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 SL34 Peaberry
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Limited Release
Origin: 100% Kona coffee
Variety: SL34 (Peaberry separation)
Roast: Light–Medium
Tasting Notes: Pineapple, blackberry, pomelo, toasted coconut
Cup Profile: Bright • Juicy • Structured
Kona SL34 Peaberry
Kona SL34 Peaberry is a vivid, fruit-forward expression of Kona coffee—bright, complex, and unusually expressive for the region. Built around the Kenyan SL34 cultivar and separated as peaberries, this coffee highlights clarity, acidity, and sweetness in equal measure.
The cup is lively and aromatic, with citrus-driven brightness and a supporting sweetness that recalls fresh-squeezed lemonade.
Origin & Farms
This coffee is produced from SL34 cherries grown at elevations of 1,600–2,400 feet in Hōlualoa and Kealakekua, two of Kona’s highest and coolest growing areas.
The coffee is processed by Kona Farm Direct, a six-acre farm in Hōlualoa operated by Kraig Lee, a 30-year veteran of the Kona coffee industry. In addition to producing coffee, Kraig runs a nursery that supplies coffee trees to farms across the island and maintains trial plantings of multiple varieties—making Kona Farm Direct a hub for innovation and experimentation within Kona.
During the most recent harvest, SL34 production was high enough to allow peaberry separation during milling, resulting in this limited lot.
About the SL34 Variety
SL34 is a cultivar originally selected by Scott Laboratories in Kenya, with genetic roots tracing back to coffee varieties still growing in Yemen today. It is one of the most widely planted coffees in Kenya, prized for its large seed size, vibrant acidity, and powerful fruit character.
In Kona’s volcanic soils and higher elevations, SL34 produces a cup that is brighter and more fruit-forward than traditional Kona Typica—while still retaining balance and sweetness.
SL34 is also one of the varieties that contributes to our Kona Tropical Punch, where it plays a supporting role alongside Typica and Geisha. In this single-variety peaberry lot, SL34’s brightness and structure take center stage.
Processing & Craft
This SL34 was processed using a yeast-inoculated washed fermentation.
Cherries were pulped immediately after harvest and fermented in tanks inoculated with a selected wine yeast strain chosen to emphasize citrus and tropical fruit expression. After fermentation, the coffee was pre-dried on a wooden patio and then finished in a mechanical dryer to ensure even moisture reduction and clarity in the cup.
Cup Profile
Aromatics of pineapple, blackberry, and pomelo rise from the cup, supported by toasted coconut sweetness. Acidity is focused and lively, balanced by a clean sweetness that brings to mind fresh-squeezed lemonade. The finish is crisp, bright, and refreshing.
Roast Style
Roasted to a light–medium profile to preserve acidity and fruit while maintaining structure and balance. This roast is designed to highlight the SL34’s inherent vibrancy without overwhelming the cup.
Brewing Recommendations
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Pour-over (V60, Kalita): highlights fruit clarity and acidity
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Auto-drip: bright, clean daily cup
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Aeropress: juicy and rounded with slightly more body
Use filtered water and a slightly finer grind than typical Kona coffees to emphasize structure.
Availability
This is a limited release with approximately 25 lbs available for online sale.
Explore More Kona Coffees
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Kona Classic Medium Roast — smooth, balanced, and timeless
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Kona Tropical Punch (Light Roast) — vibrant and fruit-forward
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Kona Classic Dark Roast — deep, refined, and comforting
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.
