Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Vietnam Langbiang - Tâm & Pat
Item is in stockHurry! Low inventoryItem is out of stock
Item is unavailable
Tasting Notes
An exotic, memorable fragrance of Dark Chocolate golden raisin, hazelnut and caramel. Saturated, sweet aromatics of orange blossom and honey, with notes of tropical fruit and kiwi. Autumn flavors of apricot, chardonnay & Honeycrisp apple. Round, silky body with a savory-sweet acidity.
Background Info
In 2016 Miguel Travelled to Dalat, Vietnam to meet with growers trying to produce specialty coffees in the area.
Lieng Hót K'tâm and Cil Sommy Pat in Langbiang were two of the producers he met on that trip. We were able to bring in a few bags off coffee from the region that year and the following, but were unable to find partners to help import the coffee in the following years. Luckily we met Rae Tran of Karmic Circle coffees who has begun importing specialty coffees from Vietnam Like the Bourbon and Robusta we have featured last year and this year. We asked her if should would be able to bring in some bags from Tam and Pat for us with her other coffees and she was happy to arrange it. So we are thrilled to welcome Langbiang Coffee back to our menu, better than ever!
Tâm and Pat harvest the coffee based on the sugar content of the coffee fruit, waiting until the cherries reach a brix level of 23+ (a measurement used to assess fruit ripeness based on sugar concentration). After harvesting, the cherries are piled onto a motor bike, carried down from their farm at 1600m on Langbiang Mountain to their village and then fermented in buckets under water for 24 hours and washed. Drying is done on raised screens in covered buildings over 12-20 days depending on the weather
History
Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world after Brazil, though the quality of the beans (generally strip-picked robustas) has limited their marketability.
Although arabica coffee trees (bourbon) were introduced near Hanoi in 1887, production in Vietnam has dwindled until recently, though the volume is still substantial: 1,000,000 bags/ year, more than countries like Kenya, El Salvador, Rwanda, Panama, and Papua New Guinea. These coffees are mostly blended with robusta coffee and destined to local cafes and neighboring China.
We hope you enjoy this first glimpse of Vietnam specialty coffee! Next Season we’ll be returning to Dalat to continue working with this budding specialty coffee industry during their harvesting season.
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
-
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.
Company & Facility
-
We roast and fulfill all of our coffee orders in Hilo, Hawai'i.
-
We roast in small batches using a Diedrich IR12 roasting machine.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
-
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.
Coffees
-
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.
