ABOUT US - Keopu Coffee Inc

Our Organic Kona Coffee History:

Keopu Coffee farming started as a hobby. In 1998 the Gillette family planted an acre of Kona coffee on the family estate, here in Holualoa, (Kona, Big Island, Hawaii). The Kona coffee was used for family gifts and personal use until 2005, when Keopu Coffee was created. Another 5 acres of Kona coffee was planted in 2006 as the business quickly outgrew the original acre. From the start of Keopu Coffee it has been dedicated to organic coffee farming and production. In 2008, the Hawaii Organic Farming Association granted us our certification. We are currently USDA Organic Certified by international certification services..

In 2007, Keopu Coffee built a wet-mill and drying facility for its own use and supporting other farmers in the area. Our mill is also certified to mill organic Kona coffee.

Our Organic Kona Coffee Production: 

Harvesting of Keopu Coffee's organic Kona coffee cherry usually begins in late August and continues on through the first months of the new year.  After the cherries are carefully hand picked with only the ripest being selected, the next step in producing our Kona coffee involves removing the outer skin of the fruit, and is known as "pulping".  Keopu Coffee has our own new pulping machine (Pulping equipment from J.M. Estrada, Eco-Mill Model 1000.) where we are able to carefully tend to our cherry and provide the utmost quality control possible.

Next the organic Kona coffee must be soaked to remove the small amount of fruit that surrounds the actual Kona coffee bean in a short fermentation process.  After, the Kona coffee must be dried, and this can be done in several different ways. 

All Keopu Coffee's organic Kona coffee beans are sun dried on a large drying deck, which is the most energy efficient and natural way of drying Kona coffee.  Drying with warm air dryers is also a common practice with many farmers since the weather does not always cooperate when large amounts of Kona coffee needs to be dried. 

Once the desired moisture content of the drying organic Kona coffee beans is reached, the coffee is ready for dry milling.  Dry milling removes the final layer known as the "hull" from around the coffee bean, and you are left with "green" coffee named for its grayish green color. 

Roasting is final step in the production of whole bean coffee, and this is done by using a large coffee roaster that cooks the beans at anywhere between 400 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit for a desired length of time depending on how dark or light you prefer your roast to be. 

Keopu Coffee does not have its own roasting and bagging facility at this time. All milling , roasting, and packaging of Keopu Coffee's Kona coffee is done by the Holualoa Kona Coffee Company located just a few miles south of our farm in Holualoa.

Keopu Coffee's Kona coffee roasts all of our coffee beans at a medium roast temperature where we feel that it brings out the most flavor of our coffee. Our kona coffee is roasted bi-weekly, for the most fresh roast possible to our customers.