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Let's say you have a dream... to grow the best Kona coffee on earth. But you don't want to leave your home (Jonesboro) or your day job (surgeon). Most people would probably write it off as a pipe dream, but not the Kona Cloud family.
In 1997, they purchased undeveloped land in the South Kona district of the Big Island of Hawaii. By November of 2000, they had harvested their first crop. From there, the coffee beans are transported over 4,000 miles to the Kona Cloud Coffee roaster in Jonesboro, Arkansas. That's where we're headed right now.
"At our roasting facility, we have a computer interfaced, 30 pound per batch Diedrich Roaster," reads their website. "We store our 100 % Kona green coffee in climate controlled bliss, until it is custom roasted on an order by order basis."
As for their Hawaiian farms? "Our coffee plantings are between 1,800 and 2,300 feet of elevation on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano (summit @ 13,680 feet above sea level). This is about 4,100 miles from our roaster in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In the Kona microclimate, coffee grows best in the elevation range between 1,500 and 3,000 feet. Any lower, and the warmer temperatures ripen the fruit earlier in the growth cycle than is desirable, any higher and the temperature is too cool to fully develop the bean. Kona Clouds' elevation is just right."
As a coffee lover with a particular penchant for Kona coffee, I can't tell you how excited I am to sample this Hawaii/Arkansas brew. If you would like to try it for yourself, you can buy some online at www.konacloudcoffee.com. Or if you would simply prefer to see the Kona Cloud Coffee story, you can watch it tonight at 6PM on Channel 7.
October
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