Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Yemen Sharqi Haraz Anaerobic Natural
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Yemen Sharqi Haraz — Anaerobic Natural
Origin: Eastern Haraz, Sana’a Governorate, Yemen
Producer: Smallholder farmers (curated by Pearl of Tehama)
Elevation: High mountain terraces
Variety: Yemenia heirloom
Process: Anaerobic Natural
Roast: Light
Tasting Notes: Dried strawberry, green apple, graham cracker
Cup Profile: Structured • Rustic • Layered
Yemen Sharqi Haraz — Anaerobic Natural
This microlot from Eastern Haraz offers a rare intersection of history and innovation. Produced by legacy farming families in Yemen’s mountainous Sana’a Governorate, this coffee reflects a lineage of cultivation that stretches back over six centuries.
While Harazi coffees are traditionally natural-processed, this lot underwent a controlled anaerobic fermentation before drying—introducing subtle lift and clarity without sacrificing Yemen’s signature depth.
The result is a cup that feels both enduring and modern.
Origin & Terroir
Haraz is one of Yemen’s most revered coffee regions, known for terraced mountainsides, arid climate, and centuries-old cultivation practices. Coffee trees here are spaced widely across steep, hand-built terraces, often irrigated from mountain springs or carefully accessed groundwater reserves.
“Harazi” is a designation of quality and terroir, comparable in distinction to Kona. The region’s heirloom varieties—often grouped under the name Yemenia—represent genetically distinct populations shaped by isolation, adaptation, and tradition.
Productivity is low. Labor is intensive. The results are singular.
Processing
This lot was curated by Pearl of Tehama, a family-run exporter founded in 1970 and now led by Fatoum Muslot and her son Yasser Al-Khaderi.
Cherries from approximately 200 partner farmers were centrally processed in small batches. Instead of traditional rooftop drying, the cherries were sealed in tanks and fermented anaerobically for 48–72 hours. They were then dried whole on raised beds for 15–20 days before resting and milling.
The anaerobic fermentation adds precision and subtle fruit lift, while the natural drying preserves Yemen’s characteristic structure and sweetness.
Cup Profile
Expect layered sweetness and rustic clarity.
Dried strawberry leads the cup, followed by green apple brightness and a grounding note of graham cracker. Acidity is structured and steady rather than sharp, with a textured body and lingering finish.
This is not a flashy anaerobic natural—it remains distinctly Yemeni: composed, earthy-sweet, and quietly complex.
Roast Style
Roasted light to preserve acidity and aromatic detail while maintaining Yemen’s inherent density and structure.
Development is controlled to highlight sweetness without amplifying fermentation.
Brewing Recommendations
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Pour-over: highlights apple brightness and clarity
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Aeropress: emphasizes sweetness and body
Use filtered water at 92–94°C and allow the coffee to cool slightly to reveal its layered sweetness.
Why This Coffee Matters
Yemen is the historical homeland of cultivated coffee. For nearly two centuries, it held a global monopoly on coffee export.
Today, producers continue centuries-old traditions while selectively adopting modern processing methods. This lot reflects both: the endurance of Harazi cultivation and the thoughtful integration of controlled fermentation.
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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.
