Hawaii Kona Darnall Estate Typica

Kona Coffee is grown on the western slopes of the Big Island of Hawaii near the active volcanoes Mauna Loa and Hualalai. That's where you'll find Pam and Ted Darnall's coffee estate, above the small coastal village of Holualoa. The 42 acre Darnall estate is planted in Typica, a variety so common in Kona that it's synonymous with the "Kona" name. While the Typica grown today can be traced back to the late 1800's by way of Guatemala, coffee was first introduced to Kona in the 1820's from Brazil. It wasn't long after this that Pam's great grandfather established agricultural roots in the Kona region farming cattle, pineapple, and eventually coffee. According to Ted and Pam, ever since they started dating, they've dreamed of carrying on the family tradition. They finally fulfilled this dream in 2023 when the current farm site went up for sale. The original owners did not process their own cherries, instead selling to a local wholesaler, which is quite common. The Darnalls have decided to take a more hands-on approach, establishing the "Darnall Estate" name by managing the harvest and processing the coffee themselves, and selling direct. This cups like a wet process coffee, though technically the process style is more like a wet process/honey hybrid. They depulp the cherry and most of the fruit, soak the seeds in tanks for a day, and then move it to the drying patio.

The Darnall's coffee has the kind of well-balanced sweetness, and moderately bright flavors we look for in wet process Kona coffees. The fact is, Kona coffees are known for their mild cup character, never showy. And in a scoring system that rewards big, outlier flavors, they don't command the ultra high scores of the wilder experimental types...which is how we like them! We were also impressed by the quality of the physical prep, something we've had issues with in the past. Ted reached out to us about this year's harvest earlier in the year, and we're so glad he did. It's been nearly 10 years since we've had a nice Kona on our list and we're excited to make this available, even if only a small amount!

More on Kona coffee and the Darnall Estate here.