Hawaii’s Back Yard Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi

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Get a taste of Molokai on coffee plantation

Before Desiree Cabreros started working for Coffees of Hawaii a year and a half ago, she didn't even drink coffee, let alone know anything about it.

Today, the tour director of the 500-acre coffee plantation "drinks coffee every day. ... After I saw how much hard work goes into producing coffee, I really learned to appreciate it."

Coffees of Hawaii Meet at: Coffees of Hawaii, 1630 Farrington Ave., Kualapuu, Molokai Tours: The Morning Espresso Walking Tour is offered weekdays at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $20 for adults, $10 for ages 5 through 15 and free for kids under 5. A mule-drawn wagon tour is available at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. Saturdays, at $35, $10 and free for the respective age groups. Both tours are two hours, and adult prices include a 7-ounce bag of any Island Style coffee blend. Call: 567-9490, ext. 26, on Molokai, toll-free (877) 322-3276 from the other islands E-mail: agtours@coffeesofhawaii.com Web site: www.coffeesofhawaii.com Notes: Coffees of Hawaii also offers a free daily self-guided hiking tour of the plantation from 3 to 5:30 p.m. daily. Check in at the gift shop between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. for a map and to sign a waiver. A guided 3.5-mile hiking tour through the fields to the top of Kualapuu Hill will launch on June 1, to run 3 to 5:30 p.m. weekdays at $7.50 for adults, $5 for ages 5 through 15 and free for under 5. Light snack and drinks included. Coffees of Hawaii's Malulani Estate Coffee, Original Molokai Muleskinner, Molokai Island Princess and Hawaiian Espresso, Molokai Style, are 100 percent Molokai coffee. The plantation also produces blends of Hawaii-grown coffees and Nicaraguan Arabica marketed as Island Style Maui, Island Style Molokai, Island Style Kona and Hawaiian Island Style. While there, be sure to try its signature drink, Mocha Mama, with Maui-made Roselani vanilla ice cream, Hawaiian Espresso and Ghirardelli chocolate topped with whipped cream and more chocolate.

Coffees of Hawaii's trees grow in half-mile rows in Kualapuu, a cool 800 to 1,000 feet above sea level. The winds here often are brisk, necessitating a threefold windbreak system of Sudax grass, Norfolk pines and wiliwili trees.

"Besides being windy, Kualapuu is known for its red volcanic soil, which has a high mineral content," said Cabreros. "The plantation's fields are next to a 1.5-billion gallon reservoir, which is the water source for Kualapuu and Hoolehua, Molokai's main agricultural areas."

Cabreros is the main guide for Coffees of Hawaii's Morning Espresso Walking Tour and Mule-Drawn Wagon Tour, both of which take guests through every phase of the coffee growing and milling processes. Most "come here knowing nothing about coffee production. I enjoy seeing them get more and more excited and interested as the tour goes on," she said.

Pairs of mules are rotated for the Wagon Tour. "Barbara Jean, Marla, Mele, Leilani and Kamuela are stronger and less excitable than horses, and they're very friendly," said Cabreros. "Visitors who take the Wagon Tour love to take pictures with our mules."

The team takes guests into Coffees of Hawaii's orchards, where some 350,000 Arabica coffee trees flourish. The trees start to flower in February, and their fruit is ready to harvest by November or December.

"Harvesting season lasts about three months," said Cabreros. "Only the ripe red cherries and the dark brown 'overripe' fruit, which has dried on the plant and looks like raisins, are used to make our coffee."

From the fields, the Wagon Tour takes participants back to the plantation's facilities, where they view the wet processing steps that separate the ripe and overripe coffee from the immature green fruit.

The overripe coffee is easy to spot; it floats on a water-filled table while the cherries and immature coffee sink. The latter are transferred to another table, where a fast-turning pulper kicks out the green fruit.

"Only the cherries are soft enough to pass through the pulper, which takes off their skin and meat," Cabreros explained. "With most fruit, you eat the outside or the meat. It's the opposite with coffee; you discard the outside and use the inside."

AFTER THE SORTING process, the coffee is trucked to a facility in Palaau, two miles away, where it dries in the sun for a week. It's then taken back to Coffees of Hawaii's warehouse in Kualapuu, where the dry mill machines are located.

First, the de-stoner segregates sticks, stones and other objects from the dried coffee. Next, the huller removes the parchment skin, leaving the bean, and the polisher cleans any residue that might remain.

The Victorian sorter divides the beans by size. They're then placed on the gravity table according to size and sorted one more time to separate the heavier (good) beans from the lighter (inferior) beans.

Before they're roasted, the color sorter removes the white, black and yellow beans, which are deemed off-color.

In the roasting room, Cabreros explains the roasting, blending, flavoring and packaging procedures. The tour concludes in the cupping room, where participants sample light, medium and dark roasts.

"They smell and taste the differences between roast levels," said Cabreros. "Some people prefer a dark, robust coffee. Others rather have their coffee 'smooth,' with no aftertaste. The more you acquire a taste for coffee, the more you can distinguish the subtleties. When I started drinking coffee, I put a lot of cream and sugar in it. Now, I like drinking my coffee black."

She also enjoys talking about coffee. Among the participants on a recent tour was a couple from Seattle who had purchased a parcel in upcountry Kona on the Big Island.

"They said they had over 60 coffee trees on their land, but they didn't know anything about them," recalled Cabreros. "That's why they wanted to take our tour. Afterward, they were so excited! They said, 'We learned so much! Now we know, from seed to cup, how to produce coffee. It's going to be great to wake up every morning with a cup of our very own coffee!'"