Blair Estate Organic Coffee is Now Shade Grown!
In 2006 we decided to aggressively counteract our reliance on imported fertilizer and high water dependance at our organic coffee farm. Because coffee is a natural shade grown tree, many commercial coffee farms in the world depend exclusively on the use of fertilizer, water and direct sunlight to produce high yielding coffee crops. While this heavy use of petroleum based fertilizer, and water coupled with direct sunlight definitely yields more coffee, it also strips the natural environment of key growing elements that are important to a balanced eco-system and healthy living environment. However, we have proven at Blair Estate that organically grown, slow ripening, hand picked coffee produces a far superior bean to those grown on non-organic farms.
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While the gliricidia was added, we sadly removed the St. Croix Hair sheep from our coffee farm as their appetite became a hinderance to new coffee shoots trying to develop. Their selective grazing did remove alot of unwanted weeds, but we are hoping that the shade produced by the gliricidia will slow this unwanted growth. The sheep have found a happy home at an island ranch, and their population continues to grow since we first introduced this breed to Kauai in 2002.
Pruning the gliricidia for nitrogen rich mulch during the winter months should also open the coffee trees to much needed sunlight for bud production and Spring flowering. The hope is that the gliricidia trees will develop new branches and canopy by the Summer months when the coffee cherry needs to be shaded for slow fruit development.
It is always a work in progress when operating an organic coffee farm, and we hope that our effort will continue to yield the finest cup of coffee in the world and also help to sustain our natural environment.
We owe a lot of thanks again to the community of Marshall Islanders who harvest our coffee each year. They are doing another excellent job.
COFFEE TIMES The Continued Age of
100% Kona Coffee Excellence
Coffee Times is now in its 16th year of operation. Since the early days in Holualoa-Kona on the Big Island, we have been roasting these magical 100% Kona coffee beans for mail order sale. This business continues to be the backbone of our operation. We have formed many great friendships with loyal customers over the years, and this has brought a lot of pleasure to us.
I can remember starting the Kona coffee mail order business prior to the internet, and how I sold exclusively out of the Coffee Times visitor guide. And I can still remember accepting checks in exchange for coffee sent, as I had no means to acquire a merchant account in the early days. I still like to boast that not once did I fail to receive a payment for coffee sent out through the mail. That alone is testament to the great people that have supported and loved 100% Kona coffee over the years.
The visitor guide, Coffee Times, has been greatly simplified into an annual statewide publication so we have been able to spend more of our time focusing on the farms and coffee roasting business. The guide's circulation at Hawaii's airports has benefited us greatly, as it has introduced our products to over one hundred thousand visitors in 2008.
Locally on the island, international coffee sales have kept us busy on a weekly basis. The one day a week we dedicate to roasting for local coffee shops in Kauai has fit nicely into our operation, and it has been a pleasure helping these Kauai businesses with their need for bulk coffee and exotic blends. While we continue to purchase Fair Trade coffee, we have been exploring the idea of establishing our own non profit that would send a percentage of proceeds to designated aid projects in the third world countries where this coffee is grown. We have been interested for years in finding a more tangible way to contribute to those communities that support our coffee needs. We will continue to explore the concept, and perhaps begin a new venture in 2009.
A Helping Hand
LBD Coffee, LLC, which is the parent company of Blair Estate Coffee Farm, Coffee Times, and the Kauai Cigar Company received some very good news in October this year. We were awarded two separate Kauai Agricultural Development Program grants by the USDA sponsored Garden Island Resource, Conservation & Development group. These grants will fund 80% of the purchase of a new coffee mill imported from Colombia. This mill will not only speed up the processing of raw coffee cherry, but it will also ease the heavy physical labor involved with our current process. A second grant will also be instrumental in helping Kauai Cigar Company launch the Grand Alii cigar, as it will pay for 80% of the graphic design, box manufacturing, bands, and liners. We hope that the success of this eight thousand limited release Grown in Kauai, Made in Kauai cigar will become an annual event and will continue to fuel agricultural growth on our island. On behalf of all our employees I would like to thank the GIRCD for their support of our farming endeavors. To learn more about this group or to contribute please visit http://www.gircd.org.
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