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Grafted Kona
Coffee Wins Big
for Heavenly Hawaiian Farms
by Les Drent
 
Kraig Lee, Co-Owner of
Heavenly Hawaiian Farm’s “The Other Farm” meticulously
splices and connects the Liberican and Typica to
create grafted Kona Coffee nursery stock. |
No one believed it was possible. No one had seen it
done. But family farm owners Kraig and Sheryl Lee and
Rae and Sandy Young proved that grafted coffee was the
best Kona coffee in the prestigious Kona Coffee Cultural
Festival Cupping Competition in 2000. Heavenly Hawaiian
Farms' newest orchard, "The Other Farm," became
the first and only grafted 100% Kona coffee to stand
the test of international coffee connoisseurs.
Grafting coffee proved to be a delicate process, having
to carefully splice two different varieties of sapling
coffee trees and then bind them together so they continue
to grow as one plant. Lee demonstrates a steady hand
for grafting his choice of rootstock, the stronger,
more aggressive Liberican variety of coffee plant, to
the Guatemalan or Typica plant branded as Kona coffee,
which produces the choice gourmet cherries. This cupping
competition win proved that the Liberican enhances the
rich Kona coffee flavor, making grafted coffee viable
agricultural product. Akin to a wine tasting, a cupping
competition utilizes judges from around the world to
distinguish the best of the best in 100% Kona coffee,
only considering coffee grown in Kona's fertile, volcanic
soil on Hawaii's Big Island. Heavenly Hawaiian Farms
and "The Other Farm" join a tradition of excellence
as rich and flavorful as the people who have produced
this unique coffee heritage and signature brand of gourmet
coffee enjoyed worldwide. Each year the Kona Coffee
Cultural Festival invites everyone to celebrate in this
tradition, enjoying the honor as the only coffee festival
in the United States. The next annual Kona Coffee Cupping
Contest is scheduled for November 7-8, 2001.
Lee credits Marc Meisner, Research Technician and Farm
Foreman from the University of Hawaii College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources' Kona Experiment Station;
and Doctoral Candidate Mario Serracin, with UH Manoa's
Nematology Department for his grafting success. Lee
also recognizes Dr. Donald Schmitt, Head of the Nematology
Department, for research in grafting coffee plants.
100% Kona coffee from Heavenly Hawaiian Farms and The
Other Farm can be purchased through its web site at
www.heavenlyhawaiian.com. For more information contact
Sandy Young at (808) 322-7720.
Root-Knot Nematode Research Scores Major Victory
for Farmers
As written in the Fall/Winter 2000- 2001 issue
of Coffee Times attempts were being made by researchers
at the University of Hawaii to find a solution to
the root-knot nematode crisis that has plagued some
coffee farms in Kona. One possible antidote to this
problem involves grafting traditional Kona coffee
seedlings onto the rootstock of an African variety
of coffee that has proven resistant to this root-knot
nematode. While many were justifiably skeptical about
the final taste in the cup a shocking result to this
research came in the 2001 Kona Coffee Cupping Contest.
One of these first grafted strains developed by a
farmer in Kona won a top award at the annual cupping
competition. While research does continue this is
very good news for farmers in Kona who have seen their
orchards damaged even killed by this deadly nematode.
The aggressive studies done by these UH researchers
is helping to maintain a healthy future for Kona coffee
growers.
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may submit editorial comments to any of our stories
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We would be happy to attach your comments and feedback
to anything we publish online. Thank you for your interest.":
Story appeared originally in Coffee Times print magazine and appears online for archival purposes only. Any use or reprinting of these stories without the expressed written consent of the author is prohibited.
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