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 Geisha Coffee — 100% Kona Coffee (Light Roast, Washed)
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Kona Geisha Washed — 100% Kona Coffee
Light Roast • November-December 2025 Harvest
A rare and luminous expression of 100% Kona coffee, grown on the volcanic slopes of Holualoa from the celebrated Geisha variety. Produced in extremely limited volume, this micro-lot combines Kona’s signature clarity and sweetness with the extraordinary floral aromatics that define the Geisha variety.
Grown at high elevation and roasted lightly to preserve its natural complexity, this Kona Geisha represents one of the most distinctive coffees produced in Kona each year.
Coffee Details
Origin: Holualoa, Kona — Hawai‘i Island
Farm: Noelani Coffee Farm
Elevation: 2,400–2,500 ft
Variety: Geisha
Process: Washed
Roast: Light Roast
Harvest: 2025
Flavor Profile
This high-elevation Kona Geisha reveals a vibrant and aromatic profile with remarkable clarity:
Citrus blossom
Apricot
Mandarin orange
Strawberry
chocolate
The cup shows a silky, tea-like texture with lively acidity and a long, perfumed finish.
A Rare Expression of Kona Coffee
Kona coffee is traditionally known for balance, elegance, and refined sweetness. When grown at high elevation and paired with the Geisha variety, Kona’s volcanic terroir reveals a new level of aromatic intensity and structure.
Noelani Coffee Farm sits on the upper slopes of Hualālai in Holualoa, one of the highest elevations in Kona. Cool afternoon cloud cover, volcanic soils, and steady Pacific trade winds create ideal conditions for slow cherry maturation, allowing complex aromatics to fully develop.
The result is a Kona coffee with exceptional clarity, vibrant acidity, and remarkable aromatic lift.
Brewing Recommendations
This coffee shines when brewed with methods that highlight clarity and aromatics:
Pour-over (V60, Origami, Kalita)
Flat-bottom brewers for balanced extraction
For the most expressive experience, serve in a tulip-shaped or wine glass to emphasize the coffee’s floral aromatics and delicate structure.
Farm Background
Noelani Coffee Farm is a high-elevation Kona farm located in Holualoa on the upper slopes of Hualālai. The farms coffee planting span approximately seven acres, with coffee planted between 2,400 and 2,500 feet — among the highest elevations in Kona’s coffee-growing region. (The majority of Kona coffee is grown between (1200-1800ft)
At these elevations, cooler afternoon temperatures, persistent cloud cover, and volcanic mineral soils slow the ripening of the coffee cherries. This extended maturation period allows sugars and aromatic compounds to develop more fully, producing coffees with exceptional clarity, structure, and complexity.
We have worked closely with Noelani Coffee Farm for several years and purchase the farm’s entire harvest each season, allowing us to collaborate directly on cultivation and processing decisions. In 2021, at our request, the farm expanded plantings to include both Geisha and Kaffa varieties, selecting high-elevation parcels best suited to these more delicate and expressive genetics.
These plantings are now beginning to reach maturity, producing limited micro-lots that highlight the unique potential of Kona’s highest elevations. The result is a coffee that combines Kona’s refined sweetness with the vibrant aromatics more commonly associated with elite Geisha-producing regions.
Noelani’s coffees have already earned significant recognition, including a 95-point Coffee Review score for their K7 lot, and 96 Points for the Kaffa Variety. Our limited Kona Geisha releases from this farm have consistently earned 95–96 points on Coffee Review, among the highest scores awarded to Kona coffees.
Explore more of our island-grown coffees in the 100% Kona Coffee Collection.
If you enjoy rare varieties and floral, high-elevation profiles, visit our Geisha Coffee Collection.
For a classic Kona profile with rich sweetness and balance, try our Kona Classic Medium Roast.
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.
