Most of those who try Kona coffee get hooked off their first sip. Grown in Hawaii, Kona coffee beans have a unique balance that is simply unbeatable. Grown on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Mount Hualalai in the north part of the state, as well as many Kona districts found on Oahu, this is one of the best coffees known.

Buying fresh, gourmet Kona coffee ensures the best cup of coffee possible especially if made in a french press coffee maker. You pay more for Kona coffee but the quality and taste is worth a few extra bucks. After all, everybody around the world purchases this specific kind of coffee. There are different growing conditions like sunny mornings and afternoons that have humidity and rain. Although this is beautiful, the coffee is always flavorful and different.

The fresh gourmet Kona coffee beans come from a tree in Brazil. Rev. Samuel Ruggles is credited with bringing the first tree to Hawaii, way back in the 19th century. Finding the perfect soil and weather combination in Hawaii, farmers soon expanded and started growing abundant crops on large plantations. Today, it is estimated that the area on which Kona coffee beans are grown is more than 2,300 acres. Kona coffee cultivation is now so successful that about two million pounds of the beans are harvested per year.

Blooms of tiny white flowers known as Kona Snow appear every February and March. Content to be green berries in the spring, they become red jewels by mid-summer. It is a right time for the "fruit" to be harvested. One of the benefits of gourmet Kona coffee is that each of the beans is hand-picked for freshness.

Within one day of harvesting the fruit, it is run through a special type of equipment to help separate the pulp from the bean. After that, the beans are allowed to ferment for 12 hours at low elevation and 24 hours at higher elevation. After the beans have been rinsed off lay them out on a drying apparatus to completely dry out which will take one to two weeks. You will have to be certain that your beans are dried and stored on parchment paper. You'll need eight pounds of fruit to make one fresh pound of Kona gourmet coffee.

If you pay attention to the characteristics of the Kona coffee seeds, you will be able to pick out the the fresh, gourmet Kona coffee. To cite and example, the number of beans in one cherry or fruit for the Type I is two which has one flat side and another oval. Type II beans are just one, round bean per cherry or fruit. Next, additional grading is assigned depending on multiple factors such as size, kind, moisture level, purity, etc. With fresh, gourmet Kona coffee, you know you are purchasing a higher quality or grade of the Kona bean.