* This coffee will be available for 1 roast day only. Wednesday December 11th. Only 4lb available.  orders with this coffee in the cart will not be processed until November 27th.*

Roast: Light 

Country: United States

Region: Hōlualoa, North Kona

Producer: Noelani Farm

Processing: Washed

Altitude: 750masl (2500ft)

Taste Notes: 

Lime zest, ginger, and chamomile in the aroma. Full bodied with an excellent supporting acidity and notes of cherry, vanilla and almond in the cup

S.12 Kaffa Variety -A variety from coffee's homeland in Southwest Ethiopia.

Kaffa is an area of southwest Ethiopia where coffea arabica originated From where the our word 'Coffee' is derived from. In 1952-1953 PG Sylvain collected seeds from plants in several areas of Ethiopia including Kaffa to send back to USDA. Some of these varieties like S.6 Cioiccie we have been able to offer from Coffea Diversa before.

 The varieties he collected and dozens of other varieties selected by plant breeders in different countries were distributed to coffee regions around the world by USDA in 1955. CTAHR in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii received seeds of this variety at that time. S.12 Kaffa showed resistance to coffee leaf rust and was of interest to coffee breeders in the 1960's and 1970s as coffee leaf rust spread across the americas in the following decades. Leaf Rust did not reach Hawaii at this time, but researchers at University of Hawaii found that it showed some tolerance against root know nematodes, which had become a problem in the Kona region reducing farm yields. Despite these strengths S.12 Kaffa has never been planted commercially anywhere in the world.

I became aware of it in 2008, while searching through the coffea collection at CTAHR for varieties that might have the potential for excellent cup quality to plant at a then new farm called Hula Daddy. The only  variety in the collection from Southwest Ethiopia, a region i knew at the time where the geisha variety was from, I felt it may have potential. The trees in the original collection at Kealakekua were in rough shape and not producing many cherries, but there is a replica of the collection on Oahu at HARC Maunawili. In 2009 when I traveled to HARC where we collected seeds of SL34, Mokka, and Laurina/Bourbon Pointu varieties to plant at Hula Daddy I also collected a handful of seeds of the S.12  Kaffa seeds at this time. Unfortunately Hula Daddy decided not to plant them. A planted 6 of the seedlings in a shady spot at Rusty's Hawaiian farm in Ka'u, but sadly wild coffees sprouted up around them and it was impossible to identify which were the Kaffa.

I never had a chance to taste this variety until 2017 when Juli Burden sent me a sample of it harvested from the 1 tree in Maunawili. Maunawili is a very low altitude location, but this sample showed excellent complexity and many flavors in common with other Ethiopian landrace varieties: citrus, ginger, flowers.

I asked Juli to get me a few seeds from this tree to try planting once again. Once these sprouted I entrusted 4 of them to the care of Kraig Lee of Kona Farm direct who by now was growing plants for farmers of many of the other other varieties I had selected for Hula Daddy years ago. SL34, K7, Laurina, Mokka. Once these trees produced fruit I asked Kraig to try planting some up at Noelani Farm next to the geisha trees he was planting there at the time. 50 plants of Kaffa were placed at the very top of the farm at 2500ft in 2021. Leaf Rust finally came to Kona in 2020, and since then we have seen that the Kaffa plants are seemingly resistant to the strain of leaf rust we have here. As well as nearly as productive as Catuai, and far more vigorous in growth than geisha. But how would it taste at high altitude?  

In April 2024 we finally could find out. It did not disappoint. the lime zest and ginger notes that I tasted before in this variety ( and find often times in other Ethiopian Landraces like Sidra) were there. The mouthfeel and acidity were excellent. A coffee as special and unique as I had hoped. 

Since then we have been slowly collecting the harvests every few weeks. We finally have enough coffee of this variety collected that a handful of people will have the opportunity to taste. A coffee i have been waiting 15 years for the opportunity to share.

-Miguel Meza 

Noelani Farm

Located in the Holualoa area, Noelani Coffee Farm is one of the Kona District’s highest-elevation farms at 2500ft. The first plantings from 2018-2020 were of the K7 variety . 1.5 acres of the Geisha Variety were added in 2021. We featured their K7 last year, which scored 95 on Coffee Review.

We were excited when in November of 2023 the first harvests of Geisha started coming in. Tiny amounts of cherry every few weeks. After several months of harvest we blended these smalls batches of coffee into our first release of Kona geisha washed this summer. The cool, cloud-shrouded, perpetually misty climate at these altitudes is more akin to the environment of Boquete, Panama than it is most other farms in the Kona district. 

That first roast of Noelani Geisha coffee scored 96 on Coffee Review 

"High-toned, tropical, exquisitely balanced. Orange blossom, cocoa nib, guava, young ginger, cedar in aroma and cup. Juicy-bright yet delicate acidity; silky-smooth mouthfeel. Long, resonant finish that fulfills the promise of the cup."