Aloha, greeting from Hawaii!

As the new crop coffees from the Parry Estate are ready to be shipped, I decided to visit the farm, look at the post harvest conditions and follow the loading of the first 400 bags being shipped to San Francisco in 2010.

The quality this year has benefited immensely from the very dry period that started back in October 2009. Now after the harvest, consistent rains will be necessary to promote the flowering and fruit fixation.

 

The good news is that the first rainfall in months finally happened last week bringing temporary relief to over 600 coffee farmers in the region. Now everyone is hoping for the rains return on a consistent pattern.

At the Parry Estate, the harvest is almost finished. There is still another week or two of work to be done before the flower buds and new leaf take over the scenario.

 

 

A lot of pruning is happening in Kona and this is in fact a regional issue meaning that the overall production for the next 24 months will likely reduce by a noticeable percentage. Another factor that contributes to the short term productivity reduction ahead of us is the draught and many older plantations are overstressed and will have to be replanted. This means that new trees will only produce coffee by 2013.

 

 

Javier Cisneros, the farm Manager, toured me through the over 200 acres of plantation, the rainforest reserves within and around the farm, the nursery and the preparation facilities. State of the art Pinhalense equipment and trained personnel receive the selective hand picked coffees and prepare them from cherry state to green. As soon as the volume reaches a container load, it is shipped to mainland and stored at the Annex in Oakland protecting its high quality condition.

 

The Parry Estate is in fact vertically structured and all preparation processing happens at the farm. The State inspection and certification of quality and origin is done at the same location prior to shipment, the stuffing of the coffee into the containers for shipment to mainland as well.

This year, the quality is outstanding, the dry harvest weather and the expert processing management has produced the best Parry Estate quality ever! What makes this coffee even more attractive is the long term commitment to quality and productivity that John Parry and his experienced staff have signed up to.

Another great advantage is that the Parry Estate is the only Rain Forest Alliance certified coffee in Kona. As the container leaves Hawaii this week, expectations for the Parry Estate availability at the Annex start at the last week of February.

If you haven’t received a sample of this crop yet and are interested in learning more about the Parry Estate Coffees, please inform us and we will send you a sample and additional information materials.

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