Pacific Coffee Research Launches Virtual Workshop Series From The Big Island Of Hawai’i

Pacific Coffee Research (PCR), a specialty coffee lab in Kona, Hawai’i, was founded in 2017 as a hub for coffee professionals across the Hawaiian Islands to connect growers to each other and provide training for people who work in specialty coffee in all capacities (wholesale suppliers, café owners, roasters, baristas, sensory analysts) throughout the specialty coffee value chain.

In the early days, PCR had a tiny space on the side of Mamalahoa Highway in Kealakekua (south of Kona town) next to Big Jake’s B-B-Q. In less than two years, PCR had such success with its programs and growth initiatives that it was able to secure brand new digs north of the airport in Makalei Estates, on a carbon-neutral coffee farm. The center is state-of-the-art — a Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Premier Training Campus, quality analysis and cupping lab, roastery, and comprehensive Hawai’i coffee education center. Because Hawai’i is both a coffee-consuming and -growing region (the only one in the U.S. except for burgeoning California), PCR is ideally situated to explore the whole supply chain, and address its challenges, from a hyper-local vantage point.

PCR’s latest innovation is to offer live virtual workshops during the shelter-in-place in many parts of the world that attempts to flatten the curve of COVID-19. Coffee experts Brittany Horn and Madeleine Longoria-Garcia will host a series of workshops on the Zoom platform, starting with a tasting of four Hawai’i coffees that participants will brew and taste at home simultaneously. The first tasting sold out right away, and a second workshop is planned for Tuesday, May 5th.

For this series, PCR has partnered with Kona Roasted, a new brand devoted to showcasing coffees from Hawai’i’s best farms. Once you register for the two-hour workshop (just $50), PCR will ship samples to you —four coffees from four different growing regions and three islands — and provide detailed instructions for brewing your samples at home. All you need is a temperature-controlled kettle, a burr grinder, a gram scale, and your brewing equipment of choice. (I will use a simple Hario pourover setup.) You’ll also get login instructions for the event.

In addition to tastings, PCR has announced a Sensory Training & Palate Development Experience, the first of which is slated for April 23rd. (Registration will close on April 16th to ensure timely delivery of materials.) This two-hour workshop goes beyond the bounds of coffee; it will appeal to people interested in expanding their sensory skills in relation to flavor in general — wine and beer lovers, chefs and home cooks — anyone interested in exploring what “flavor” is and how all our senses connect around flavor perception.

The instructor will lead participants through each exercise and give students time to perform them through the shared online video conference – together, but in separate spaces. There will be time for discussion and questions.

Keep an eye on PCR’s full calendar for new events as the series develops. These workshops are a great way to expand your own sensory skills and support Hawaiian farmers, roasters, and coffee educators at the same time.

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