Ingredients

1 1/2  cups  (3/4 lb.) butter, at room temperature

1 1/4  cups  powdered sugar

1  teaspoon  vanilla

1/2  teaspoon  salt

4  tablespoons  finely ground Mokulele Farms espresso-roast coffee beans (NOT instant espresso powder)

3  tablespoons  Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur

3 1/3  cups  all-purpose flour

For topping

4 ounces high quality dark chocolate

1 tablespooon finely ground Mokulele Farms espresso-roast coffee beans

Preparation

1.  In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, espresso grounds, and Kahlúa. Beat to combine. Add flour and mix until well blended.

2. Form dough into two 1 1/2-inch-thick logs, cover with plastic wrap or wax paper, and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chilled dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices and lay slightly apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until cookies are browned on the bottom but not the top, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

4.  Melt chocolate, add espresso powder.  Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Returning to the Farm late this afternoon, Debbie and I had given the chickens (aka the “doodles”) their afternoon treat of corn scratch and gone about our own business when we heard sustained chicken screaming and the two roosters’ alarm calls coming from the vicinity of the bougainvillea bush that covers the mauka side of our puka iki (little cave). We raced over just in time to see our alpha rooster Smoky Joe flying up into the top of the bouganvillia which shelters the cave entrance followed by squaking and screams followed by an enormous white Hawai’ian hawk (‘Io) exploding out of said bush and flying about 4 feet off the ground over to one of our coconut palms.  The damn hawk sat there ignoring my waving arms.  Of course it is illegal to kill hawks over here in Hawai’i, so we had to be content with chasing it off with a few well thrown small projectiles.

Acknolwledgment to Wikipedia for this picture of an 'Io

All the doodles hid under the bouganvillia for the rest of the afternoon.  Fortunately all beaks were present and accounted for at sundown in the roost.

Looks like the hawk went for a kill into the bougainvillea and  Smoky Joe  attempted to chase  that hawk off .   Have never heard of a rooster doing that.  Good man, Smoky Joe!  Brave lad, that hawk was bigger than you and had a nasty beak and talons.

Mokulele Farms alpha rooster, Smoky Joe

Happy New Year, Folks!  ( Hau’oli Makahiki hou)

Paul

I’m going to brag.    Debbie’s recipe for Mokulele Farms Kona Espresso Shortbread Cookies took First Place Amateur Desserts at this year’s Kona Coffee Festival.   The judges at the Sheraton Keahou Resort were right; they are WONDERFUL, and I’m reprinting the recipe and a picture of the contest display below.  As you can see, she shaped the logs into a triangular shape that when cut into 1/4″ cross sections, looked just like little volcanos.

Mokulele Farms Kona Espresso Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2  cups  (3/4 lb.) butter, at room temperature

1 1/4  cups  powdered sugar

1  teaspoon  vanilla

1/2  teaspoon  salt

4  tablespoons  finely ground Mokulele Farms espresso-roast coffee beans (NOT instant espresso powder)

3  tablespoons  Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur

3 1/3  cups  all-purpose flour

For topping

4 ounces high quality dark chocolate

1 tablespooon finely ground Mokulele Farms espresso-roast coffee beans

Preparation

1.  In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, espresso grounds, and Kahlúa. Beat to combine. Add flour and mix until well blended.

2. Form dough into two 1 1/2-inch-thick logs, cover with plastic wrap or wax paper, and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chilled dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices and lay slightly apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until cookies are browned on the bottom but not the top, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

4.  Melt chocolate, add espresso powder.  Drizzle over cooled cookies.

The worldwide coffee farming industry in general, and Kona coffee farmers in specific, have faced quite the year.  Early in 2010, Kona farmers were notified of the first outbreak of the Little Fire Ant on the Kona side of the Big Island .  We’ve had a second year of drought which has raised havoc with the coffee cherry.  And then in September it was “discovered” that the Central/South American Coffee Borer Beetle was “officially” here on the Big Island in Kona.

Three days ago Debbie and I finished our last pick of coffee of the 2010 season.   In fact, the trees are just starting their first blossoming

Normally, at our elevation we would still be picking into January, but even with us doing rescue irrigation, the drought took its’ toll on the size of this year’s crop.  Totaling up all the numbers, our yield is just 70% of last year!

Welll, the (coffee) cup is half full or half empty.  I’m the optimist and say we’re half full.  Here’s why:

Crop yield:  Last week I was talking shop with the head of one of Kona’s oldest coffee farming families, and he reported that most people were reporting crop reduction of 50% or more.    So Mokulele Farms is not as bad off as many.

Little Fire Ant:  so far it’s only infested one non-agricultural location in Kona, but has become a huge problem for the northeast and east (Hamakua and Puna) districts of the island.  This pest is arboreal and makes huge dispersed nests in trees, and drops onto people who are walking or working under the trees.   The bites sting like mad, is reported to cause blindness in animals, and nobody wants to prune or pick coffee in an infested orchard.

Coffee Borer Beetle (CBB):  This other Central/South American pest has made big news when it was reported in late September,, but some of the older farmers claim it has been here much longer.  (how did it get here?   Importation of off-label green coffee from Central/South America by those people who blend 10% Kona Coffee is where many point the finger)   Two of the biggest millers/processors on the Big Island report that one third of the farms they buy coffee from are infested with CBB,:   CBB bores directly into the growing coffee bean and ruins the bean.   There is a CBB task force whose meetings I’ve gone to, and it turns out that we have already been practicing much of the “biosecurity” to prevent CBB spread into the orchards.  .  Mokulele Farms is lucky that we are NOT infested.

What does it mean?     Well, it has translated into production costs up this year and next year.  This year’s supply is down.  The experts are predicting coffee prices in general, and Kona in particular will be going up now and in 2011.

Here’s what Debbie and I can do to keep you in coffee all of 2011 at 2010 prices.  For all of 2011, We will Guarantee both current 2010 prices and supply to our current coffee club members, and to anyone who joins the coffee club by December 15^st, 2010 11pm HST.    We will put aside your coffee allocation now.  It will be stored under controlled conditions as parchment coffee (which is an important step in developing coffee flavor) and then pulled and roasted just before shipping)   So you get assured of your morning cuppa’ at 2010 prices in the unknown world of coffee futures.

And most importantly, we wish all of you MELE KALIKIMAKA A HAU’OLI MAKAHIKI HOU!

Paul

Aloha folks.

This is Paul, who is becoming the part-time web assistant since my son Tom, who has started a new job with an exciting software company, has way too much on his plate.  We are excited to be starting our blog, and mahalo to Tom for getting the page set up.  In the future, you will usuallyhear from Debbie, but you never can tell when I am going to put in my two cents.!   Enjoy our coffee!

A hui hou,

Paul