Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Tasting Notes
Aromas of rose and clove. Powerfully acidic. A creamy mouthfeel with flavors of cherimoya, black grapes, figs, and cherry.
Finca Hawaii
A great coffee with an Interesting connection to Hawaii. Finca Hawaii is a farm in Cundinamarca operated by Cafe Granja La Esperanza. Currently over seen by Rigoberto Herrera Correa and his brother Luis. Their Grandfather started farming coffee in Cauca, where they also still have farms. In 2007 They also acquired a farm in Panama, growing the geisha variety. They brought seeds from this farm to Colombia and by 2012 their Cerro Azul farm began winning many awards with it. The brothers have focused on growing several varieties that produce excellent quality.
Rigoberto was able to acquire some seeds of the Mokka variety grown in Kāʻanapali, Maui. These seeds were planted at a new 12 hectare farm in Cundinamarca, which they named 'Finca Hawaii' after the source of the Mokka seeds. Most of this coffee they process as a natural, dried as whole cherries. We chose a lot that was anaerobically fermented for 3 days before being dried over 6 days in drying machines.
Mokka Variety
Mokka is a name given to several genetically distinct small bean size varieties. Such plants have very small fruits and seeds and small narrow leaves compared to other coffee varieties. Some of these varieties are derived from populations of coffee in Yemen which are related to the Typica and Bourbon varieties. Mokka can also be a dwarf mutation of the Bourbon Variety. This Mutation and the similar dwarf mutant plant called Laurina or Bourbon Pointu are natural low in caffeine. 50% lower than most arabica varieties. some Mokka plants are hybrids with other varieties that maintain the small seed size of the Mokka parent (such as the Mokkita at Mama Cata Estate in Panama which genetic fingerprinting suggests is a hybrid of Mokka and Geisha T.2722)
The Mokka variety grown in Kāʻanapali, Maui (and thus at Finca Hawaii) is a plant Brazilian agronomists call "Tall Mokka' believed to be a cross of a Mokka plant and Typica.
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.