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what's most ironic about my interest in this thread is that my paternal great-great grandfather, john gaspar, "constructed the first coffee mill for preparing and grading coffee. before that all coffee was shipped in the parchment to honolulu and cured and polished there. in time gaspar controlled the coffee business of the konas, purchasing the green product, preparing it for the market and shipping the finished article to honolulu." as quoted from a newspaper article circa 1937. don't know the name of the publication. i don't know anything about coffee or the business except i love to drink it![^]
malia paha o lohe aku
perhaps they will hear
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
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Instead of reinventing the wheel why not take your coffee to the coffee mill and have it processed? They do pretty small batches, call and ask them what the smallest batch they process and what stage of the coffee they want to see.
It isn't hard to make a coffee pulper. I had an antique one in my garden shed for awhile but we gave it back to the fellow who had left it there. Find a cylinder, put some sort of studs on it - this pulper was a round section of log with fat round nail heads sticking up. Rotate it against a sloping board as part of a hopper/chute and have the space between the cylinder and the board adjustable. Rotate the cylinder while pouring water through it and the pulped beans will fall out.
Put the pulped beans in a big washtub or bucket and let them sit in water overnight. Wash the remaining pulp off and spread the beans out to dry. At that stage you should be able to save up enough to make a batch to take to the coffee mill. There's Hilo Coffee Mill above Keaau and there's Long Ears in Honoka'a. So far, the best coffee I've had has been grown in O'okala mauka and processed at Long Ears. Unfortunately he doesn't grow enough to sell so it is his own private supply. Sigh!
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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The Amy Greenwell historic coffee farm has a pulper that looks like it was made from the cylinder of a washing machine (have no idea if that is what it is, but with the info HC posted, perhaps studding one would work???)
I have my first 8 green beans on my coffee plants (from PSL), so I doubt I will be looking for a mill soon.... but this is "monster growth" Kea'au, so....
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Pulping the bean is not a problem for our small coffee crop. It's taking off the husk thats the problem.
Hilo Coffee mill does dehusk coffee for customers for a relatively cheap .32 cents a pound or $5.00 minimum. But its not the cost that we're concerned with.
It's being self sufficient.
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Well 222, if your self-sufficient in terms of coffee production then my hat's off to you, well done. I know that the few plants I have produce beautiful berries and this summer I'm going to give it my best and go through the process. Coffee prices can only go up and it seems to me that there are a lot of people who could either be doing what you are or perhaps, if they have enough land making an income of sorts.
JayJay
JayJay
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Found a guy over on the Kona side that sells coffee husk remover machines. He has a very simple hand crank model for the small Ma and PA grower.
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Macuu222, could you share the information about your Kona source?
I plan to be on Island soon, and have enough space to grow coffee for my own needs.
Thanks,
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Since posting above, I found a website for a UK company who offer equipment for the small grower.
http://www.cpslimited.net/ has equipment in all sizes. The Bukoba huller would appear to be good for home use.
I did not find any pricing, but there is an enquiry form on the site.
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I found this contact via an Australian coffee company that sells them on the web. Mind you I haven't even called yet...but here's what he sent:
"Your best way is to contact my good friend Emmerich Grosch as he is situated on your island and should have these hullers in stock.
He can be contacted on 808 323 2411."
Here is the link to their coffee equipment:
http://www.capeau.com.au/coffee_equipment.html
(look for the small hand crank model and click on it for a larger picture)
If you call and or check it out....let me know what it cost and what you think as Im unable to get over to Kona at present
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I was wondering if anyone found a small coffee huller in the US. the links that I saw on this topic are in the UK and AU. I am inundated with coffee and peeling them by hand is crazy.
