Best Kona Coffee Beans: Top Brands That Exemplify This Premium Bean (Updated For 2023)

Why is it called Kona coffee?

It started with Lady Washington, an American brig that picked up a Spaniard named Francisco de Paula Marín. The ship arrived at Hawaii in 1794. In 1817, de Paula Marín tried to plant coffee in the archipelago.

But he failed. Badly.

No one else tried to plant coffee in Hawaii until 1825 when Chief Boki, the Royal Governor of the island of Oahu, tried the same thing. He brought coffee plants from Brazil and tried to plant them in the Manoa Valley. He didn’t fail as badly.

Actually, he kind of succeeded.

In 1836, the first commercial operation started in Koloa on the island of Kauai. Shortly thereafter, more than 1,000 acres of coffee were planted on Kauai.

In the 1980s, when sugarcane ceased being profitable, many of the cane plantations switched to coffee, kick-starting the current boom period of coffee growing across the state.

Today, coffee is a huge business in Hawaii

Despite the slow start, coffee is now a hugely important crop for the state of Hawaii. Though all of the islands were created by volcanoes, they each have unique climates and geography.

As a result, there are a bunch of different coffee varietals grown in the state, of which Kona is just one (though arguably the best).

I’ve seen this Kona stuff at Target, right?

Not quite.

First of all, the typical “Kona coffee” you find at your local Target or Walmart is of average specialty (and probably not real Kona coffee at all).

Kona coffee is grown in a small strip of land on the western coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, shown in red below.

There isn’t much of this stuff on the market. As a result, most of the Kona coffee you see is watered down with cheaper beans or isn’t even Kona at all.

The best Kona Coffee is sold farm-direct.

What does Kona coffee taste like?

Many folks think Kona coffee has a strong, roasted flavor. This is understandable. Black, oily coffee looks great in magazine advertisements and coffee canisters, but it tastes like it looks–burnt.

When treated with the respect it deserves, Kona coffee is unparalleled in flavor and deserving of its lofty price tag.

While the taste varies slightly from farm to farm, all Kona coffee beans produce a brew that’s rich, mellow, smooth, and full of flavor.

Let me tell you about the first time I drank a cup of Kona coffee. I’ll narrate this in second person so you can feel like you’re there.

Your first Kona coffee experience

With a fresh-brewed cup of Kona coffee in front of you, the first thing you notice is the sweet fragrance that the brew exudes.

You tilt the cup towards your lips. It’s sweet and rich at first taste but not overpowering. More subtle than anything. Then comes nutty, honey-like notes accompanied by flavors like caramel, butter, and cocoa.

Being naturally low in acidity, it’s gentle on your stomach and smooth on your palate.

While you bask in all of the savory glory of the nectar of the Hawaiian Gods, you also notice that there is a lingering aftertaste of citrus and nuttiness that’s both bitter and sweet. If you weren’t already sitting, you are now.

Physically speaking, you don’t get the jittery over-caffeinated feeling either. In fact, well-roasted Kona does the opposite to you, making you feel lively and rejuvenated.

This is the good stuff. If only you broke college students could afford it.

What makes Kona coffee, well, Kona coffee?

There are a couple big factors.

Environment

The volcanic slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa in the Kona district provide an ideal climate for growing coffee.

What makes this region so unique?

• Soft, sunny mornings
• Afternoon cloud-cover provides shade when the sun is beating down hardest
• Porous, mineral-rich volcanic soil allows optimal draining and nutrition
• Cool nights that never get too cold

Few places in the world have growing conditions like Kona.

Processing

Kona coffee farmers work really hard compared to coffee farmers in other regions.

Like, really hard.

From late-August to late-January, farmers toil in pursuit of the ripe red coffee cherry. Farms are carefully tended and coffee cherries are picked by hand.

Note: Coffee cherries don’t taste like either coffee or cherries and, speaking from experience, I recommend you DON’T try to find out what they taste like for yourself.

Trees will be picked several times throughout the year as not all cherries ripen at the same time.

Within 24 hours of picking, the cherry is run through a pulper. The beans are separated from the pulp and placed in a fermentation tank overnight. Fermentation takes roughly 12 hours at lower elevations or 24 hours at higher elevations.

The beans are rinsed and spread to dry on a hoshidana, or drying rack.

Traditional hoshidanas have a rolling roof to cover the beans in rain. It takes 7-14 days to dry beans to an optimal moisture level.

From here, the beans are stored as a parchment. The parchment is milled off the green bean prior to roasting or wholesale.

100% Kona coffee vs Kona coffee blend

Under the guise of selling cheaper alternatives (due to the expensive nature of Kona coffee), some retailers sell “Kona Blends.” These retailers want to use the Kona name because of its reputation.

Note: These blends are not combinations of different Kona beans; they’re a blend of foreign coffees with Kona. If the blend has at least 10% authentic Kona coffee, it can still call itself a “Kona blend.”

Current Hawaiian law requires blends to state only the percentage of Kona coffee, but not the origins of the other 90%. To be considered pure, authentic Kona coffee, Hawaiian laws require the roast to display “100% Kona Coffee” in huge, bold letters.

And people still pay good money for these mystery Kona blends. Even quality Colombian coffee at specialty coffee shops is often $9 per pound. Kona blends online and in airports are often $18 per pound or more.

Don’t be fooled into buying a “Kona blend.”

Pro Tip: If you want to blend Kona coffee, either for taste preferences or to save money, buy 100% Kona coffee and any other bean you like. Then, blend them yourself so you know exactly what you’re getting.

Kona coffee is graded by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture

What’s the difference between high-quality and merely “meh” coffee? The Hawaii Department of Agriculture has some guidelines that roasters must abide by.

This chart by Kona Coffee and Tea does a great job explaining it.

A note about peaberry coffee

Kona beans are classified according to seed. Namely, Type 1 and Type 2 (very creative).

Type 1 beans

Type I beans consist of two beans per cherry: one side flat, the other oval. Extra Fancy, Fancy, Number 1, Select, and Prime fall under this classification.

Type 2 beans

Type II beans, also known as peaberry because of their shape, consist of one round bean per cherry.

Read more about peaberry coffee beans here.