Conscious Caffeine #5 - Mocha, Kona, and Java

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Mocha

While come may associate the term 'mocha' with the espresso drink made with heated milk and chocolate, the Mocha coffee variety derives its name from the legendary port city of Mokha, Yemen, from which the international coffee trade began to flourish in the 15th century. Suspected to be an early descendant of the first coffees brought to Yemen from Ethiopia, the Mocha coffee varieties grown in the Western regions of Yemen are descendants of one of the eldest coffee lineages. Mocha coffees are lauded for their rich chocolate, earth, and fruit flavors that pay homage to their Ethiopian origin. Although coffees such as Harar Mocha, a peaberry variety, and Mokka, a Typica mutant grown extensively across Brazil and Hawaii, share similar names, they represent wholly different varieties than this ancestral Yemeni lineage.

Kona

With a steady stream of moist, tropical air supplied from the Pacific Ocean, the cloud forests than span the western volcanic slopes of the Island of Hawaii produce unique soil and microclimate conditions that many consider to be produce the finest coffee-growing terroir in the world. Despite being a mere 20 miles in length along the island's western slopes, around 600 small plantations cultivate Kona coffee today. Comparable to naming restrictions placed on other luxury products, such as Champagne, beans sold as 'Kona coffee' refer to only those grown within the Kona region of Hawaii. Because of this, Kona coffee is not grown anywhere else in the world. Coffee is also grown on the island in the regions of Puna, Ka'u, and Hamakua, but none command the same reverence as their counterparts grown along the rich volcanic slopes of the Kona District. Though the Hawaiian Islands had historically been spared from the spread of pest and disease by virtue of their isolation, the discovery of Coffee Leaf Rust on the big island of Hawaii in 2018, and it subsequent spread, threatens the future security of the growing region.

Java

Owing its name to the Indonesian island of Java, the variety was first introduced to the region by Dutch botanist, P. J. S. Cramer in 1928. Selected from an Ethiopian landrace known as Abysinia, the descendants of these trees would go on to be introduced to Cameroon as well. On Java, these coffee varieties are primarily grown in Eastern Java on the Ijen Plateau, a region situated over 1,4000 meter above seas level and dotted with large coffee growing estates built by the Dutch in the 18th century. The Blawan, Jampit, Pancoer, Kayumas, and Tugosari estates in particular span over 4,000 hectares and are the largest arabica coffee producers in the region. Coffees produced by these estates are especially sought after when aged in burlap sacks to produce subvarieties such as "Old Government" and "Old Java" as well as for their use in creating the traditional "Mocha Java blend." Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Java coffees were further introduced to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, where the variety is at times referred to as "Javanica".