AT KONA'S COFFEE FARMS, VISITORS MAY LINGER OVER... PARADISE IN A CUP.

Byline: STORIES AND PHOTOS BY ERIC NOLAND Travel Editor

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii -- Bob Nelson led the way to an unassuming hut at his Lehuula Farms, and opened the door. An absolutely heavenly scent spilled forth: freshly roasted coffee beans, just begging to be ground, brewed and sipped from a two-fisted mug.

Nelson, a former wildlife biologist in Alaska, applied the scientific method to his coffee operation after relocating to Hawaii. He roasted at different temperatures, changing the settings by just one degree at a time, until he found the optimum conditions for medium roast or dark roast.

Now he fields inquiries over the Internet, roasts to exact order and whisks his final product via Federal Express to coffee connoisseurs across the country.

The emergence of Kona's coffee country coincided with a more discriminating appetite for gourmet coffee among many Americans.

And if you're looking for the premium stuff, you've come to the right place -- the leeward flank of the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.

It represents boutique agriculture at its best. The Kona coffee belt is a mere 22 miles long and two miles wide, cutting a swath between 500 feet and 2,800 feet elevation. Within those bounds there are only 3,500 acres under cultivation, farmed by 638 growers. About 90 percent of the operations involve three acres or less.

Visitors to coffee country are accommodated in many ways. There are orchard and mill tours, historical tours, bed-and-breakfast inns, and any number of friendly little cafes. But best of all, there are tasting opportunities.

Stop in at one of the larger farms, or at one of many outlet shops, and you'll likely find several large thermoses lined up, with a stack of small paper cups. See what you think of Extra Fancy Medium Roast, Island Select, Peaberry Dark or Estate Private Reserve.

If all of this sounds strangely similar to what you might find in a wine region, well, wait until you hear the growers enthuse over their product.

Roger Kaiwi-Machen, general manager of Captain Cook Coffee Co., remarked on the ``bouquet'' and ``finish'' of Kona coffee, noting that it is distinctive for its ``smoothness, body and mellow aftertaste.'' Our palates weren't that refined; we just knew that some Captain Cook peaberry brewed with a French press was some of the finest coffee we'd ever tasted.

A brochure from Greenwell Farms, meanwhile, describes one of its offerings as having ``a piquant, slightly fruity taste, with just enough acidity.''

The growers also sound like vintners when they describe what contributes to all of this.

``What makes Kona coffee Kona coffee is we have an inverse weather pattern,'' said Roger Dilts, president of the Kona Coffee Council, as he led a tour of his Aloha Farms orchard -- steaming coffee cup in hand, of course. (Dilts operates a B&B on the site.)

``We get rain in summer, whereas the rest of the state gets rain in winter. They're condensation showers. The moist air comes off the ocean and condenses, because the air is cooler up the mountain. It drops rain, and starts back down the mountain.''

Other factors contribute to the quality, too. The rich volcanic soil, to begin with. There is also a healthy mix of sun (but no extreme heat), overcast skies and the frequency of those gentle, steady ``coffee showers.'' You've heard of the desirability of shade-grown coffee? Here, the shade is provided by the cloud cover.

A visitor embarking on a tasting tour of Kona coffee country should first pick up a driving tour map produced by the organizers of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, to be held Nov. 3-12 this year. The map can be ordered at www.konacoffeefest.com, and is also in shops and tourism brochure racks all over the west side of the island.

Be advised that many of the coffee operations are so small that they don't accommodate visitors. (Unfortunately, this is the case for all three of the farms that won awards in the ``cupping'' competition at last year's festival.) At some of the others, visitors must call ahead to make an appointment.

At locations large enough to keep regular hours, the tastings flow freely.

You'll find some of the better brews at Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua, Bay View Farm in Honaunau, Ueshida Coffee in Captain Cook and Coffees n' Epicurea in Captain Cook (a secondary Bay View Farm outlet). None charges for the privilege.

Before setting out, heed this warning: As with wine country, it's possible to overdo it here; the effect is just different.

After a while, everything starts to taste the same, and unless you're a real coffee hound, you could find yourself going wiggo by mid-afternoon. (That was my experience after six or seven stops, and it took hours to regain equilibrium.) It's advisable to eat a substantial lunch, pull on a water bottle from time to time, and pace yourself.

Between sips, you can learn a lot about what makes Kona coffee distinctive by taking a tour of an orchard, a mill or a roasting operation.

At Greenwell Farms, guide Daniel Swanson was an informative and congenial host as he led a group through a stand of 106-year-old coffee trees and to the mill. He recounted the involved process that gets the java from tree to mug.

The coffee ``cherries'' are picked by hand -- no easy feat on the side of a steeply sloping mountain. A pulping machine then extracts the tiny beans at the center of the cherry. (Tour members were allowed to peel and examine cherries and beans.) Next comes fermentation in water tanks, followed by drying on wooden racks in the sun. A milling process then removes a parchment skin, leaving green beans ready for classification and roasting.

The similarities between coffee and wine production end here. It turns out that coffee loses character, rather than gaining it, with age.

``As soon as we roast the beans,'' Swanson said, ``the clock starts running. So we ship bags of green beans and let the coffee companies roast it and put their stamp on it. Our coffee will be Peet's in Seattle, Peaberry in Denver, Caribou in Minnesota, and Starbucks everywhere.''

Roasted Kona coffee will command anywhere from $16 to $50 per pound -- the latter for a premium grade, farmed organically.

At Lehuula Farms, Nelson chuckled as he related a marketing story. He first priced his Kona coffee on the Internet at $17.95 a pound, but it wasn't selling. He raised it to $19.95 and it did a little better.

``So I tried another experiment,'' he said. ``I created another label called Private Reserve, and priced it at $26.95. It started hitting like crazy. Some people said, `I tried both, and the private reserve was so much better.' It was the same beans.''

Such is the reputation for Kona coffee that devotees are prepared to -- and perhaps expect to -- pay top dollar for it. That's also why the growers and producers so zealously wage a truth-in-labeling battle. Their appellation, if you will, has gained certification from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

``Avoid blends,'' Dilts, the coffee council president, said flatly. ``You can have one bean in the bag and be labeled Kona coffee.''

Other deceptions might be ``Kona-style'' coffee or ``Kona roasting style.'' To be assured they're getting the real deal -- arabica coffee is grown in this precise belt -- consumers should look for packaging that says ``100 percent Kona coffee.'' Most of the producers from this region affix a green-fringed Kona Coffee Council seal to the roasted coffee that they ship.

The proprietary pride is understandable, because Kona's coffee history is as rich as the brew itself.

Coffee was introduced to Kona as an ornamental plant by an American missionary in the early 1800s. It and other coffee trees flourished in the volcanic soil and ideal climate, and before long coffee plantations were established on the mountain slopes.

The world coffee market bottomed out at the turn of the 20th century, however, and these operations folded.

In stepped Japanese farmers, who homesteaded plots of a few acres and made a go of it by producing coffee on a small scale. That's the primary reason so many of the farms remain tiny today, even with the burgeoning market for gourmet coffee.

The rugged life of the Japanese family farmers can be surveyed at the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, where the Kona Historical Society conducts tours. The farm was the home of the Uchida family in the 1920s and '30s, and many of the buildings date from that period.

Guide Brigitte Sperka demonstrated how workers would ascend rickety ladders to reach the coffee cherries high in the trees. A couple of donkeys are penned out front, to the delight of young visitors. Such animals were essential for hauling harvested coffee up the steep hillsides.

The farming work has not gained much glamour with time and technological advances. ``Coffee is a real labor of love,'' said Kaiwi-Machen of Captain Cook Coffee. ``During the season, I probably work an average of 100 hours a week. It's filthy. You have to shower outside. Your hands are stained six months of the year.''

We reflected on this later while seated at the Coffee Shack, a pleasant little cafe perched far up the mountain, overlooking the coffee orchards and distant Kealakekua Bay, as if from a balcony.

Boldface type is used on the menu to assure you that only ``100 percent Kona coffee'' is brewed here, and it is obviously done with great care -- and in seven different espresso offerings.

With each sip, we gained greater appreciation for the fruit of those rigorous labors out on the mountain.

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IF YOU GO

DRIVING TOUR: Kona coffee country stretches along the Mamalahoa Highway (11) south of Kona, from Kainaliu to Honaunau, and also reaches up to Holualoa on Highway 180. For a driving tour map, check the tourist brochure racks in hotels and shops, or contact the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival: www.konacoffeefest.com; [phone].

TASTINGS: There are numerous opportunities to sample Kona coffee -- even at the Longs Drugs in the Keauhou Shopping Center. Some of the better options: Greenwell Farms, 81-6581 Mamalahoa Highway, Kealakekua, www.greenwellfarms.com, [phone].

Bay View Farm, 83-5249 Painted Church Road, Honaunau, www.bayviewfarmcoffees.com, [phone].

Ueshima Coffee (UCC Hawaii), 82-5810 Napoopoo Road, Captain Cook, www.ucc-hawaii.com, [phone].

Coffees n' Epicurea, 83-5315 Mamalahoa Highway, Captain Cook, [phone].

Captain Cook Coffee Co., 79-7415 Mamalahoa Highway, Kainaliu, www.captaincookkona.com, [phone].

MILL TOURS: Greenwell Farms offers a free, 20-minute tour of its orchard and mill. Tours are conducted continuously Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: www.greenwellfarms.com; [phone]. Holualoa Kona Coffee Co. conducts free mill tours Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. Information: www.konalea.com; [phone].

HISTORY TOUR: The Kona Historical Society offers tours of its Kona Coffee Living History Farm, on Mamalahoa Highway in Captain Cook, across from mile marker 110. The one-hour tour of a century-old coffee farm is held Monday through Friday on the hour from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $15 per person. Information: www.konahistorical.org, [phone].

FESTIVAL: This year's Kona Coffee Cultural Festival will be held Nov. 3-12 at various locations in the coffee belt. One of the highlights of the event will be a Nov. 4 coffee tasting and art stroll in the little mountain town of Holualoa. More than two dozen independent coffee farms will be pouring their brew, and this is significant, because many of the operations are too small to be open to visitors at other times of the year. Other festival activities include roasting classes, farm tours, a picking contest, a concert, two parades and a cupping competition. Information: www.konacoffeefest.com; [phone].

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, map, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) The view from the Coffee Shack cafe, top, takes in mountain slopes thick with coffee trees and the beauty of the Kona coast of Hawaii's Big Island. Coffee beans are stored in burlap sacks at Lehuula Farms, above, just waiting to be roasted and shipped.

(3 -- 5) The various roasts of Kona coffee country in Hawaii, above, are presented for tasting at many of the small farms, much like in California's wine country. Below, guide Brigitte Sperka demonstrates how coffee beans were raked out on a drying platform by Japanese farmers in the 1920s. At bottom, Bob Nelson strolls among his coffee trees at Lehuula Farms.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Kona coffee country