Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
A rare natural-process expression from one of Jamaica’s oldest coffee estates.
Classic Blue Mountain sweetness meets vivid red fruit and berry tones.
Hazelnut • Milk Chocolate • Red Berry • Toast • Soft Citrus Acidity
Silky, sweet, and quietly complex. The natural process introduces a gentle red-fruit lift over the classic Blue Mountain profile of hazelnut, cocoa, and warm baked notes.
Grown at ~1,000 meters in the parish of St. Andrew, this lot comes from the historic Clydesdale Estate, founded in the late 1700s and set deep within the Grand Ridge of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains.
Adjacent to the country’s largest protected forest reserve, the area benefits from:
cool mountain mist
slow, even cherry maturation
volcanic soils
pristine highland water
This environment produces the hallmark Blue Mountain profile: clean, mild, sweet, and balanced — but in this case, with a modern twist.
For generations, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee was exported almost exclusively as washed coffee, governed by strict bean-color standards enforced by the Jamaica Coffee Board.
Natural-process coffees were effectively not allowed until very recently.
Everything changed a few years ago.
2019 – the first naturals were legally exported.
2022 – the first naturals reached North America.
2025 – micro-lots remain scarce, with only a handful of barrels available globally.
This Natural from Clydesdale Estate is part of the first wave of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffees to explore modern processing while maintaining the region’s hallmark clarity.
The result:
Classic Blue Mountain smoothness + new-world red fruit aromatics.
Body: Silky and supple
Acidity: Soft, citrus-tinged, never sharp
Sweetness: Honeyed and steady
Flavor: Hazelnut, milk chocolate, red berries, toast
Finish: Clean, warm, quietly persistent
It remains recognizably Blue Mountain—gentle, clean, approachable—yet enhanced with berry aromatics and a subtle fruit glow from the natural process.
Varieties: Typica lineage common to Jamaica Blue Mountain
Process: Natural (sun-dried in cherry)
Drying: Controlled patio drying with careful turning for even development
Roast: Profiled to preserve clarity while highlighting berry aromatics
Roasted fresh on Hawai‘i Island for optimal sweetness and balance.
This lot shines in:
Pour-over (V60 / Kalita): Maximum clarity and fruit expression
Chemex: Clean sweetness, gentle aromatics
French Press: Fuller body, deeper chocolate tones
Drip: Smooth, reliable, and comforting
If you enjoy approachable coffees with subtle fruit complexity, this is a standout.
This lot captures a turning point in Jamaican coffee history:
The first authentic natural-process Blue Mountain coffees ever allowed for export.
For collectors, enthusiasts, or anyone exploring Jamaica beyond its traditional profile, this is a rare and historically significant release.
Kaʻū Classic Light -elegant, floral, vibrant
Kona Classic Medium – balanced, macadamia, citrus, plum
Kaʻū Classic Dark – apricot, cream, dark chocolate
Kona Tropical Punch (Light) – pineapple, guava, passionfruit
Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
We roast and fulfill all of our coffee orders in Hilo, Hawai'i.
We roast in small batches using a Diedrich IR12 roasting machine.
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.
We roast and ship on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
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.
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.
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.
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.