'KONA' BOX SEP. 2022

Aug 22

Written By Kayla Clark

‘KONA’ BOX…

… brings three 100% Kona coffees from the Big Island of Hawaii. One of the most expensive coffees in the world, Kona coffee brings a delicious taste that benefits from the region’s unique microclimate, long tradition of handpicking beans and rich volcanic soils of the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa. This month we are excited to share out partners: Big Island Coffee Roasters (Mountain View, HI), Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii (Kona, HI), and Koa Coffee (**Honaunau, HI).**
*Image: Big Island Coffee Roasters.*

From the Roaster:
In 2010, this 2022 Roaster of the Year finalist found a small coffee farm in a wild, disadvantaged region of Hawaii - Puna - posted on Craigslist. With little to lose we thought, “Why not?” As we integrated with the community of farmers and sampled coffees from around Hawaii, we were surprised by the local diversity that often get overshadowed.
The more we learned the complicated steps to produce great coffee, the stranger it became that the final product was a gimmicky souvenir - artificially flavored, stale 10% blends. Worse still, Kona coffees were rife with counterfeit scams.
We wanted to change that: to share the diverse, authentic Hawaiian coffees we tasted and the stories behind them. Milled in small batches, roasted to order, specialty grade.
From the Roaster:
93 POINTS: A TOP-RATED KONA PEABERRY COFFEE
This 100% Kona Peaberry coffee was the best Kona peaberry and second-highest rating in a cupping of Hawaiian coffees for Coffee Review’s May 2019 tasting report. Peaberry coffees tend to have a greater density of flavor, sugars, and lipids compared to regular coffee beans. You could think of these Kona peaberry beans as being the 'only child' of a coffee cherry, enjoying all the nutrients to itself.
Peaberry coffees are rare, comprising only 3-7% of the total crop. These pea-shaped, natural formations of the coffee bean are thought to form when several pistils get knocked off the coffee flower, causing only one seed to form inside the coffee fruit rather than two.
TASTING NOTES
Cinnamon, caramel, plum, a hint of cacao and cedar
ORIGIN
Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii

From the Roaster:
Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was born on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1989 with the dream of sharing American-grown, premium Hawaiian coffee with coffee lovers everywhere. The first mainland store was opened in 1995, in Salt Lake City and our ‘ohana started growing from there. Today, Bad Ass continues to serve premium Hawaiian and other top international coffees in 24 stores across the U.S.
THE BAD ASS LEGEND
For generations, the donkeys of Kona, Hawaii could be heard bellowing as they carried precious loads of coffee beans down the steep mountains of the Big Island. People of Kona named these hard-working donkeys the “Bad Ass Ones” because of their reliably strong, but stubborn nature in carrying their precious cargo. The Legend of those hard-working donkeys lives on today at Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii where we’re stubborn about our sourcing, roasting and serving quality Hawaiian coffee and doing so with the Aloha Spirit.
From the Roaster:
Kona coffee holds a special place in the hearts and minds of many coffee drinkers. It comes from a tiny strip of paradise, about 20 miles long and 2 miles wide. There, one can taste coffee from hundreds of coffee farms (we estimate 700-800 in the region) across a significant change in elevations and climatic conditions. On such a tiny area of land and across so many farms, there is a wide range of extraordinary flavor profiles to be found.
Of all those farms, we’ve chosen Greenwell Farms to provide us- and you- with extraordinary coffee. We’ve worked with Greenwell Farms since our earliest days of buying Kona coffee. Our relationship, based on respect, friendship, and a love of fine coffee, benefits everyone as we stick together through everything and celebrate our successes as a family.
We roast this Kona coffee to a full city (medium) roast. This brings out a delicate complexity that may require some focus to discern. We tasted notes of raspberry, cashew, and raisin with a cocoa and caramel finish.
TASTING NOTES
raspberry, cashew, and raisin, balanced with a cocoa and caramel finish
ORIGIN
Greenwell Farms, Kealakekua, HI

From the Roaster:
THIS IS THE KONA COFFEE FORBES CALLED “BEST IN AMERICA”
In 1997, Koa Coffee started as a small family business. Over the years, our hand-picked Kona Coffee has won the coveted Gevalia Cupping Competition, PCCA Coffee of the Year, we were featured in Forbes "Top 10 Coffees of the World" and we made Forbes' "50 of America's Best" as the "Best Coffee in America." With much Mahalo to our friends and our loyal customers, Koa Coffee has grown and continues to grow.
Today, we have better quality control than we had in the early days. We have better roasters, so every batch is perfect, every time. Better packaging too, so our coffee smells just as fresh when you open the bag as it did when we sealed it. We are also exploring other premium coffees from Hawaii and celebrating their unique flavors.
We still pick every bean by hand, harvesting only when the beans are cherry red. No mechanical harvesting that would mix bitter green beans in with the red. We have real people roasting your coffee and real people packing every order. And, we still cup every roast to be sure the taste of Aloha is spot on, every time.
At Koa Coffee, we have always been dedicated to offering our customers the finest 100% Kona Coffee experience, while also sharing the beauty and Aloha of the Hawaiian Islands. Treat yourself to the taste of Aloha.
From the Roaster:
Medium roast coffee is our most popular roast style, and with good reason. Lighter roasts will showcase a flavor unique to the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano on which Kona Coffee beans are grown. A perfect medium roast highlights the flavor of the beans while still delivering the roasted nutty flavors that coffee drinkers love.
Estate Kona Coffee is a specific term that means you are getting Kona Coffee that is the product of one Kona Coffee farm, never mixed with crops from other farms. Our Estate Kona is from a high elevation, single estate farm, and a classic taste of Hawaii.
TASTING NOTES
Natural Sweetness and Fruit, Smooth
ORIGIN
Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii