Hawaii
Classic Hawaiian coffee is mild and balanced. It’s a charming and subtle coffee when processed in the traditional wet process method. For small-farm coffees from the big island, Kona in particular, medium roasts show mild cocoa and nut flavors, caramelized sugars, a slight acidic snap to the cup, medium body and a clean finish. Sweetness balances out bittering tones, and Kona coffees can really pop as single-origin espresso!
Good Hawaiian coffee is expensive. The reason has as much to do with the dynamics of small-scale farming as it does with producing any product in the United States … things cost more. In particular, finding good workers and paying them well is expensive. And of course it’s well worth it to create good jobs and to hold onto good people in a competitive job market. But it means the final product is going to cost more.
Kona coffee is a treat, and other efforts in Hawaii with alternate processing and varieties of coffee are producing very interesting, non-traditional coffee experiences that are well worth exploring. You can read more about the way we source Hawaiian green coffee, and link to our videos and travelogues, in our Coffee Library.