Banana Muse (April 1998) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Yes, the Latin word for the banana is Musa. Coincidence? The banana belongs to the plants of the ancients and has been given God-like powers in many diverse cultures. These "old-world" plants are thought to have originated in India and played an important role in ancient Egypt and Assyria as early as 1100 BC.
read more

Birds of a Feather (Spring/Summer 1999) By Betty Fullard-Leo

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, 15 ancestral species from 11 families of birds came to rest on newly formed lava islands thrusting from the sea more than 2,000 miles from any land. These first birds thrived in isolation from enemies and predators, evolving in their own leisurely fashion to some 78 bird species unique to Hawai‘i.
read more

Burros and Beans (Spring/Summer 2002) By Jim Lightner

A well-conditioned, mature donkey can carry about a 125 pound load at the speed of a human’s stroll all day long. The donkeys were a key component in developing the Kona coffee industry on the steep slopes of Hualalai Volcano.
read more

The Coconut Tree - Staff of Life? (February 1998) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

The tall coconut tree sways in the Hawaiian trades. Many visitors to the islands expect to see these graceful palms or look forward to an authentic pina colada. They mail the coconuts to their snowbound relatives elsewhere. Ah, how sweet the tropics.
read more

Guardian Geckos (September 1997) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Ten years ago, on the Puna side of this island, I spent my first few nights in Hawaii sleepless and stunned. It wasn't just the sudden transition from stark northern Europe to the lush and humid tropics that kept me awake. I found myself to be a captive audience to the most bizarre spectacle between creatures that I had ever seen.
read more

The Hala Tree and The Art of Lauhala (Fall/Winter 1995-1996) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

When I first saw a hala tree, I was reminded of the ancient trees in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I believe they were called ents. They were very wise and lovable, there were many of them, and they could walk. That sums up the hala tree.
read more

Nene - Saving the State Bird (Winter 1999) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Legend? Actually, the shy Hawaiian Goose (Branta Sandvicensis), unique to the islands, seems to have missed out on the great mythologies of the Hawaiian people, although it is mentioned in the Kumulipo, the great creation chant, as a guardian.
read more

Pueo, The Protector (March 1998) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

The cry of the owl has followed me from country to country, continent to continent. The silent scream that once penetrated the snow-burdened hills and frozen glens in Northern Scotland now wakes me up to the eerie surf breaking against the steep cliffs below our house in the tropics of Kohala.
read more

The Kona Grosbeak (Spring/Summer 2000) By Les Drent

Already rare when Wilson visited Hawaii, the Kona grosbeak was found at elevations of about 5,000 feet in the Kona district amid the koa forest. In 1887 Wilson was one of the last to observe the bird in life, for it was last reliably sighted in 1894. He saw only three specimens in a four-week stay, and so rare was the bird that it apparently had no name in the Hawaiian language.
read more

The Struggle of the Ancients (August 1997) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

They lived through the age of the dinosaurs. They survived the earth's age of ice. Sea turtles, the true ancients of the world, have been swimming the oceans for over 200 million years. And for the first time in all these millennia, six out of the seven species are either endangered and on the verge of extinction, or threatened to become endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
read more

Tapping the Roots of Taro (November 1997) By Betty Fullard-Leo

The roots of taro run deeper in the Hawaiian culture than they sink into the muddy patches of Waipi'o Valley or even into the ruins of ancient dry land lo'i (terraces) at Greenbank in North Kohala, once part of the great King Kamehameha's ahupua'a.
read more

Taro, Gift of the Ancient Gods (Fall/Winter 1995-1996 ) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Wakea, Father Heaven, could no longer resist his desire for his youngest daughter. Careful to not arouse the jealousy of his wife, Mother Earth, he arranged nights of kapu, in which men and women should sleep apart from each other. Those were the beginnings of the many kapus between men and women.
read more

ULU - The Breadfruit Tree (Winter 1999) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Its beauty stands out in any garden, grove, or yard. Easily 40-60 feet tall, with branches spanning a similar-size diagonally, the sensual, dark-green lobed leaves of the breadfruit tree form a graceful tapestry from which sexy, lime-green globes, weighing up to 10 pounds each, dangle gracefully in the Hawaiian trades.
read more

Wild Forests of the Gods (Spring/Summer 1996) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

The word for wealth and prosperity in the Hawaiian language is 'wai-wai', 'water-water' or 'abundant water'. Young Pele might well reside over the fire of the volcano; with the life-giving power of water the old gods continue their legacy in the wild rainforests and remote valleys of Hamakua and Kohala.
read more

The Best Brews (Spring/Summer 1999) By Lance Tominaga

Dare to be different. Bold is better. Life is an adventure. Those are the messages David Palmer champions at his two Café Pesto restaurants on the Big Island. What’s worked well for us is blending the familiar with the exotic, says Palmer. Everyone knows what a pizza is, so we like to put exotic toppings on it. We let them be adventurous.
read more

Getting to the Roots of Hawaii Regional Cuisine (May 1997) By Betty Fullard-Leo

Mention local food in Hawaii, and people think of fish and poi, plate lunches with macaroni salad and rice, squid luau made with taro leaves, or poke made of raw fish and seaweed.
read more

Let's Go Grind (November 1997) By Betty Fullard-Leo

When a Hawaiian friend says, "Hey, pau hana let's go my house for grind. We got plenty ono pupu-poke, musubi, might even be some pipikaula and po'i in the fridge," don't hold your stomach (or cover your ears) in bewilderment.
read more

What's That Fish On My Plate (July 1998) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

The abundant bounty of the oceans doesn't strictly define Hawaii cuisine, yet it surely is one of its strongest and most influential characteristics. Times have long passed when one could only choose local mahimahi or snapper in restaurants where the menu was otherwise filled with imported and frozen sole, lobster or salmon.
read more

1999 Downfall of Kona Coffee (Spring/Summer 1999) By Les Drent

After writing for six years on the subject of Kona coffee and having expended countless number of hours lobbying and writing for the protection and preservation of our Kona coffee name, I have sworn many times to remove myself of any personal involvement within this industry outside of my coffee roasting and retailing business which I truly love and enjoy to work at.
read more

1998 - What's Brewing in our Kona Coffee Industry (Winter 1999) By Les Drent

When everything is finalized with the production of this magazine and all the coffee has been roasted and shipped out to my customers I can finally look forward to that brief window of opportunity to report to you the current happenings in our local Kona coffee industry.
read more

What You Don't Know About Kona Coffee (Fall/Winter 1995-1996) By Les Drent

Since the first issue of Coffee Times rolled off the press in April 1993 I pledged to myself to do everything possible to bring awareness to an issue that for many years has done more harm to Kona Coffee than any other. That being the truth in labeling of one of Hawaii's few remaining agricultural commodities, Kona Coffee. Thus, the name Coffee Times.
read more

The Pilgrimage of Kona Coffee (March 1993) By Les Drent

"Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it by what name you please." Mark Twain, 1866. It has been many years since Reverend Samuel Ruggles brought the first coffee plant cuttings to Kealakekua-Kona, Hawaii.
read more

Coffee Times 1994 State of the Bean Address (October 1994) By Les Drent

The sweet smell of freshly pulped coffee cherry stagnates in the morning air as coffee shacks of decrepit weathered wood and their patchwork of tin roofs sit low in the shade of tropical foliage. Woodrose creeps in the foreground, up crooked telephone poles and out across weeping lines.
read more

Coffee Farming in Kona, Hawaii (October 1993) By Les Drent

The majority of the coffee in Kona is harvested between the months of July and December and many of the small mills that process the raw coffee cherries swing into full operation during this time of the year.
read more

The Great Kona Coffee Scandal (Spring/Summer 2001) By Les Drent

DID YOU KNOW that out of the 20 million pounds of Kona Coffee bought and consumed every year only 2 million pounds of that coffee is actually grown here in Kona?
read more

Kona Coffee Booms (October 1997) By Les Drent

A bountiful 1997 Kona coffee harvest is upon us and strong growth in our industry seems to be upon us as well. The high demand for Kona coffee around the world and increasing cherry prices have resulted in widespread planting of coffee by small to large size farms all around Kona.
read more

Kona Coffee Soars To New Heights (Spring/Summer 2000) By Les Drent

The new numbers now surrounding the Kona coffee industry are staggering. It was only 10 years ago that Kona coffee acreage dropped to a mere 1,200 acres as the name “Kona Coffee” was becoming more of an icon throughout the coffee crazed world than the actual prized coffee bean from Kona.
read more

Kona Coffee Pioneers (Fall/Winter 1999-2000) By Kona Coffee Living History Farm

The "American Dream" was founded on the principals and idealism of equality, determination and freedom. Often the "American Dream" is associated with European immigrants leaving economic privation and political and religious oppression in their homelands to build a new and better life in America.
read more

The Future Continues to Brighten for 100% Kona Coffee (Fall/Winter 2000-2001) By Les Drent

With the final chapter being written in the fraudulent Kona coffee case; a state wide Hawaii Coffee association gaining momentum and planted acreage in Kona continuing to rise; farmers, millers, roasters and retailers of 100% Kona coffee have much to look forward to.
read more

Hand Harvesting Ripe Coffee is an Art (Fall/Winter 2000-2001) By Les Drent

A ripe coffee bean - plump and red - signals harvest. Each year in Kona, where hand picking is the norm, one by one, the coffee beans come off the tree. Red coffee cherries must be picked without disturbing the unripe coffee beans on the coffee branch. This is a critical step in quality coffee production, according to George Yasuda, agricultural consultant for Tiare Lani Coffee, Inc.
read more

Elixer For The Soul (Fall/Winter 2000-2001) By Nancy Michael

If you're a coffee fanatic you probably use a French press coffee pot. It's a simple design that makes great coffee quickly and easily. Just place the fairly coarse ground fresh coffee in the bottom of the French press pot, pour water "just off the boil" over the grounds and let it sit for a few minutes.
read more

Final Chapter Written In The Kona Kai Coffee Scandal (Spring/Summer 2001) By Les Drent

Former Kona Coffee Supplier Gets Jail Time, New Assurances Of Kona Coffee Purity Implemented In Oakland this past March, U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen sentenced Michael Norton, 53, owner of the now defunct Kona Kai Coffee, to 30 months in prison as a result of his pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion.
read more

100% Kona Coffee Industry Strengthens (Spring/Summer 2001) By Patti Stratton

Coffee in Kona has had a long history since the original plant was brought to the area by missionary Samuel Ruggles in 1828 and replaced by a Guatemalan variety introduced in 1892. It's the soil and climate that determines the taste of any coffee, and this plant has thrived in the acidic soil on the gentle slopes of Mauna Loa volcano drenched by daily showers during the wet Summer season.
read more

Coexistence of Rainforests and Coffee Orchards in Kona (Spring/Summer 2001 ) By George Yasuda

Within 2 centuries a lot of koa and ohia forests have either disappeared or have drastically been reduced in Kona. Once where nice stands of koa and ohia flourished, there now lie no koa or ohia trees. There are several reasons for this decline including agriculture and ranching.
read more

Aloha In Every Cup (Fall/Winter 2001-2002) By Matt Delaney

The memory of my first Kona coffee experience still brings a smile to my face. I was living on The Big Island in Hilo at the time and working three jobs (normal for most islanders). Friends who were renting an old coffee shack on the hills above Kealakekua Bay invited me to visit and stay for a weekend.
read more

Kona Coffee Travels (Fall/Winter 2001-2002) By Les Drent

During the last eight years of marketing Kona coffee I have encountered countless numbers of customers who share the same comical yet earnest sentiments about their refusal to leave home without their cherished beans. Being on the road without a cup of Kona coffee in hand is a hardship that most of you are simply not willing to endure. Neither am I, for that matter!
read more

Grafted Kona Coffee Wins Big for Heavenly Hawaiian Farms (Fall/Winter 2001-2002) By Les Drent

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.
read more

Back to the Basics of Coffee Growing (Fall/Winter 2001-2002) By George Yasuda

The coffee plants’ nutritional needs fall within the planting and cultivation category and is one of the most important factors in improving the quality of coffee. It is very important to use high quality fertilizers in the right proportions and the correct ingredients.
read more

Orchard Perfect 100% Kona Coffee (Spring/Summer 2002) By Les Drent

While driving along Mamalahoa Highway, the high and winding mountain road that traverses the Kona coffee belt, one can see a countless number of coffee farms. Some of these farms are tucked into a landscape draped in overgrown vegetation and shadowed by towering trees. Others brandish large iron gates at the front and are surrounded by acres of elaborate rock walls.
read more

My New Adventure in Coffee (Spring/Summer 2002) By Les Drent

As I hover over my young coffee trees, I think back nine years when I issued the first edition of Coffee Times magazine. At that time specialty coffee was just sinking its roots into American culture. Within two years of the first printing I bought a coffee roaster and packaged and sold my first pound of 100% Kona coffee.
read more

The High Quality Way (Fall/Winter 2002/2003) By George Yasuda

Kona coffee orchard should not be haphazardly planned, planted, and maintained. A poorly designed and installed orchard would have limited production, high tree loss, poor fruit quality, short tree life, and would be harder to maintain; it would also be unsightly.
read more

Kona Family Produces Winning Coffee (Fall/Winter 2002/2003) By Les Drent

In 1994, Kraig A. Lee and his father-in-law Rae F. Young ventured together to start Heavenly Hawaiian Farm on the slopes of Mt. Hualalai above KailukKona, Hawaii. With their trust firmly planted in the Lord, Kraig & Rae went right to work building the family’s two homes, barn, wet mill and stock nursery.
read more

Kona Coffee at its Best (Spring/Summer 2003) By George Yasuda

When you can have great tasting coffee, and a high quality, high yielding, efficient, picturesque Kona coffee orchard why do some settle for less? If done right your farm will bear shiny, dark green, super healthy, eight foot tall Kona coffee trees laden with 10 to 12 pounds of cherry in just one year of growth. By the second year these same trees can reach loads of 20 to 30 pounds of cherry.
read more

Mountain Thunder Shakes Up Kona Coffee Industry (Fall/Winter 2003-2004) By Les Drent

Visiting Mountain Thunder Kona Coffee Plantation was like entering paradise. Varying sizes of Kona coffee trees adorned with succulent coffee cherries grew among towering hapu’u ferns and ohia trees. Birds flew overhead, filling the morning air with song.
read more

Making The Right Choice (Fall/Winter 2003-2004) By Les Drent

George Yasuda has been farming Kona coffee for decades and he takes as much pride in helping others establish and maintain successful coffee orchards as he does in growing his own high quality coffee. Upon getting to know George one realizes that his expertise come from decades of experimentation, and hands on learning as a farmer.
read more

From Dream To Reality (Fall/Winter 2003-2004) By Les Drent

Over the last four months I have experienced some of the most exciting times in my life as giant steps of growth and development have occurred at Blair Estate coffee farm in Kauai. After nearly two years of planning, ground was finally broken in mid-June for the construction of a new multi-purpose timber frame barn that will serve as a coffee processing and roasting facility as well as a home.
read more

Selecting Seeds (Spring/Summer 2004) By Les Drent

With nearly 100 different varieties of coffee trees existing in the world today there is only one that has contributed to the famous reputation of Kona. Known today as Kona “Typica” this coffee variety was first called “Guatemalan” when it was introduced back in 1892 by an Oahu grower named Hermann Widemann.
read more

A New Way to Prune Coffee? (Spring/Summer 2004) By Bob Nelson

Throughout the past 175 years, Kona coffee farmers have tried many innovative techniques in an effort to successfully grow what many profess to be “the best coffee in the world!” Pruning is a necessary technique that is not only required to maintain a healthy tree but keeps quality and quantity at its highest levels.
read more

Kauai’s Only Organic Coffee Farm is Now Open (Spring/Summer 2004) By Les Drent

With only a few dabs of paint remaining (hip, hip, hurray) we’re proud to announce the opening of our farm visitor center. The coffee roaster is seasoned and in just a few short months we will be in the fields picking the season’s new coffee as we also entertain coffee lovers from around the globe.
read more

Mountain Thunder Booms with Growth! (Fall/Winter 2004-2005) By Les Drent

The recent growth at Mountain Thunder Coffee Farm is dizzying to say the least. After winning 2 blue ribbon awards at the Kona Spring Blossom cupping competition Mountain Thunder ran off with the Gold medals in both the People’s Choice and Chef’s Choice divisions at the recent cup off at the Kona Village Resort. The event was held this past July.
read more

The Basic Needs of a Kona Coffee Tree (Fall/Winter 2004-2005) By Les Drent

Each living organism has basic requirements to perform optimally. On numerous occasions I have been asked this question, “where can we grow Kona coffee trees viably?” Here are some basic answers: 1. Rainfall should be close to 6 to 8 inches per month.
read more

The Life of a Coffee Farmer’s Wife (Fall/Winter 2004-2005) By Deepa Alman

For seven years, I was happily married to Joe Alban, an orthopedic surgeon, when one day in 1994, I found myself owning a Kona coffee farm with him. I knew he had been dreaming of owning a coffee farm in the Kona district, but little did I know how it would completely change my life.
read more

Blair Estate Kauai Organic Coffee Farm (Fall/Winter 2004-2005) By Les Drent

Heavenly may be the best way to describe our experience of raising organic coffee in Kauai. I'll try to paint a picture of our Kauai organic coffee farm. Sitting on our lanai and looking west to the majestic 2600 foot Mt. Wekiu, we view numerous waterfalls cascading down the lush green slopes.
read more

Preserving Hawaii's Native Forest Trees To Support Hawaii's Native Bird Life (Spring/Summer 2005) By George Yasuda

The norm of Hawaii’s land use is to remove all or most of the native trees in order to develop the land. The landscape of the beautiful mountain sides of Kona has experienced a decrease in population of native trees such as koa, sandalwood and ohia. It is sad to see trees 200 years and older removed.
read more

Mountain Thunder Shares Passion for Coffee (Fall/Winter 2005-2006) By Amy Hoff

Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation is, in a word, magical. In a fairyland of ohia and jungle vines, it is a ghostly oasis in the mist. Ohia branches become visible through the mist like the fingers of forgotten gods. The haunting atmosphere is relieved by the explosion of colors around you.
read more

The Continuing Adventure of Blair Estate (Fall/Winter 2005-2006) By Les Drent

After four years of farming coffee, I have realized one thing holds true about cultivating this magical shrub. I should have planted more lychee! That would have been the easiest route, if not for my abiding passion for the enchanting quality of the coffee bean. At least I now have a much deeper appreciation for what goes into producing my morning cup of coffee.
read more

Diary of a Coffee Picker (Fall/Winter 2005-2006) By Carole Prism

Up at 4:30 am, stumbling around my house, aware that folks living nearby are fast asleep. What am I doing up at this hour? This goes against the body's biological rhythms. I am picking coffee, my first day this season. A bumper crop, so I hear. I can see the cherry on the trees around Kona, wondering who is going to pick all this stuff. I guess I am one of the army of people who will.
read more

Kona Coffee Mourns The Death Of Ward Barbee (Spring/Summer 2006) By Les Drent

It's been only 4 days since we heard of Ward Barbee's passing here at Coffee Times. I know I speak for everyone in the Kona coffee industry when I say we were deeply saddened to hear of this news. Besides being one of the craziest and most honest characters in the world of coffee, Ward always stood up for what was right.
read more

Making the Right Choices (Spring/Summer 2006) By George Yasuda

There are proven, basic techniques in growing high quality, high production Kona coffee trees. Volcanic, good drainage loam seems to be best suited for coffee trees. Crushed coral and magnesium oxide needs to be added to the soil approximately every 3-4 years. Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are needed in the right proportions as well. These elements also need to come from the correct sources.
read more

The Aloha Shirt (December 1997) By Veronica S. Schweitzer

Not even tucked in, blazing and bold, here's the aloha shirt! The missionaries might have denounced extravagance and nakedness, the craving for vivid colors, tropical textures, and sensual shapes couldn't be suppressed. Within two centuries a modest workman's shirt grew into the trademark wear of Hawaii.
read more

Before The Glory - Gearing Up For The Merrie Monarch Festival (Spring/Summer 2000) By Lance Tominaga

For most of us, the annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo is a fantastic celebration of the Hawaiian culture, overflowing with pageantry and color, and spotlighting perhaps the most beautiful and personal form of Hawaiian expression, the hula.
read more

Big Fish in Little Ponds (August 1997) By Betty Fullard-Leo

Fishponds, loko i'a, encircle the shores of the Hawaiian Islands, their origins shrouded in legend and inconclusive carbon dating. Some, with walls of basalt and coral, rest like necklaces of glistening black pearls against the blue shoulders of the sea, rimming green and golden shorelines.
read more

Body Art (Spring/Summer 1999) By Betty Fullard-Leo

Queen Kamamalu had a tattoo applied to her tongue as an expression of her deep grief when her mother-in-law died in the 1820s. Missionary William Ellis watched the procedure, commenting to the queen that she must be undergoing great pain. The queen replied, He eha nui no, he nui roa ra ku‘u aroha. (Great pain indeed, greater is my affection.)
read more

Chants: Mele of Antiquity (September 1997) By Betty Fullard-Leo

In 1897, the dethroned Queen Liliu'okalani translated the Kumulipo, an ancient Hawaiian creation chant, from a Hawaiian text published by her brother King Kalakaua in 1889. The preface to her slim volume, written by Kimo Campbell, considers ulterior motives the two monarchs might have had for their interest in the Kumulipo.
read more

The David Gomes Guitar (Spring/Summer 1996) By Veronica S. Schweitzer