From Farm to Cup

Our Coffee Growing Process

Our coffee is grown on 8 acres at 2400 ft. elevation in the heart of the Kona Coffee Belt. Every afternoon, clouds and often also a thick fog rolls into the coffee orchard. Although not technically shaded by trees like orchards in other parts of the world, our coffee is in fact shade grown, on account of these features of our local climate.

The growing season is year-round, with harvest spanning from mid-August through April. Is is a long harvest season for anywhere in the world, Kona included, which is due mostly to our high elevation. In fact, our harvest season is so long that the coffee trees flower for the next year’s crop while beans from the current harvest year are still on the tree (sometimes on the same branch!). This long growing season allows our beans to mature more slowly and increases their natural sugars, which can enhance the flavor of the coffee.

As our coffee ripens during the harvest season, it is hand-picked, ensuring that only the ripest coffee makes it to the end cup.

Innovative Processing

After harvest, we process our coffee using two methods: washed process and natural process

Washed processed (also called “wet process”) coffee is what most people would consider “normal” coffee: it is where the skin and fruit of the coffee are washed off the bean before sun drying for at least two weeks.

Natural Processed (also called "dry processed") coffee is coffee that has been dried with the fruit and skins intact. It's referred to as "natural" because of its simplicity, and because the fruit remains intact and undisturbed, a bit like drying grapes into raisins. Our natural process coffee is much sweeter and fruitier than our standard washed processed coffee. That big difference in flavor is what makes offering a natural processed coffee worthwhile, as natural processing is very labor and time intensive. It takes double the drying time of our washed process and has to be hand sorted for defects. This year we produced only 250 pounds of natural—so order some before it's gone!

Barrel-Aged Coffees

Our barrel-aged coffees are all our washed processed coffee that’s ‘aged’ in empty alcohol barrels before roasting. This year, we have three barrel-aged coffees: Hawaiian golden rum, Kentucky bourbon, and petit verdot. These coffees are alcohol free, as any trace amounts of alcohol are burned off in the roast. They do have quite a strong alcohol taste though, so we recommend them for after-dinner coffee or as pairing with specific desserts or other beverages. They are also great for holidays!

Specialty Roasting

All of our coffee is roasted by me (Kate), and we roast to order for maximum freshness in a two pound Sonofresco Fluid Bed Roaster. We roast to order because freshness is so crucial for good coffee, and it’s important to us that all of our customers experience our coffee at its best. After roasting, we package our coffee in heat-sealed bags with a valve to release gas.

A great coffee can be elevated or ruined in the roast, so thoughtful and meticulous roasting is paramount to us. We have five roast profiles for our washed process, ranging from a light roast (just past the ‘first crack’) to a dark, oily Italian roast. If you are not sure which roast you’ll like best, we have a tasting gift pack so you can taste test them all!

Because our coffee is roasted to order, we can also custom roast. If you would like to order a roast we don’t offer, send me an email, and I will work with you to roast something you’ll love.

raves & Reviews from our happy customers