MEDIA RELEASE

The competition is heating up at the prestigious WholeCup Coffee Consulting and UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Cupping Competition preliminary round.

Fifty Kona coffee farms entered this year’s Classic competition, all vying to be named the winner and awarded first place.

Cupping entries are blind tastings of Kona’s finest coffee and are assigned a random number to assure anonymity. Judges are looking for high marks in fragrance, aroma, taste, nose, aftertaste and body.

To keep the judges’ palates alert between Wednesday’s preliminary and Thursday’s final round, these numbers are changed as the entries progress in the competition.

“We tasted some very interesting coffees early in the preliminary round,” said Sherri Johns, Head Judge, WholeCup Coffee Consulting and UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Cupping Competition.

This year, the cupping competition welcomes four well-known industry professionals, Sherri Johns, Head Judge, and founder of WholeCup Coffee Consulting; Tonoko Nagase, UCC Ueshima Coffee Company; Andrew Hetzel, founder of CafeMakers, a global coffee industry consultancy based in Waimea here on the Big Island; and John King, of Harold L. King & Co, one of the oldest, largest and most respected coffee importing companies in the country.

Thirteen Classic finalists were selected to advance to the final round of competition.

Presented by Kamehameha Schools, the 2011 WholeCup Consulting and UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Cupping Competition finalists are:

* Brazen Hazen Kona Coffee
* Castaway Bay Kona Coffee
* Happy Trees Farm
* Heavenly Hawaiian Farms
* Kainaliu-Kona Coffee Company
* Kaiwi Farms
* Kona Cafe LLC
* Kona Mountain Coffee LLC
* Kona Rising Coffee Company
* Kowali Farm
* Lehuula Farms LLC
* Moki’s Farm
* Yamagishi Farm

The public is invited to attend this final round of the coveted WholeCup Coffee Consulting and UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Cupping Competition starting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Keauhou Beach Hotel.

Also Thursday at the hotel is the art exhibit, coffee label and website display and Ultimate Barista Jam.

— Find out more:
www.konacoffeefest.com