back to colonial days. I even like it in my coffee. No, I love it in my coffee. One of the taste factors in whiskey is alcohol. One of the taste factors in gourmet coffee is caffeine. I maintain that you can’t remove the caffeine without removing an important part of the coffee flavor. So, to answer that FAQ, we don’t make decaf. If your doctor told you to cut back on caffeine, drink one cup instead of two but drink good coffee. If your doctor told you to cut out caffeine altogether, I suppose you’re stuck with Pepsi Free.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the finest, caffeine-laden coffee available. 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 Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu. The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more! 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 blog 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 find 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/222070817858553. Just copy and paste to your browser. You can also find us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster. And 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 jump-start your car without cables! 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!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

NEWLY UPDATED WEBSITE

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more! Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com. Check out our MOKA-JAVA blend of the finest Ethiopian and Indonesian coffees. Try the new Coconut Spiced CHAI we bring in from Honolulu. 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.

You will notice that the price has gone up on PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee. That’s because of the coffee berry borer, a pest plaguing coffee farms in the Big Island's Kona district. The pest has affected up to 80 percent of coffee farms, leaving some coffee fields in such bad shape that they've been abandoned, creating havens for the beetle.

The insect is smaller than a sesame seed and bores its way into coffee cherries, digs homes and lays eggs. The beans from those cherries aren't usable for making coffee. The pest has reduced the coffee crop and in some cases made farms impossible to harvest for commercial purposes.

Officials plan to distribute the most effective repellent and train farmers to use treatments. They also intend to research new types of pest control that could be more effective at killing the borer and study the insect's genome to find out how it might be similar or different to other pests.

The beetle, known as Hypothenemus hampei, is native to Africa. It was formally identified in Hawaii in 2010 after farmers reported spotting it for a couple years.

No one knows how it arrived in Hawaii, but it's seen in many other coffee-growing regions throughout the world.

So, in a world of supply and demand, less Kona coffee means higher prices and, while prices have been steadily rising over the five years we’ve been in business, we have absorbed the price hikes for our customers. We just can’t afford to continue that and stay in business. Thus, Kona is now more expensive…everywhere!

We’re certainly not a large company but we continue to pride ourselves on providing the best coffee available to our customers. 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!

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!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

WEATHER IN YOUR COFFEE CUP

Did you know that your morning cup of coffee can help you predict rain? It’s a trick used by backpackers that can come in handy for anyone planning to be out of doors: pour a cup of coffee and carefully watch the bubbles.

Backpacker Magazine writes, If the bubbles amass in the center, you’re in a high-pressure system, which is making the coffee’s surface convex (higher in the middle). Since bubbles are mostly air, they migrate to the highest point. Bubbles in the middle of your coffee cup mean it’s going to be a beautiful day.

If the bubbles form a ring around the sides of the mug, you’re in a low-pressure system, making the surface concave. Bubbles on the sides of your coffee mug means that rain is likely.

Note: It has to be strong, brewed coffee to have enough oil to work, and the mug must have straight sides.

To make new bubbles, simply give your coffee a good stir.

Wow! Now you can forecast the weather in Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But if it looks cloudy, take an umberella. 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you're so jittery that people use your hands to blend their margaritas! 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!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

DIP YOUR TOES IN COFFEE

A City University of New York professor discovered that carbonized coffee can be used to inhibit the smell of raw sewage, among other practical filtration purposes.

Now an upscale professional apparel company that made waves last year by earning nearly $430,000 on Kickstarter to develop its body-temperature-active dress shirt, seems to be applying that research. They are developing another product called Atlas, a sock that it describes as “like a Brita filter for your feet.” As of this writing, supporters had pledged more than $120,000, greatly eclipsing the $30,000 goal.

So what is coffee’s role in the new sock? Here’s more:

“The moisture-wicking, heat-management, and comfort capabilities of ATLAS are all made possible through its unique combination of fibers, a blend made up of cotton, recycled polyester and carbonized coffee. Odor control is difficult in socks. As such, we turned to nature to find an effective way to create a fresher sock, leading us to coffee. Atlas uses carbonized coffee which has been reclaimed from coffee roasters and shops, and is processed through a pharmaceutical process to remove the coffee oils (so it won’t smell like coffee!) and is then infused into our recycled polyester yarns. Odor molecules which are largely made of carbon are strongly attracted to the carbonized coffee. Atlas has a unique structure (kind of like a sponge with lots of surface area), which allows the particles to absorb a lot of odor. It’s the same concept used in your Brita filter to absorb impurities – giving you clean, fresh water. The odor is released the when you launder your socks – returning to its full capacity.”

The Atlas socks will be produced since the Kickstarter goal was met, and socks will be available in two styles and multiple print patterns. Better than just wading in your coffee.

We do not recommend twiddling your toes in Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But you can if you’re not going to drink it! 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when the nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse! 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!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

HOW TO MESS UP YOUR COFFEE

For many of us, the promise of a good cup of coffee gets us out of bed in the morning. Breana Lai, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine says that somehow, prying off the warm covers isn't so hard when she knows there is a warm cup of coffee waiting. We at the Kona Cowboy Coffee Copmay agree. But coffee is very personal. Everyone has a choice coffee-brewing vessel, coffee style and coffee mug.

Whether you choose to brew your coffee in a single-cup brewer, an automatic coffee maker or a French press, keep in mind there are variables that can affect the quality of the coffee you make. There is a reason the coffee from your local coffee shop tastes better. The coffee is freshly brewed, the beans were just ground, the milk was just steamed and the machine costs as much as a small car.

While we can't all have the fancy machine (and barista to make the coffee), we can take some lessons from coffee shops to brew a perfect cup of coffee at home. Here are 7 of the most common and easily remedied coffee-brewing mistakes that stand between you and a great cup of coffee:

1. Dirty Equipment:
Make sure all parts of the machine have been rinsed thoroughly and no coffee or soap residue remains.

2. Old Beans:
If you can't remember when you bought your coffee, it's time to buy some new beans! Only buy as much as you will consume in 1 to 2 weeks. Now you know why the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company packages their coffee in half-pound bags.

3. Pre-Ground Coffee:
Coffee that has already been ground is more susceptible to oxidation. Grinding your beans as close to brewing as possible ensures freshness. Our Paniola brand Kona Cowboy Coffee comes in both regular roast and espresso roast in whole beans.

4. Wrong Size of Grounds:
Each brewing method requires a different size of grind. Coffee that has been ground too fine is often bitter, but if ground too coarse it may be weak. Check your coffee grinder’s manual to find out which size is ideal.

5. Wrong Coffee-to-Water Ratio:
For every 6 ounces of coffee, you'll need 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds. Using more, your coffee may be too strong and taste bitter; use less and you'll end up with watery, weak coffee. We recommend starting with ONE tablespoon of our full bodied gourmet coffees. ‘Tis better to go up the next time than to pour what you just made down the drain.

6. Improper Water Temperature:
If the water is too hot, you can scald your coffee, and if it's too low, the flavors will be mellow. The water should be around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, or just before boiling (water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit).

7. Impure Water:
Tap water often contains minerals that can alter the flavor of your coffee. Use bottled spring water or filtered drinking water. We use bottled water at every trade show where we sell our coffees.

Some folks say that you can’t mess up the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But you can! 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you chew on other people's fingernails! 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!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

MORE COFFEE PROHIBITION

A contemporary example of religious prohibition of coffee can be found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The organization holds that it is both physically and spiritually unhealthy to consume coffee. This comes from the Mormon doctrine of health, given in 1833 by founder Joseph Smith in a revelation called the Word of Wisdom. It does not identify coffee by name, but includes the statement that "hot drinks are not for the belly," which has been interpreted to forbid both coffee and tea.

Quite a number of members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church also avoid caffeinated drinks. In its teachings, the Church encourages members to avoid tea and coffee and other stimulants. Abstinence from coffee, tobacco and alcohol by many Adventists has afforded a near unique opportunity for studies to be conducted within that population group on the health effects of coffee drinking, free from confounding factors. One study was able to show a weak but statistically significant association between coffee consumption and mortality from ischemic heart disease, other cardiovascular disease, all cardiovascular diseases combined, and all causes of death.

For a time, there had been controversy in the Jewish community over whether the coffee bean was a legume and therefore prohibited for Passover. Upon petition from coffeemaker Maxwell House, the coffee bean was classified in 1923 as a berry rather than a bean by orthodox Jewish rabbi Hersch Kohn, and therefore kosher for Passover.

Some folks say that the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees are certainly on their way to becoming spiritual! 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when your eyes stay open when you sneeze! 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!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

COFFEE PROHIBITION

Coffee was initially used for spiritual reasons. At least 1,100 years ago, traders brought coffee across the Red Sea into Arabia (modern-day Yemen), where Muslim dervishes began cultivating the shrub in their gardens. At first, the Arabians made wine from the pulp of the fermented coffee berries. This beverage was known as qishr and was used during religious ceremonies.

Coffee drinking was prohibited by jurists and scholars meeting in Mecca in 1511 as haraam, but the subject of whether it was intoxicating was hotly debated over the next 30 years until the ban was finally overturned in the mid 16th century. Use in religious rites among the Sufi branch of Islam led to coffee's being put on trial in Mecca: it was accused of being a heretical substance, and its production and consumption were briefly repressed. It was later prohibited in Ottoman Turkey under an edict by the Sultan Murad IV.

Coffee, regarded as a Muslim drink, was prohibited by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians until as late as 1889; it is now considered a national drink of Ethiopia for people of all faiths.

Its early association in Europe with rebellious political activities led to Charles II outlawing coffeehouses from January 1676 (although the uproar created forced the monarch to back down two days before the ban was due to come into force). Frederick the Great banned it in Germany in 1777 for nationalistic and economic reasons; concerned about the price of import, he sought to force the public back to consuming beer. Lacking coffee-producing colonies, Germany had to import all its coffee at a great cost.

A look at contemporary religious prohibitions next time.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you're the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don't even work there! 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!