I must say the one Hula Daddy Kona I've had was remarkably uninteresting. I can see where it might have had appeal before the third wave explosion, being a nice "coffee coffee", but it was nothing special. Just an overall enjoyable cup with nothing jumping out.

I do have a Hawaii Kilauea Volcano Nano-lot from Paradise Coffee, however, that I'm quite excited to try.

CwD wrote:
I do have a Hawaii Kilauea Volcano Nano-lot from Paradise Coffee, however, that I'm quite excited to try.

That's in the Ka'u region of the Big Island.

Dbcooper wrote:I've purchased some green Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain from Sweet Maria's years ago and roasted it myself. I've never been all that impressed. I think you can get a very similar flavor profile in Central and South American coffees for a lot less money.

This.

CwD wrote:I must say the one Hula Daddy Kona I've had was remarkably uninteresting. I can see where it might have had appeal before the third wave explosion, being a nice "coffee coffee", but it was nothing special. Just an overall enjoyable cup with nothing jumping out.

I do have a Hawaii Kilauea Volcano Nano-lot from Paradise Coffee, however, that I'm quite excited to try.

That was one of the coffee's I had, and had the exact same thoughts.

Interesting on the green recommendations a few posts back... Thank you for that... I think this green coffee thing is getting to be an addiction. I have so many yet there are so many more to try

I've been to Kona many times. Agree, with the good roasters being the key. I'm also especially fond of Hula Daddy. There's beans that Hula Daddy only sells at their farm house.

The deal is anything and everything grown in the Kona region is legitimately and legally labeled Kona coffee. Doesn't matter if it was carefully cultivated, hand-picked by trained pickers, carefully processed and roasted, or just some borer riddled stuff from everyone's backyards in Kona bought up by a wholesaler and roasted into charcoal, then soaked in french-vanilla-creme-caramel artificial flavoring.

The good stuff is quite good. It's also quite expensive, because US labor is expensive. Coffee, especially really good coffee is very labor intensive. Imagine paying US wages to hand pick only the ripest coffee cherries.

There are also a couple of other coffee growing regions on Hawaii as well. Lesser known, but some producing good coffees.

There are large coffee plantations on Kauai which use much less expensive methods like machine harvesting, but have much greater yields and lower costs. But I haven't found much compelling about coffee from Kauai.

nuketopia wrote:There are large coffee plantations on Kauai which use much less expensive methods like machine harvesting, but have much greater yields and lower costs. But I haven't found much compelling about coffee from Kauai.

+1

I toured one of the plantations while waiting for check-in on the first day I was there on vacation. It was beautiful there, but I didn't like the coffee. The Kauai greens I brought home failed to impress.

When I was in Kona a couple of years ago, I came across a an espresso that defied the usual dull results of using Kona to pull espresso shots. It is a blend of the same bean, processed in three different ways, each of which is roasted separately. It's from a farm called Kona View and is marketed as Sweet Waves.

https://www.konaviewcoffee.com/category-s/103.htm

Matt

I bought a bag of Hula Daddy's peaberry something or other, they don't sell online. They only have a little of it from time to time. Very fruity due to the way it was processed with the fruit drying on the bean. They didn't purport it or anything else they sell as espresso. However, I found it quite good as espresso. Perhaps not $40 a bag great, but interesting.

yakster wrote:+1

I toured one of the plantations while waiting for check-in on the first day I was there on vacation. It was beautiful there, but I didn't like the coffee. The Kauai greens I brought home failed to impress.

Same experience here. Neat little jaunt around the farm, but drinking/buying the coffee wouldn't be the reason to go. Nothing I found in Kauai was any good. Java Kai will seem impressive, but it's not very good at all. Great swag though. Super nice small townsie people in Kuaui. It's great place to relax, but bring your own coffee - I did.