Kona Farm Direct won first place in the Classic Division to highlight the 51st Annual Kona Coffee Festival Cupping Competition.
Kona Farm Direct claimed top honors in the division for innovative small-holder farms. Its fruit-dried Mokka variety scored 86.42. The top ten coffees in the division scored within less than 1.5 points of each other.
The top-scoring coffees of the 66 submitted for the competition were a collection of creative varieties and unique experimental processing.
“I am so proud of the Kona coffee growers’ tenacity and dedication to producing quality coffee despite so many obstacles over the past few years,” Brittany Horn, chairman of the 2022 KCCP Cupping Competition Committee. “Your pursuit paves the way for a younger generation’s opportunity to innovate and elevate the Kona coffee industry.”
The Kona Heritage Award went to Ka’awaloa Trail Farm for a parchment-dried (washed) Typica variety to celebrate traditional cultivation techniques in Kona coffee. Ka’awaloa Trail Farm finished fifth overall with 86.13 points.
The Crown Division for larger farms and mills was won by Imagine 100% Kona Coffee for a parchment-dried Typica that scored 83.65.
The Pacific Coffee Research of Kailua Kona, Hawaii hosted the competition in their Coffee Quality Institute-certified lab. For information about Hawaii Coffee Association, visit https://www.hawaiicoffeeassoc.org/.
