“Scott liked to learn new things and always worked hard
as a lad,” Jim said. “He came home from college every year
during crushing season to help us out. After college, he
spent twenty years working all over the world in the wine
technology industry. Seven years ago, he started talking
about coffee farming. He’d been studying all the different
growing regions searching for the best soil and climate to
get the best result.”
“He called us to say he’d found this beautiful farm in
Kona that needed a lot of work,” Jean said. “We told him,
‘Go for it!’ He’s a young entrepreneur who knows how to
do business and he’s been recognized for his work in the
wine business.”
TODAY spoke with Scott at the tail-end of a busy
coffee harvest season. He was literally out in the fields
during our phone interview.
“My crew and I are picking coffee today,” he said. “We
started at dawn and we’ll pick until sunset. We wear belly
bands around our chests with a container to hold the coffee
cherries. They ripen unevenly, so we pick them by hand, one
at a time. When the trees get tall, we have to tie string to the
ends of branches and bend them down for picking.”
Scott started the farm in 2011, released his first coffee
blend in 2015, and proclaimed this year’s harvest “fantastic,”
thanks the sunny mornings and afternoon rains that help
make Kona a premiere coffee-growing region.
“After the picking, we process all afternoon and into
the evening,” he said. “We put some cherries through a
traditional process, which takes about ten days, and some
through a more natural process of hand sorting and drying
in the sun on wooden drying decks. That takes about four
or five weeks and produces a nutty, chocolaty, fruity coffee.
From my wine background, I like flavors, so I blend the
natural and traditional processed beans. Milling separates
the green coffee beans from their outer coating. Then they’re
roasted, packaged and shipped. By varying the length of
time and the roasting temperature, I can experiment with
the coffee’s color, taste and caffeine.”
As for yield, Scott said it takes 10 pounds of cherry to
make one pound of coffee. Five of his six acres are planted
in coffee, and he buys additional cherries from two small
farms nearby. Because tropical storms can damage top-heavy
trees, the larger ones are pruned down to the base and there-
fore non-productive until they grow back.
Every year Scott visits the mainland to personally serve
Carta Coffee at various events and venues from coast to coast
and in Canada. It’s an opportunity for him to educate the
public about one-hundred-percent Kona coffee (as opposed
to pretenders) and to get feedback.
On a recent trip, his Latitude Black & Tan Blend was
a big hit at the Millbrae Art and Wine Festival, and at the
San Diego Zoo. His POH Blend—with its rich chocolate
and nut tasting notes—was well-received at San Francisco’s
Ghirardelli Square. For that event, Carta Coffee donated
a portion of the proceeds to Project Open Hand, which
provides food to the hungry.
gmh
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
“Like wine and beer enthusiasts, coffee lovers on the
mainland love to talk coffee and keep up with news from
Hawaii,” he said.
Scott loves turning people on to authentic Kona
coffee, and they often write him letters with glow-
ing testimonials. “It’s the total experience of opening
their packages of coffee, taking in the rich aroma while
grinding the beans, brewing the coffee, and enjoying it
with family and friends.”
He’s scheduling more tours and working on a tasting
room. “People with timeshares here love to come and
walk the property, observe the processing, taste the
blends. I enjoy getting to know my guests, who come
from all over the world, and hearing their stories.”
He also likes the fact that his teenaged kids look
forward to spending summers and holidays on the farm.
“There’s time to help dad, and then of course there’s time
for the beach.”
Learn more at cartacoffee.com. Mahalo!
Local Carta Coffee Fan
Debbi Sanchez is the Operations Manager and Wine Club
Director at Fortino Winery. Recently she spent a week in
Kona with Kelly Pate Bryant, whose mom is a long-time
friend of Scott’s. He gave them a VIP tour of Carta Coffee
Farm.
“Scott is passionate about getting everything right to
produce the best product he can,” Debbi said. “It’s clear he
loves what he does. To spend time there, in the beauty of
the Hawaiian Islands, was really breathtaking.
“When Scott served us some of his coffee, with no milk
or cream, I hesitated because I’ve never liked black coffee.
The flavor was so rich, not bitter or acidic like the coffees
we have here. I absolutely loved it. Now I order a package
every month. I use a coffee press, which I learned is the
best way to prepare it. It’s a great way to start my day!”
The Coffee Legend
Coffee’s origins trace
back to Kenya and leg-
ends of a goat farmer. He
noticed his goats perking
up and running wild af-
ter eating coffee cherries
and decided to try some
himself. Traders soon got
wind of the intriguing
and potentially lucrative
crop. In the early 1800s, merchant ships brought it to the
Hawaiian Islands where it thrived in the tropical climate,
mountainous terrain and rich volcanic soil of Kona. Today,
coffee is the second most-traded commodity in the world
after oil.
december 2018-january 2019
gmhtoday.com
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