The other day, Malian Lahey sent me some coffee, and it was called Honey Super Coffee. At first, I thought maybe the name was a Big Island thing because they say things like ice shave and tomato beef, where on Oahu we say Shave Ice and Beef Tomato. That’s one of the ways you can tell if someone is from the Big Island. I thought it should have read Super Honey, oh well. The deal is that this coffee, when picked as a cherry, has a lot of the mucilage left on, versus taken off. So much mucilage is left on that it has to be dried on racks, otherwise the bean sticks to the drying floor like it was glued. It is grown at 1800 feet above sea level and contains 10.9% moisture. These coffees are grown on the Wally Young Ohana farm. Wally Young used to be the mechanic on the C. Brewer sugar plantation, but since C. Brewer went out of business 15 years ago Wally has been growing coffee in addition to running a vehicle repair service in order to support his large family. The coffee is a medium roast, very easy to drink, and something you could easily sit with a pot while reading the morning paper. The flavor is typical Ka’u to me. The coffee has great body, flavor and nose. It is balanced. If it were a wine, I’d say its like a smooth drinking merlot. It’s the current favorite coffee at Alan Wong's Honolulu. Often times, our guests will try it, like it, and contact the farmers directly to be able to buy some. I know this is how Rusty’s, Kailiawa, and Will and Grace (The Rising Sun) started out with us. A good chef friend, Chef Josiah Citrin who owns Melisse in LA, tasted some Will and Grace (The Rising Sun) at our place, and now he buys it for his restaurant. It gives the coffee grower exposure and the possibility of more sales. It may also give them a boost, having people they don’t know calling them because they like their product and want to buy some just because they had it in our restaurants.
~AW