Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Honduras Yellow Pacas -Finca Cerro Azul
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ROASTING WEDNESDAYS WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
TASTING NOTES
Aromas of Mango, Molasses, and Tangerine. A lively acidity and silky mouthfeel. Dried Mango and lemon continue in the cup where they mingle with flavors of caramel, and baking spices.
YELLOW PACAS VARIETY
Yellow Pacas is a selection from the Yellow Pacamara variety. Pacamara is a large bean hybrid variety created in El Salvador from the short high yielding 'Pacas' variety and the Giant typically mutation 'Maragogype'. Known for excellent cup quality it often wins cupping competitions across Central America. But this variety always produced red fruit.
The Mierisch Family had planted a field of the Pacamara variety at their Limoncillo farm a couple decades ago. in 2004 a worker noticed 3 trees in the farm that were yellow when ripe, not red like the others. They collected seeds from these trees and began building a nursery of them and first planted this variety at the Limoncillo farm and then later other farms owned by the family. The cup quality is exceptional. Very high acidity and heavy mouthfeel. leaning more towards yellow fruits in its cup profile. Peach, Lemon, grapefruit, and in natural processed versions flavors of tart cherry.
Being a hybrid sometimes some of the plants will regress to their parent types. Yellow Pacas are trees separated at the nursery stage that do not show the Large bean and leaves of the Pacamara variety, but the smaller size of the Pacas variety, albeit still with yellow fruits.
This variety is currently limited to a handful of farms owned by Fincas Mierisch and is produced in very small quantities. Yellow Pacas carries many similar traits in the cup as Yellow Pacamara. A bright and complex cup, but a bit more restrained and delicate than it's boisterous, Big beaned cousin.
FINCA CERRO AZUL
The Mierisch Family has operated farms in Nicaragua for generations, planting their first coffee farm in 1908. Several years ago while judging the Cup of Excellence competition in neighboring Honduras, They were very impressed by the quality of the coffees and the altitudes available to growers here. They decided to purchase some land at high elevation and plant a selection of their best varieties from their farms in Nicaragua. Geisha/Gesha Variety from their Santa Lucia farm has been the 1st place coffee in Cup of Excellenas Honduras the past 2 years.
Finca Cerro Azul is planted in 96 hectares of coffee at 1600-1700m in the municipality of Siguatepeque. In addition to Yellow Pacas, the also grow Red Catuai, Yellow Pacamara, Orange Bourbon, Java, and Ethiosar at this farm. Coffees are harvested from February to June and processed as fully washed coffees. Coffee are fermented dry fermented for 40-48 hours, then washed and dried for 2 days on patios. Drying is completed on screens in a greenhouse located at their nearby Santa Lucia Farm.
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.
