CAFÉ CROSSROADS How did your cousin get involved?
My cousin Sewon was working in Korea when my family purchased the farm. To make a long story
short, I used to spend summers over there so we basically grew up together. I never had an older brother, and so that dynamic is part of our relationship. He's mild tempered, logical and steady. I'm the firecracker, "Let's do this, let's do that," so we balance each other really well. As an entrepreneur, it's really scary out there—it's not like you're collecting a paycheck each week. At the same time, it's exhilarating and exciting—that's what we're in it for.
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What sets Kona de Pele apart from other coffee operations on the island?
We process our own coffee from the cherry to the cup. That's why we decided to open the café; it's
vertically integrated, from the farm to the café; we oversee every bean. When we came up with the idea, I did a lot of research in California. We want every single cup of coffee to be unique. We hand-drip all our drip coffee. We put all this care into it and don't want to waste it by throwing it into a machine. Hand-dripping
24 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com