Kona Coffee FAQs-Roasting, Sourcing, and Shipping
Find answers to common questions about our 100% Kona coffees, roasting schedule, shipping times, and sourcing practices.
Ka‘ū Yellow Bourbon Anaerobic Honey - Light Roast
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Kaʻū Yellow Bourbon Anaerobic Honey
Miranda Farms • Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi Island
A vibrant expression of one of the most celebrated classic coffee varieties, reimagined in Hawaiʻi. Anaerobic honey processing brings remarkable acidity and tropical complexity while preserving the elegance that defines Kaʻū coffee.
At a Glance
Origin: Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi Island
Farm: Miranda Farms
Harvest: January-March 2026
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Process: Anaerobic Honey
Roast: Light
Flavor: Lemon, cantaloupe, caramel, cashew
Body: Silky, creamy
Acidity: Bright, lively
Miranda Farms, Kaʻū
On the southern slopes of Mauna Loa, Miranda Farms continues to produce some of Hawaiʻi's most exciting specialty coffees. Cool evenings, rich volcanic soils, and careful cultivation create ideal conditions for slow cherry maturation and exceptional sweetness.
While Miranda Farms is best known for its multiple award-winning Geisha lots, this Yellow Bourbon demonstrates the remarkable potential of another classic variety. Combined with an innovative anaerobic honey process, it produces a cup that is vibrant, approachable, and full of character.
Character & Style: Sweetness Meets Brightness
Yellow Bourbon is prized for its natural sweetness and balanced structure, and this lot showcases those qualities beautifully.
Bright lemon citrus opens the cup, followed by juicy cantaloupe and rich caramel sweetness. As the coffee cools, notes of roasted cashew emerge, adding depth and a creamy, nut-like finish.
The acidity is energetic and refreshing, giving the coffee remarkable lift while maintaining balance from beginning to end.
Craft & Process: Anaerobic Honey
This lot underwent an anaerobic honey process, combining two techniques that each contribute something unique to the final cup.
Freshly harvested cherries were first fermented in sealed oxygen-free tanks, allowing a slow, controlled fermentation that enhances fruit complexity and sweetness. After fermentation, the cherries were depulped while leaving much of the sticky fruit mucilage intact and dried slowly on raised beds.
Retaining the fruit during drying contributes additional sweetness and body while preserving the coffee's bright acidity and varietal clarity.
The result is a coffee with the vibrant fruit character of an anaerobic fermentation, the creamy sweetness of a honey process, and the clean structure that has become a hallmark of Miranda Farms.
About Yellow Bourbon
Yellow Bourbon is one of the world's most respected Arabica varieties, long celebrated for producing coffees with exceptional sweetness, balance, and elegance.
Originally selected in Brazil from a hybrid of red bourbon and a yellow fruited typica strain known as Amarelo de Botucatu, Yellow Bourbon is known for its distinctive yellow cherries and its ability to produce cups with layered caramel sweetness, soft citrus, and refined acidity. Grown in the volcanic soils of Kaʻū and paired with innovative processing, Yellow Bourbon takes on an unmistakably Hawaiian expression—bright, tropical, and beautifully structured.
A Moment of Paradise
Brew as a pour-over or AeroPress to highlight its lively acidity and layered sweetness. The coffee continues to evolve as it cools, revealing deeper caramel notes alongside citrus and melon.
An outstanding example of modern Hawaiian coffee—combining classic variety with innovative processing and the distinctive terroir of Kaʻū.
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.
