Kona Coffee Cultural Festival's Gevalia Kona Coffee Cupping Competition
Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation has been the official Mill, Roaster and Director of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival from 2003-2007.
We are the official mill and roastery for the 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 and 2007 Gevalia Kona Coffee Cupping Competitions.
The event is sponsored by Gevalia of Sweden and run by Trent A. Bateman of Mountain Thunder. We mill and roast all of the entries to the contest so that the panel of expert judges can determine the best cup of Kona coffee. This requires expert roasting skills and meticulous attention to detail that is displayed as we mill all the entry's parchment coffee.
Each entry submits a bag of Parchment, and then we mill the coffee. Next, we put the coffee on the gravity-density table for a once-over sorting of good and bad beans. This sorting allows the best beans to be represented in each entry's coffee.
Next the coffee is bagged and numbered so the judges can not
see the name of the farm. The master number list is kept private by the event director, Trent A. Bateman. Two bags of green Kona coffee are made and each is numbered with the entry's farm number. One of the bags remains for the judges
to examine, and the other bag is sent to the roaster be roasted.
Roastmaster Trent A. Bateman then heats up the roaster, and then roasts each sample to match the roast profile provided by the judge's specifications. Once each batch is roasted, the samples are set out to de-gas, which is a process whereby the CO2 gas in the coffee beans is let out to mix with the atmosphere.
At this point, the samples are sent over to the Outrigger Keahou Beach Resort, which is the hotel where the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is hosted. From there, the panel of judge's tastes, smells and examines each coffee for the best tasting Kona Coffee. There are several elimination rounds where different coffee samples are ruled out as better than others.
Finally, there comes a winner, and then the Director
of the competition releases the name in a celebratory ceremony, where the winning farm gets the koa wood bowl and a name plaque inside the bowl. Currently, there is a new bowl and an old bowl with all the names of the winning farms for the
past decade.
We also have an article in Kona View Magazine that outlines the Kona Coffee Cupping Contest
- Check out the judges as they find the best Kona coffee in Kona this November 12th & 13th, 2008 at the Outrigger Keahou Beach Resort.
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