Coffee

[kani-lehua]

http://www.mpechicago.com/coffee/commerc...inder.html

don't know if this info will help at all. they don't have any prices listed.

malia paha o lohe aku

perhaps they will hear

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Les C

I think that's the guy, William Keith Whaling. It says that he's from Haaleha, HI. Where's that? ...

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Good Question

But I'm assuming it's a typo for Naalehu. Since the Zip code on the above patent is 96772, and that is the zip code for Naalehu, and that would be close to South Point on the Big Island.

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The more we speak up... the more they will listen.

[macuu222]

We wrote the couple who has a small coffee plantation in VeraCruz Mexico. Their coffee milling machine is a nice little portable device but is made out of cast iron and extremely heavy with a 1 horepower motor. They payed about 6000 pesos for it which is about $550.00. But they bought the machine locally in Mexico and they know of nowhere else where something like this would be available in the US (they are Americans who live in the US but have a plantation home in Mexico).

They did suggest however that an old fashioned manual meat mincer will work just as good for small coffee crops if you can adjust the opening to the size of the bean (they had used one for their coffee before buying the electric dehusker). The only drawback is that you have to sort out the husk powder from the shelled beans.

I think this would work well for us instead of manualy shelling each bean with our fingertips

Anyone know where we could buy an adjustable meat mincer here on the Big Island?

[mac nut]

Damon

The article on the nut cracker is in the April/May issue of Hana Hou the Hawaiian airlines magazine.

His name is Bill Whalen and his macadamia nut machine is called the Star M 15.. The article says he has a mac nut plant in Hilo.

I tried to access his web site but it would not come up. The article said it was www.huimac.com.

It seems he oscillates the nuts at high frequency to blast the shells apart. I get the feeling the machine is expensive, but sounds like it could work on coffee too.

Mac nut

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by mac nut

Damon

The article on the nut cracker is in the April/May issue of Hana Hou the Hawaiian airlines magazine....

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Thanks for the heads up.

Here is the article you are talking about.

I also could not get his site to open up though [B)]

*edit* I just tried to search the company out on Google and still couldn't find any working links. Bummer for the guy to have the article published but then his URL is a 404.

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The more we speak up... the more they will listen.

[kani-lehua]

http://www.hi-hobbit.com/omega/mac.html

here's the link for you. BILL WHALING (not whalen) owns the hobbit house and can be reached at: hobbit@aloha.net or hui mac p.o. box 269 naalehu, hi 808-929-9755 or 936-0632

malia paha o lohe aku

perhaps they will hear

[mac nut]

kani-lehua

Thanks for that correct info and link. More accurate than the magazine article!. Puna web wins again![]

Mac nut

[Guest]

Kani -

Nice research!

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The more we speak up... the more they will listen.

[kani-lehua]

just for you mac a damon nuts![:o)]

the machine is quite interesting. was wondering if you all that are growing coffee, couldn't form a hui/co-op of some sorts like they have done on maui?http://starbulletin.com/2008/04/21/news/story06.html

malia paha o lohe aku

perhaps they will hear

[macuu222]

Thanks Kani-Lehua for the coffee link. I'm wondering how I missed it.


What I'd like to know about this article is how all these smalltime Maui coffee growers get their coffee beans processed?

A coffee milling machine is a major investment and usually not affordable by the average ma and pa grower. It's one of the main reasons why so many people that grow coffee on their property in hawaii never take that extra step and process what they grow.

Sure they can sell their coffee cherries to the major coffee farms but instead of getting 30.00 a pound for their processed coffee...they get $1.00 a pound (doesn't even cover the fertilizer costs)

So I say good for the Maui coop! Maybe something like this can start on the Big Island for the small time backyard coffee grower who wants to process and sell what he grows. Maybe if enough smalltime growers get together...they might be able to get the right coffee processing equipment.