Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Philippines Mt Kalatungan Robusta Anaerobic Natural
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Roast: Light
Country: Philippines
Region: Mt. Kalatungan, Bukidnon
Producer: Better Botany
Processing: Anaerobic Natural
Altitude: 1000-1200masl
Tasting Notes Cranberry, kiwi, and hibiscus in the aroma. Strong anaerobic natural derived flavors of Cacao nibs, jackfruit, and berries.
Mt Kalatungan
In the Philippines 90% of the country's production is Robusta, and most of it is locally consumed. Nearly all of this coffees is locally consumed and goes to the instant coffee market. Specialty Arabica is hard to come buy here, let alone robusta
Mt Kalatungun on the island of Mindanao is home to some fantastic arabica coffees like the Kalasan sweet we have featured in the past. Some growers at the lower elevations of 1000-1200masl also grow robusta. This is very high altitude for robusta, which like arabica seems to show an increase in quality as altitude climbs and temperatures cool off.
We were able to source a very small lot of anaerobic natural processed robusta from this area, most of which went to our Robusta subscription. We have 6lb left to offer for 1 roast date.
Specialty Robusta
Make espresso at home? We’re thrilled to share this amazing robusta from the Philippines - with you, our espresso enthusiasts. Our staff has fallen in love with it, and we’re sure you will too!
Up until recently robusta coffees have had a bad reputation with specialty buyers, who view them as a cheap, commodity grade bean good for little more than instant coffee. And we know why: strip-picking and careless processing is encouraged to keep costs low for the primary buyers, the instant coffee and discount coffee brands. Unsurprisingly, robusta coffee farmers typically earn half or less that of arabica growers.
Paradise Coffee Roasters has been a champion of robusta coffee producers since 2004. And to that effect, Paradise founder Miguel has been supporting and collaborating with robusta growers in India, Ecuador, Thailand, and now the Philippines. We believe that if the industry is serious about sustainability and truly cares about coffee producers, we cannot afford to ignore nearly half of the coffee farmers in the world. To us, specialty coffee is not a species, variety, or location. It is a process.
Tips for brewing with Robusta
Robusta is less dense than arabica coffees and behaves a lot differently in brewing. We have some tips from Barista and Brewers cup champion friends in Ecuador for how techniques to get the best out of single origin robustas.
Pour Over by Johann Buenano 2019 Ecuador Brewers Cup Champion
- Use 15g of ground coffee to 200mL hot water (201-203F)
- Pre-wet the grinds with 30ml water.
- After 30 seconds pour the remaining 170g of water all at once.
- Target brew time of 1:30-1:45
Espresso Recipe from 2016 Ecuador Barista Champion Mario Idrovo
- Use 20g+ (if your basket will allow) with 194-196F Water.
- 1:2 Brewing ratio. 20g coffee =40g brewed espresso
- 23 second extraction time.
Robusta produces a lot of crema so the volume can be very deceptive. It will look like it is pouring too fast, but the crema will settle out after brewing.
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.
