Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Eugenioides Rey — Coffea Diversa, Costa Rica —Roasting December 2025
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Eugenioides Rey — Coffea Diversa, Costa Rica
Honey Process • Light Roast • Rare Species Release
Species & Origin
From the cloud-shrouded slopes of Costa Rica’s Cordillera de Talamanca, Coffea eugenioides Rey represents one of the rarest expressions of coffee ever cultivated.
A natural genetic mutation of Coffea Eugenioides, this variant was discovered on Gonzalo Hernandez’s Coffea Diversa Estate — home to the world’s largest private collection of coffee species and botanical mutations.
Eugenioides Rey produces exceptionally large beans — the largest of any known coffee species — and an astonishing 52 percent peaberry yield, a natural rarity almost unseen elsewhere.
Paradise Coffee Roasters first visited Gonzalo and Coffea Diversa more than a decade ago; this release celebrates a long friendship rooted in curiosity, craftsmanship, and a shared pursuit of excellence.
Character & Style
Roast: Light
Processing: Honey
Origin: Buenos Aires de Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Producer: Coffea Diversa — Gonzalo Hernandez
Species: Coffea eugenioides ('Rey' Large Bean size mutation)
Tasting Notes:
Sweet black plum, pink grapefruit, cacao, and cedar wood.
Velvety body, bright fruit acidity, and a long, honeyed aftertaste.
A rare harmony of sweetness and depth — a glimpse into coffee’s genetic past.
A sweet, refined cup with notes of plum and grapefruit, lifted by a velvety texture and a finish of cedar and cacao.
About Coffea Diversa
Founded by Gonzalo Hernandez, Coffea Diversa is a living archive of coffee biodiversity — a botanical garden rather than a plantation.
Unlike conventional single-variety farms, Gonzalo cultivates hundreds of species and natural mutations side by side, from Rume Sudan and Laurina arabica varieties to Coffea liberica and eugenioides.
Each grows in tiny quantities and is sold only to a handful of roasters worldwide — first come, first served.
Paradise Coffee Roasters is honored to be among them. Our collaboration with Coffea Diversa spans more than ten years, built on a shared fascination with coffee’s rarest expressions.
Why It Matters
Coffea Eugenioides is one of the two parent species of Arabica.
Its natural sweetness, delicate florality, and gentle body shaped the sensory foundation of every Arabica we drink today.
The Rey mutation amplifies these traits — a cup both ancestral and new, revealing the depth and elegance of coffee’s earliest origins.
Availability
Our first release of Eugenioides Rey is extraordinarily limited — only 4 kilograms produced worldwide.
Each bag will be roasted to order in Hilo, Hawai‘i and offered first to members of our Pinnacle Coffee Tour.
📬 Join the Waitlist
Be among the first to experience this remarkable species.
[ Notify Me When Available ]
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.
