Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Ecuador Vilcabamba Reserve - Sold Out
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TASTING NOTES
Aromas of Mango, grapefruit and jasmine. A cup more reminiscant of fruit juice than coffee, with a citrusy acidity and flavors of kiwi and pineapple.
Background
A selection of rare varieties from two new farms operated by ChocoVilcamundo in Loja, Ecuador.
Yellow Geisha Variety from El Dorado Coffee Farm and Typica Mejorado from Finca La Noria.
ChocoVilcaMundo (CVM) is an Ecuadorian agricultural company owned by Bernard Uhe and his coffee-growing family from Colombia. The management of the El Dorado and La Noria coffee farms is undertaken by the CVM family, which boasts generations of coffee growers from the province of Ibague, Colombia. In collaboration with Ecuadorians who are well-acquainted with the local terrain, they cultivate high-elevation, award-winning Arabica coffee in the Ecuadorian Andes.
Planting of the farms began in 2017. El Dorado farm sits at 1700-1900m and La Noria farm starts at 2000m and goes up to an incredible 2265m
In its inaugural year, the El Dorado Farm's Geisha harvest secured the 13th place in the 2021 Cup of Excellence, with a score of 88.52. The farm's Geisha achieved 4th place in the 2022 Cup of Excellence, with a score of 89.10. Additionally, the farm's Geisha took 6th place in the 2022 Ecuador Golden Cup with a score of 90.10, and the farm's Geisha secured 3rd place in the 2023 Ecuador Golden Cup, with a score of 89.75.
The El Dorado Farm cultivates four varieties of coffee: Geisha, Wush Wush, Yellow Geisha, SL28, and is in the process of planting a fifth variety, Sidra.
La Noria Farm grows Geisha, Yellow Geisha, SL28, and Typica Mejorado
The superior quality of our coffee is attributed to the high elevation, fertile soil, mineral-rich mountain water, nutrient-dense shade trees, 12 hours of sunlight throughout the year, and the application of neem and worm tea on the plants. These factors collectively enhance the vitality of the coffee plant and beans, resulting in a deliciously healthy cup of coffee.
Yellow Geisha
A selection from the famed Geisha T.2722/Gesha variety. Occassionally mutant plants that produce yellow fruits rather than red when ripe are discovered on farms. Yellow Geisha in an example of this, a yellow fruited tree found on a farm in Colombia. Seeds of this variety were brought to El Dorado farm in 2017 and planted at 1750-1850m. From the very few Yellow Geisha examples we have tried, we find this variety to lean more towards tropical fruit flavors than the floral notes common to red fruited geisha plants.
'Typica' Mejorado
This coffee comes from a variety developed in Ecuador by NESTLE called 'Typica Mejorado' meaning 'Improved Typica'. This coffee presents a cup profile unlike any Typica though. An exhilarating, sweet, geisha-like experience! The amazing fragrance hints that this is no ordinary Typica-variety coffee. Recent genetic testing has shown that there is actually no Typica lineage in this coffee at all (despite the name). Genetic Fingerprinting shows it to be part of the 'Ethiopian Legacy' group that includes many of the varieties growing in Yirgacheffe and Guji, Ethiopia; along with East African selections like SL34 and K7. Because of its common sounding name this variety is often over looked compared to the much trendier hybrid in Ecuador called Sidra. But we consistently find the Typica Mejorado variety to be even more impressive on the cupping table, especially from high altitude farms like La Noria.
What Is 100% Kona Coffee?
100% Kona coffee refers to coffee grown exclusively in the Kona district of Hawai‘i Island — a small, volcanic region
along the western slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa. The combination of mineral-rich soil, afternoon cloud cover, and gentle trade winds produces one of the world’s most distinctive coffee terroirs.
To be labeled “100% Kona Coffee,” every bean must be grown within the Kona district and meet strict Hawai‘i grading quality standards. Kona coffee can be made from different arabica varieties, but Kona Typica — a heirloom lineage — remains the region’s most common and traditional cultivar.
If you’d like to explore more Kona coffees, you can browse the full collection here: Browse the Kona Coffee Collection .
About Kona Coffee
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Kona coffee grows on the volcanic slopes of Hawai‘i Island, where mineral-rich soil, afternoon cloud cover, and slow cherry maturation create a naturally sweet and balanced cup. Our Kona Classic Medium is sourced from high-elevation farms and hand-harvested for clarity, smoothness, and elegant sweetness.
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Yes — this roast is Authentic Kona coffee made exclusively from North Kona district-grown coffees, never blended. Our Kona coffees comes from small farms at the highest altitudes in the region.
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Medium roasts highlight Kona’s signature profile: gentle sweetness, soft citrus, toasted almond, and milk chocolate. The result is a balanced, approachable cup ideal for everyday brewing.
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This coffee shines in pour-over, drip, and French press. Use filtered water just off the boil and a medium grind for maximum clarity and sweetness. If you are looking for a Hawaiian coffee for espresso use we recommend our Hawai‘i Island Blend
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Kona is the highest labor cost coffee region in the world. Wages for farm workers here are 15-20x higher than almost all other coffee producing countries. Limited and expensive land, hand-picking, and high production costs create a naturally small supply each year — especially from high-elevation farms like those we partner with.
Company & Facility
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We roast and fulfill all of our coffee orders in Hilo, Hawai'i.
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We roast in small batches using a Diedrich IR12 roasting machine.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
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We source an array of the top specialty coffees worldwide that appeal to an array of different palates.
If at any point you have difficulty brewing, or just appreciating one of our roasted coffees, no problem. Shoot us an email within 5 days of receiving your coffee and we'll help you find the correct brew settings for your coffee, or give you a credit (minus actual shipping costs) on your next purchase. Yep, we're a Satisfaction Guarantee coffee company!
Please note, our Satisfaction Guarantee only applies to U.S. orders of roasted coffees, and you must contact us within 5 days of receiving the coffees. Credits do not include actual shipping fees, which may be different from posted shipping fees.
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We roast and ship on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
Coffees
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Our commitment to you is to serve exceptional, fresh-roasted coffees. And part of being exceptional means roasting before the flavors inherent in the green bean begin to fade, which happens over time.
Like apples and pumpkins, coffee is a seasonal agricultural product and each country has a different harvesting cycle in which coffees are at their peak. If we were to insist on serving a single origin all year long, the flavors in that coffee would be noticeably better one half of the year over the other. So the reason you no longer see that coffee you loved is because the optimal season has passed. For more on seasonality in coffees, see this blog post here.
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Hopefully so. If it was a popular product or we receive customer requests, we will make every attempt to bring it back. However, please note that coffees from a certain producer may not taste the same year after year.
If you loved a coffee and no longer see it listed, shoot us an email and ask us what is similar. We’d be happy to provide a personal recommendation.
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We aim for balance and completeness along with differentiation and distinction. You shouldn't need to be a professional coffee taster to tell the coffees a part, so, when we’re selecting coffees, we want them to be distinct from each other.
We avoid ”one-trick pony” type coffees, such as Ethiopians with great aroma but no body or acidity, or coffees with good aroma and acidity but lacking sweetness. These elements, which are often reflections of the growing conditions, are harmonized through good roasting.
And, obviously, defects — even subtle defects — influence our selection. Since we live and work at origin, we’re sensitive to coffee defects like “past crop”, pulpy, and naturals that border on over-ferment. With naturals, we’ll only carry these when great examples are available.
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Our perspective on roasting is similar: we seek balance and distinction. To expect that a coffee is “best” when roasted to some pre-determined degree (i.e. only light roasting or only dark roasting) is analogous to thinking that each person would look best in the same outfit, or each coffee should be grown in the same way. We believe it’s our job to discover the roast degree which best highlights outstanding qualities in each coffee.
