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“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 83