Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Ka'u Coffee Mill Honored in Top 10 Worldwide Roaster's Choice Awards for 2013

Ka'u crew representing Ka'u Coffee and Ka'u as a visitor destination at Boston Convention Center:
Ka'u Coffee Mill founder Edmund C. Olson, coffee farmer Sammie Stanbro, Ka'u Coffee Mill general manager John Cross, chief roaster Kalikoweo Keolanui-Daniele, harvest manager Lou Daniele, The Ka`u Calendar publisher Julia Neal and interns William Neal and Lee Neal. Front and center is multiple SCAA Coffees of the Year competition top 10 winner Bull Kailiawa.
Ka'u Coffee Mill team returned from the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Expo. in Boston, MA, this weekend with an award in hand. Ka'u Coffee Mill Chief Roasters Kalikoweo Keolanui-Daniele and Lee Segawa co-roasted an entry that placed in the top ten worldwide in the coveted Roasters Choice awards for 2013. Rusty's Hawaiian - a fellow Ka'u Coffee producer - was placed alongside the Ka'u Coffee Mill in the top ten.
Coffee farmer Sammie Stanbro shows off the many varieties of Ka`u Coffee. Photo by Julia Neal
       Roasters Choice is sponsored by the Roasters Guild, which is the trade guild of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. The SCAA considers itself the world’s coffee knowledge leader and largest coffee trade association.
      The top 10 coffees were showcased with two mornings of tasting at the Brew Bar in the convention center on Saturday and Sunday. Winning coffees were three from Colombia, two from Ka'u (as mentioned above) and one each from El Salvador, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Ecuador.
      Chief roaster Kalikoweo Keolanui -Daniele represented Ka'u Coffee Mill at the event. Daniele said the win, which she shares with Lee Segawa, another chief roaster, confirms that Ka'u has incredible coffee. It shows that the mill, which was built by Edmund C. Olson to help farmers save time and distance for processing their coffee, is also gaining a reputation as a fine roaster.
Multiple international award winner Bull Kailiawa and founder Ed Olson show off Ka`u Coffee in Boston.
Photo by Julia Neal
      The tasting notes for the competition described the Ka'u Coffee Mill entry as coming from typica beans. The notes call it "rich in flavor with piquant acidity and intriguing hints of sweetness and spice. Citrus and jasmine aroma. Fresh butter undertones, hints of lime, currant, bergamot and a long spiced finish.” The roast philosophy reported by Ka'u Coffee Mill is: “Delicate Hawaiian coffees are required to be lightly roasted to enhance their exquisite taste profiles. Therefore, our preference is to roast at the lower end of the roast spectrum to ensure our customers taste our crop in each cup!”
      Also attending the SCAA convention for the fourth year was Bull Kailiawa. His coffee is a multiple winner of SCAA awards and is a feature product at the Ka'u Coffee Mill Visitor Center in Wood Valley.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Ka'u Coffee Mill to host 2013 Miss Ka'u Coffee Pageant

We invite you to come celebrate the Ka‘u Coffee industry with us at our mill’s coffee drying pad on Friday, April 26, as four contestants compete to become the reigning queen of the Ka'u Coffee Festival. As official representatives of the Ka'u Coffee industry, the new queen and her court (three princesses) will attend several of the Ka'u Coffee Festival events over the following week - see kaucoffeefest.com for more on these events.

The contestants for Miss Ka‘u Coffee will be judged in three categories: Gown, Talent and Interview.

Miss Ka‘u Coffee Pageant 2013 will begin 6:30 p.m. at the Ka‘u Coffee Mill on Friday, April 26. (Doors open at 6 p.m.) Advance tickets are $10; buy them from contestants or from pageant chair Gloria Camba at 928-8558.

On April 6, the Ka'u Coffee Growers Cooperative put together a float on a Ka'u Coffee Mill truck decorated with McCall’s flowers, branches of red coffee cherries and other foliage. The four 2013 Miss Ka'u Coffee contestants, Kawailani Houvener, Seneca Lee Oleyte, Rachel Ornelas and Tiare-Lee Shibuya, represented the coffee industry in Ka'u along with Ka'u Coffee Growers Cooperative president and past-president, Gloria Camba and Lorie Obra. Also on the float were pageant artistic director Nalani Parlin and award-winning Ka'u Coffee farmer Willie Tabios. Assisting with the float were Efren Abellera and his daughters, Layla, Elisa and Erica, Bong Aquino and driver Leonardo Castaneda and his wife Jackie.

The Merrie Monarch Parade was the first official outing for the four contestants.

A little more about each contestant:

Kawailani Houvener, of Ocean View, daughter of Michelle and Kenneth Houvener. She is 17 years of age and a senior at Ka'u High School. She plans to sign up for the Army and study mechanics. Her talent will be hula.

Seneca Lee Oleyte, of Pahala, daughter of Ernest and Lenora Lorenzo-Oleyte. She is 22 years of age and attends University of Hawai'i in Hilo and studies communications. She is a graduate of Ka'u High School. Her talent will be singing.

Rachel Ornelas, of Wai`ohinu, daughter of Mia Ornelas and resides with her grandparents Mario and Memmy Ornelas. She is 19 years of age, graduated from Ka'u High School and attends University of Hawai'i at Hilo, studying to be a registered nurse. Her talent will be singing.

Tiare-Lee Shibuya, of Wai'ohinu, daughter of Dane and Terry-Lee Shibuya. She is 19 years of age, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and attends Hawai'i Community College and plans to become a registered nurse. Her talent will be hula.