coffee business strategies

Adding yet another definition to the phrase “hot coffee,” it was reported by the Hawaii Island Police that a half ton of green coffee was stolen from a residence in the Kailua View Estates subdivision of North Kona. Knowing the area and the extremely small size of our coffee community, I find it extremely [...]

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Coffee scientist and personal friend Shawn Steiman has released his first opus, the Hawaii Coffee Book, by Watermark Publishing. Pre-orders are being accepted now, with the first shipments expected next month — I hear that some advance copies have already shipped and recently put in an order myself.
From the publisher:
The Hawaiian Islands are [...]

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I haven’t fully decided whether or not to press release this, but it’s official: I’m the first Q Grader for the Coffee Quality Institute from the State of Hawaii. Building on the SCAA Cupping Judge sensory exams completed earlier this year, there was only one remaining written exam to add “Q” licensing to my [...]

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Local newspaper “West Hawaii Today” picked up my SCAA cupping judge story from the other week:
Andrew Hetzel, a Waimea-based coffee consultant, has become the first Hawaii resident to be certified as a coffee cupping judge by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. He is shown here with coffee making equipment. - Special To West Hawaii [...]

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I happened upon an interesting article in the Trinidad & Tobago Express that discusses a theory proposed by Dr. John Agard that Jamaica Blue Mountain is loosing its characteristic flavor as a result of climate change.
Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee losing its taste
I suspect that climate change is playing some role in the shift and that [...]

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