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     As a little girl, I was puzzled by the fact that coffee cake had no coffee flavor at all. Years later, as a grownup, when Sherm Fredrick, of the Hawai`i Tribune Herald, offered me an opportunity to write a local-style cooking column, and the first week would feature the Kona Coffee Festival, I decided I just had to create some coffee-flavored coffee cake recipes. The Kona Coffee Festival continues to be held each autumn, and is a highlight of Kona's activities calendar. Here, we bring back the recipes from that very first column, and give some highlights of the upcoming festival.
 

      The residents of this home in Puna, on Hawai`i Island, enjoy growing their coffee as useful potted ornamentals. Generally speaking, the best-tasting Kona coffee comes from experienced farmers and processors. However, with some study and care, the home grower can learn to make a quite acceptable pot of brew.
     You can grow coffee from seed, if you choose. Just be sure to use un-husked un-roasted beans which are not too old.
     A quicker and more certain, for those of us with yellow-brown, rather than green, thumbs, way to grow your coffee plants is to purchase seedlings. A knowledgeable nursery will be able to help you select plants which will do well in your available growing conditions.