The first time I had Kona coffee was in an office cubicle inside American Greetings headquarters. A co-worker had returned from an Hawaiian vacation and brought some beans to share. I was blown away by the smoothness. At that early point in my coffee adventure, the concept of a “smooth” coffee had never occurred to me.

After some less than stellar follow-up Kona experiences, I learned about Kona blends: large amounts of mediocre arabica beans dusted with Kona beans. Yes, the coffee was less expensive than pure Kona, but it never seemed to capture that special Kona quality. And it was still far more expensive than much better boutique coffee I could get locally.

A couple of years ago, we were blessed to be able to spend a week in Hawaii. Not just anywhere however, we were vacationing with friends on the Kona coast, the very source of Kona goodness. The sea air, the volcanic soil, the fat-slapping sounds of tourists slathering their blubber with coconut oil. With dozens of local coffee farms from which to choose, it was spell-binding to stand in the grocery store staring at a wall of Kona offerings, each proclaiming the special qualities of their beans and micro-climates just like a bevy of fine French vineyards. Stunned into indecision, we chose the “house” coffee of the place we were staying. Haole Boy Coffee was everything one could wish for in a Kona coffee: rich, dark, full-bodied, and smooooooth.

Flash forward to Thanksgiving 2010. While planning a visit with my parents in Cleveland, my dad tells me about a new coffee roaster in Berea (Hometown!) that has just started selling to the public. I quickly go to the website and learn that Red Cedar Coffee not only has an intriguing array of coffee selections, they have just roasted a special batch of KONA. Right there in snow-swept Northeast Ohio someone is roasting Kona! I know then what I must do.

Black Friday found my dad and I standing in the small retail showroom of Red Cedar Coffee. Dad about choked when the co-owner and all-around great sales lady told us the price of the precious beans. Yes, it was pricey, even for Kona. But try some I must. So, I plunked down the cash and walked out of the store with 8oz of fresh roasted Kona.

And now I’m writing about it.

My first cuppa was actually quite bad. Swampy. Then I discovered that I had not used enough beans. In my excitement I had mismeasured. Sigh.

My second cuppa was…fine. Yeah, I know. Fine. It’s most definitely Kona. It has a dark, almost chocolate flavor. It’s velvety smooth. This particular Kona bean also has a background brightness–hinting on the edge of acidity–that is not unpleasant. But. There is some je ne sais quoi missing. Red Cedar states that “the Midwest palate leans toward the milder flavor of medium roast.” I’m not going to second-guess their experience with their client-base, but I’m thinking that a slightly darker roast (not saying they need to go crazy) might bring out some of the qualities that would raise this from a “just fine” to a “that’s fiiiiiiiiiine.”

On a related note, I also picked up a pound of Red Cedar’s Savannah Nights blend–a blend of East African beans. This dark, fruity, full-bodied blend may just be able to provide a local replacement for my “house” coffee–Peet’s Garuda Blend.

Then, someone pointed me to the Gospel of Luke. Apparently Jesus had had the audacity to heal someone on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees were upset. Jesus eyed them calmly and proclaimed, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” My first response was to wonder why no one ever talked about the son falling into the well. Then, I understood the general good news message here that God is not some mindless judge more interested in enforcing the letter of the law than in showing compassion to His people.

What brought this to mind today was that this morning I found myself in the position of having a friend with his ox in the ditch. Helping the friend was going to mean missing morning worship. I might not always know what it means to keep the Sabbath holy, but I’m guessing that going to church is at the top of the list. My friend owns a vineyard. (Very biblical!) It was time to harvest the grapes, and he had arranged for some people to help. However, bad weather and an impending deadline meant that my friend was in a very real bind.

So, this morning, I headed out to Dead Drop Vineyards in Republic, OH to harvest grapes. I count it a sign of blessing that throughout the morning I was reminded of various vineyard related parables and images from the Bible. I thought of “He is the vine, and I am the branches.” I thought of the vineyard workers who worked a full day and those who only worked a brief time and got paid the same. (You know who you are!) I thought of the Proverbs woman considering a vineyard and buying it. When the rain was coming down, I thought about the parable of the vineyard workers who killed the son of the vineyard owner. And I thought about the parable of the seeds, and the references to those who plant and what they do to plants that do not produce fruit. All in all, it was a very fruitful morning.

For those of you who haven’t seen a vineyard or a grape harvest, I’m including some pictures from the event.

Below are two slideshows: one of New Holland Brewing and one of Little Sable Point Lighthouse.

Toast:
2 slices wheat bread

On one side spread
Cream cheese
On the other slice spread
Butter/margarine

Layer on one slice
6-8 slices of cucumber (1/8-1/4 inch thick)

Sprinkle with
Pinch of dill
1-2 grinds of fresh black pepper

Place the other slice of toast on top of the cucumber-laden slice.

Cut in half, and enjoy.