(Photo courtesy of Ka‘u Coffee Festival)

MEDIA RELEASE

Ka‘u coffee growers invite everyone to the southern slopes of Mauna Loa for the third annual Ka‘u Coffee Festival on Saturday, May 14.

Feel the aloha of this rural community while tasting the celebrated Ka‘u brew. Enjoy top entertainment, local foods and culture, and visit coffee farms.

Stay through Sunday, May 15 for coffee education, and agricultural tours.

Saturday, the Ka‘u Coffee Festival is open 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Pahala Community Center just off Highway 11 between Punaluu Black Sand Beach and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Sample some of the world’s finest coffee, and savor entries in the Ka‘u Coffee Recipe Contest. Enjoy Hawaiian music, hula halau and the talents of Miss Ka‘u Coffee, Young Miss Ka‘u Coffee and Miss Ka‘u Peaberry pageant winners.

The entertainment lineup includes Cyril Pahinui, Lorna and Maryann Lim, Moses and Keoki Kahumoku, Henry Dulan, Halau Hula O Leionalani, Lorie Lei Hula Studio and Ka‘u Ukulele Kids.

Festival admission is free; entry to the Recipe Contest and Taste of Ka‘u tasting is $5. Locals will offer food, refreshments, crafts and coffee for sale. Farm tours are $10 throughout the day.

On Sunday, learn from prominent industry experts at The Ka’u Coffee College, beginning at 9 a.m. These seminars are free; donations are appreciated.

Ka‘u ranks among the world’s best coffees, proven in four straight years of placing in the top dozen and earning a 2010 Coffee of the Year award at the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCAA) Roaster’s Guild International Cupping Competition.

Also in 2010, Ka‘u captured the coveted Grand Champion of Hawaiian Coffee award and earned four out of the top 10 spots at the Hawaii Coffee Association’s annual statewide cupping event.

Ka‘u Coffee is cultivated on small family farms, handpicked and sun dried in small batches to yield the perfect cup. Ka‘u farmers invite everyone to experience their farms, and learn about the process of producing outstanding coffees.

Visitors can plan a getaway to Ka‘u and relax in historic cottages in Pahala, condos at Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach, or in luxurious and affordable B&Bs.

Highlights

To celebrate recent international coffee awards, Ka‘u Coffee farmers present the third annual Ka‘u Coffee Festival Hoolaulea 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14 and the Ka‘u Coffee College, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, May 15 at Pahala Community Center.

Celebrate with farmer Bull Kailiawa, whose coffee took first in Hawaii and the U.S.A. in the Specialty Coffee Association’s and Roasters Guild International Coffees of the Year competition. Kailiawa received the award May 1 in Houston and for three straight days met coffee enthusiasts from throughout the world.

The honor marks the fifth straight year Ka‘u Coffee is recognized as one of the top coffees in the world. Kailiawa and the other two growers who have won this award are neighboring farmers in Moaula on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano. They are all former sugar workers who went into coffee after the Ka‘ū plantation and mill shut down in 1996.

Celebrate with farmer Lorie Obra and her Rusty’s Hawaiian 100% Ka‘u Coffee, also honored May 1 in Houston. The Obra family helped Pete Licata of Honolulu Coffee Co. achieve first place in the annual United States Barista Championship following his Western Region win.

Licata said he is a frequent visitor to Obra’s home and farm in Ka‘u. He picked and dried her coffee, employed Rusty’s Coffee in his creations and educated the judges through his dialogue and photos about the qualities of Ka‘u and the abilities of Obra to grow and process excellent, award-winning coffee.

Licata will attend the Ka‘u Coffee Festival to join in the celebration and participate in education sessions. He will gather up more of Rusty’s coffee to take to the World Barista Coffee Championships in Bogota, Colombia in June.

Celebrate with One Journey, the songwriting and performing band from one of the smallest high schools in the Islands, who won the statewide Brown Bags to Stardom talent contest April 23 in Honolulu.

One Journey sold out its album, is ranked in the top six in the Brown Bags music video awards competition to be decided in June, and will headline entertainment at the Ka‘ū Coffee Festival.

Brown Bags producer Johnny Kai said he sensed something special about the kids from Ka‘u.

“It was a David and Goliath story, with the community joining together to send One Journey to Honolulu to take on the big city high schools and win,” Kai said.

One Journey will perform with Cyril Pahinui, Lorna and Maryann Lim, Moses and Keoki Kahumoku, George Kahumoku, Jr., Bobby Koanui, Bolo, Brittany Paiva, Henry Dulan, violinist Tony Salvage, Debbie Ryder and Halau Hula O Leionalani, Lori Lei’s Hula Studio, the Ka‘u Ukulele Kids and Hands of Time. The entertainment includes, singing, slack-key guitar, ukulele and hula.

Celebrate with Miss Ka‘u Coffee Brandy Shibuya, who won her title April 23 at the annual Miss Ka‘u Coffee Pageant, along with Young Miss Ka‘u Coffee Dayse Meleani Andrade and Miss Ka‘u Peaberry Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar.

The trio and their courts represented Ka‘u in the recent Merrie Monarch Parade and will reign over the Ka‘u Coffee Festival.

Celebrate with Ka‘u Coffee Growers during the May 14 Hoolaulea, a tradition at the Ka‘u Coffee Festival. They offer up local foods and culture and visits to coffee farms.

Festival admission Saturday is free; entry to the Recipe Contest and Taste of Ka‘u Coffee on Saturday is $5. Farm tours are $10 throughout the day.

The May 15 Ka‘u Coffee College is also a tradition, featuring classes from coffee marketers, processors and tasting experts, beginning at 9 a.m. at Pahala Community Center. Coffee farmers invite everyone to visit their farms to learn about the process of producing outstanding coffees, with another day of farm tours.

Schedule for May 14 festival activities:

* 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. – Hoolaulea with entertainment, food/craft booths; Farm Tours

* 10 a.m. – Guided Coffee Tasting with industry experts

* 1 p.m. – Recipe Contest Judging followed by sampling

* 2 p.m. – Guided Coffee Tasting with industry experts

* Guided Coffee Tasting will be led by Miguel Meza, coffee-quality consultant and co-owner of Isla Coffee Company; Dr. Shawn Steinman, coffee scientist, and owner of Coffea Consulting; Andrew Hetzel, founder/director Cafemakers LLC; Pete Licata, 2011 US Barista Champion from Honolulu Coffee Company; and Lorie Obra of Rusty’s Hawaiian Coffee, 2010 Grand Champion Hawaii Coffee Assoc. Cupping Competition.

Recipe Contest Judging is by freelance journalist Sonia Martinez of
SoniaTastesHawaii.com, Dan Nakasone and Lisa Asagi of SheGrowsFood.com, Chef Brian Hirata, Chef Rusty Obra and food writer Joan Obra.

Reverse Trade Mission-New to the Kaʻu Coffee Festival, reverse trade mission is a concept where companies interested in area businesses or products travel to that area to see them first-hand.

Meet notable coffee industry experts participating in the inaugural Kaʻu Coffee reverse trade mission: Specialty coffee guru George Howell of Terroir Coffee in Acton, Mass.; Skip Fay of Dunn Bros Coffee in Minneapolis, Minn. and James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee in Oakland, Calif.

For further information, visit www.kaucoffeefestival.com and kaucoffeefestival.blogspot.com

Grace and Will Tabios (Photo courtesy of Ka‘u Coffee Festival)