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 Extra Fancy Coffee — Single Estate Kona (Medium-Light Roast)
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Kona Extra Fancy Coffee — Single Estate Kona (Medium-Light Roast)
A vibrant, fruit-accented expression of 100% Kona Extra Fancy coffee from a single high-elevation estate.
Origin: Holualoa, Kona — Hawai‘i Island
Farm: Noelani Coffee Farm
Roast: Medium-Light
Varieties: Geisha, Kaffa, K7, Typica
Flavor: Macadamia, brown sugar, strawberry, lime, hibiscus
Body: Smooth, medium
Acidity: Bright but balanced
Overview
Kona Extra Fancy Coffee represents a more expressive interpretation of classic Kona coffee. While still grounded in the region’s hallmark sweetness and balance, this single-estate Kona Extra Fancy lot introduces subtle fruit complexity alongside the traditional nutty and chocolate tones Kona drinkers love.
Produced entirely from Noelani Coffee Farm in Holualoa, this coffee blends several varieties grown across the estate—including Geisha, Kaffa, K7, and traditional Typica—creating a layered and vibrant cup while preserving Kona’s signature refinement.
The result is a coffee that remains smooth and approachable while offering greater aromatic lift and fruit character than traditional Kona medium roasts.
About Kona Extra Fancy Coffee
Extra Fancy is the highest traditional grade of Kona coffee, defined by strict standards established by the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.
To qualify as Kona Extra Fancy, the coffee must pass through a 19/64-inch screen, selecting only the largest beans from the harvest and meeting tight limits on defects.
Because only a small portion of Kona coffee meets these requirements, Extra Fancy lots represent some of the most refined and carefully selected coffees produced in the region.
Origin
This coffee is grown at Noelani Coffee Farm, a seven-acre estate located on the high slopes above Holualoa in North Kona.
Coffee here grows between approximately 2,400 and 2,500 feet, among the highest elevations in Kona’s coffee-growing region. Cool afternoon cloud cover, steady Pacific trade winds, and mineral-rich volcanic soils slow the ripening of the cherries, encouraging complex sugar development and aromatic depth.
Paradise purchases the entire harvest from Noelani Farm each year, allowing close collaboration on cultivation and processing. The farm includes a diverse mix of varieties—Geisha, Kaffa, K7, and traditional Kona Typica—planted across different blocks of the property.
These varieties contribute complementary characteristics to the cup: sweetness and structure from traditional Kona cultivars, with added aromatic lift and fruit complexity from newer plantings.
Roast Style & Intent
This medium roast is designed to highlight both Kona’s classic sweetness and the vibrant character of the farm’s mixed varieties.
The roast development emphasizes clarity and balance, allowing nutty and chocolate tones to remain present while bringing forward subtle fruit notes that distinguish this coffee from more traditional Kona profiles.
The goal is a coffee that feels familiar to Kona drinkers while offering a slightly brighter, more expressive experience.
Cup Profile
This Kona Extra Fancy coffee produces a smooth, balanced cup with flavors of toasted macadamia and brown sugar, layered with gentle fruit accents of strawberry, lime, and hibiscus.
The body is silky and medium-weighted, while acidity remains lively yet controlled. The finish is clean, lightly sweet, and aromatic.
Compared to Kona Classic Medium Roast, Kona Extra Fancy shows greater fruit complexity and aromatic lift, while still preserving the balance and elegance that define Kona coffee.
What Kona Extra Fancy Coffee Means
Kona coffee grading begins with bean size and defect standards established by the State of Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.
The Extra Fancy grade represents the largest beans from the harvest, screened through a 19/64-inch sieve. These beans typically represent only a small fraction of the total crop.
Our Selection & Sorting Process
While the Extra Fancy grade begins with size classification, we apply several additional quality steps before roasting to ensure exceptional clarity in the cup.
Our Kona Extra Fancy coffees are:
Screened for Size
Only beans passing the 19/64-inch screen are selected.
Density Sorted
High-density beans are separated to ensure uniform roasting and optimal flavor development.
Optically Sorted
Advanced optical sorting equipment removes color defects and irregular beans.
Hand Sorted
The coffee is hand sorted both as green coffee and again after roasting to remove any remaining imperfections.
Through this layered process we select only large, dense, flawless beans, producing a Kona coffee with exceptional clarity and consistency.
Why Bean Size Matters
Bean size alone does not determine quality, but it is an important indicator of cherry development and roasting consistency.
Larger beans are more likely to come from fully ripe, healthy coffee cherries that have developed slowly under ideal growing conditions. These well-developed seeds typically contain more balanced sugars and structure than smaller or underdeveloped beans.
Equally important is uniformity. When a lot is composed primarily of large, evenly sized beans—as with Kona Extra Fancy—it allows the coffee to roast more evenly. Beans of similar size absorb and transfer heat at similar rates, producing a more consistent roast and a cleaner, more balanced cup.
By starting with the largest screened beans and refining the lot through density, optical, and hand sorting, we are able to roast the coffee with exceptional precision—allowing the natural sweetness and clarity of Kona coffee to shine.
Acclaim
Every release of coffee from Noelani Farm has scored 95+ points from Coffee Review, a testament to the farm's high-elevation Kona terroir.
Brewing Recommendations
Excellent for:
Pour-over (maximum clarity and aromatics)
Auto-drip (consistent everyday cup)
French press (slightly fuller body)
Use a medium grind, filtered water, and brew temperatures around 201–203°F for best results.
Who This Coffee Is For
Those seeking a refined Kona coffee with more fruit complexity
Coffee lovers interested in single-estate Hawaiian coffees
Drinkers who enjoy balanced cups with subtle brightness
If you prefer a smoother, more traditional Kona profile, consider Kona Classic Medium Roast.
If you enjoy brighter, fruit-forward Kona coffees, try Kona Tropical Punch Light Roast.
Why Our Kona Coffees
100% Kona Coffee
Sourced exclusively from Kona farms on Hawai‘i’s Big Island—never blended.
Single-Estate Selection
Produced entirely from Noelani Coffee Farm.
High-Elevation Growing
Cultivated between approximately 2,400–2,500 feet, promoting sweetness and complexity.
Freshly Roasted in Small Batches
Roasted to order to preserve aroma and flavor.
Carefully Sorted for Quality
Machine and hand sorting remove defects before roasting for a clean cup.
Roasted for Expression
Each Kona coffee is roasted to highlight its natural strengths rather than forcing a generic profile.
Explore Our Kona Coffees
Looking for a different expression of Kona coffee? Explore more 100% Kona coffees in our Kona Coffee Collection.
Prefer a bolder, low-acid cup?
Kona Classic Dark Roast — deeper, richer, and full-bodied
Looking for something brighter and more expressive?
Kona Tropical Punch — Light Roast — fruit-forward and vibrant
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.
