Posts with tag kona
Posted Dec 26th 2006 12:01PM by Nicole Weston
Filed under: Coffee, Farming, Business, Did you know?, Islands
The Big Island City Council in Hawaii has just passed a resolution to require coffee sellers to use more Kona Coffee in their "Kona coffee blends." Currently, the required minimum amount for a coffee to be labeled with the Kona blend term is only 10% of the beans. The new resolution ups the amount to 75% - an increase the growers and officials say is necessary to protect the Kona coffee name and reputation, as well as the financial well-being of the growers. They borrowed the 75% standard from California wine growers, who require that 75% of the grapes used in a wine to come from California grapes.
Proponents of the change, which passed through the council in a unanimous vote, say that not only will this protect the (wee deserved) reputation of Kona coffee as a luxury product, but it will ultimately prove to be better for consumers, who will know with certainty what they are paying for when they buy a Kona Blend and won't end up overpaying for a substandard product that bears the region's name.
Posted Apr 17th 2006 9:01PM by Joe DiStefano
Filed under: Coffee, Candy, Food Oddities, New Products, America
Coca-Cola isn't the only one
pursuing brand extension by capitalizing on the U.S. coffee craze. I grabbed a 17-stick pack of Wrigley's
Doublemint Kona Creme at my local convenience store the other day. The only good thing about this new coffee-flavored
gum from Wrigley's is that they omitted the Doublemint part and kept the flavor to Kona Creme.
And
just what does Kona Creme taste like? Imagine a cup of light and sweet from a coffee truck, sans caffeine. As a staunch
enemy of decaf, I'd much rather restrict my coffee candy intake to such high-test java candies as
Pocket Coffee. I can't
possibly imagine what the product development gang at Wrigley could have been thinking, especially since most folks use
gum to eliminate coffee breath as opposed to getting it. Did they want to tap into the underserved market for
brown chewing gum?
Posted Mar 15th 2006 11:17AM by Joe DiStefano
Filed under: Fruit, Food Oddities, Newspapers, America, Super Size Me

The
gigantic 76-pound jackfruit grown on Hawaii's Big Island two years ago now has some company. Joining it in
Guinness
World Records is the world's heaviest mango – a whopping five pounds, seven ounces – grown in
Kailua, Kona.
Colleen Porter, who has a small mango and avocado orchard, tended the freakish fruit for two
months, even covering it with plastic bag to keep birds from eating it. Before she harvested it she almost gave up
growing altogether. I know it's a long shot, but given Hawaii's track record so far, I'm holding out for the world's
largest Kona coffee bean.
[image:
The Honolulu Advertiser]
Posted Jan 13th 2006 8:04PM by Nicole Weston
Filed under: Snacks, Chocolate, Candy, Raves & Reviews, Food Quest
I will admit that both of these were gifts, but I am a big fan of chocolate covered coffee beans and often buy them
as snacks for myself. I love the smoothness of the chocolate with the crunch and flavor of a coffee bean - sort of a
deconstructed mocha. But how do the more than twice as expensive Dean & Deluca beans stack up to their Trader
Joes counterpart?
Dean & Deluca's confection had excellent chocolate surrounding a large bean. The flavors blended amazingly well
and the whole thing had a distinctly caramely tone to it, though the coffee bean flavor was evident. Excellent ratio - a
bit more than 1:1: - of chocolate to bean.
Continue reading Chocolate Espresso Bean Taste Off