Best Place in Kona to get 100% Kona Coffee?

[EviesCruisin]

Any recommendations for where to find great 100% Kona coffee near the harbor where NCL will dock? My fiancee' can't wait to get his hands on the stuff - last time he was in Hawaii he got fooled by a 10% Kona Coffee. Hehe :D Thanks!!

[Molokai-Chuck]

ABC stores and Hilo Hatties have a good selection at fair prices. Also, there is a Wal-Mart shuttle that comes to the pier at Kona.

At the Kauai pier a shuttle from K-Mart is on scene.

 

Chuck

[LARGIN]

ABC stores and Hilo Hatties have a good selection at fair prices. Also, there is a Wal-Mart shuttle that comes to the pier at Kona.

At the Kauai pier a shuttle from K-Mart is on scene.

 

Chuck

 

Chuck.. In Kona, is the Costco near Walmart? If not, how far away??

[Molokai-Chuck]

That question would be best answered by SweetEmi.....she is right there in Kona! Hope she sees this, so you get a good answer.

 

Chuck

[iamanoak]

If you have a car, Costco is just a 10 minute drive away Walmart. Otherwise... well, I have never walked that distance but 10 minutes at ~20mph...

[dsclark]

I am a coffee enthusiast. I wake up with the help of my Gaggia super auto. This machine grinds and packs the grounds, then shoots pressurized hot water for espresso, then froths the milk, for a mocha way better than any corner coffee shack.

I have tried many a bean and I concur with some way better coffee tongues than my own in saying that Kona is over rated!

Kona is a mild tasting coffee, so yeah, it comes up with a disadvantage when brewed like espresso. My local roaster won't roast kona dark for this reason.

Kona does taste nice, but there are a lot of other cheaper coffees that taste better (like some Costa Rica beans..hmmm!).

If you see it for more than $16 a lb, that's way too much as the local Traders Joes will sell you pure Kona for $16. My local roaster also sells it for that price.

If you get kona, check the experation date, even if it is whole bean. WHole bean goes stale, just like canned toasted bread! FWIW, although I feel that Kona is a little overated, I think Jamaican is super dee duper overated (ick!). Some of the best coffee in the world is coming from central America (Costa Rica, Guatamala, etc).

If your are just dumping the coffee into a Mr Coffee (or something similar), then the quality of the bean will make little difference, as these machines are great at removing flavor. Where does the flavor go? It goes into the air (that explains that smell)!

[spleen93]

I think saying that Kona is over-rated may be a little harsh. Kona is considered one of the gourmet coffees of the world. While it may not be to your taste, it is a very smooth full flavored coffee which many people like. Other people may prefer a darker roast - Sumatra or other coffee beans may be a better match.

 

As always, drink what you prefer -- it's a very individual taste thing. Similar to wine. Though I don't hear too many people saying that Chateau Lafitte Rothschild or Opus One is over-rated.

 

Spleen

[Host Karen]

I must also disagree with dsclark re: Kona coffee. The best coffee I've ever tasted was purchased at a coffee plantation on Kona: Mountain Thunder. My favorite is the Organic Vienna Roast. I don't know if it's available in any of the local stores, but it can be ordered from the website at www.mountainthunder.com. In my opinion, this Kona coffee exceeded my expectations -- and I was expecting pretty good coffee.

 

As Spleen notes, though, to each their own.

[dsclark]

Could you identify Kona coffee from others in a blind taste test? Part of Kona's alure is not the quality, but the local. Here is a ranking of the top 12 coffees for 2004 from coffeereview.com:

Top Twelve Coffees of 2004

 

Rank Rating Roaster Coffee

1 95 Bucks County Coffee Roasters Kenya AA, 2003 Crop

2 94 Thanksgiving Coffee Nicaragua Maracatura Organic

3 94 Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea El Salvador Montecarlos

4 93 Terroir Select Coffees Nicaragua Madriz

5 94 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Kenya AA

6 92 Stumptown Coffee Roasters El Salvador Las Nubitas

7 93 Paradise Roasters Espresso

8 92 Flying Goat Coffee Espresso Ticino

9 93 Bucks County Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

10 92 Bayview Farm Kona Extra Fancy

11 92 Terroir Select Coffees Brazil Daterra Farm, Northern Italian Espresso

12 91 The Supreme Bean Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

For the Kona Extra Fancy, it noteswL

"• Finally, the Kona Extra Fancy from Bayview Farms at 92 proves again that, despite the conviction among many coffee professionals that Hawaii Konas do not live up to their sand-and-sun-driven reputation, the finest Konas from the best mills and farms in fact are well able to hold their sensory own against the best coffees from the rest of the world."

 

Mind you, that Kona is the second most expensive coffee in the world and there are coffees that cost almost half as much, yet score higher. Also note that coffee roasters are noted. The Kona beans from a roaster can be quite different from you simply get off a supermarket shelf. Even if you are buying something that claims "100% Kona", you don't know if the coffee was allowed time to breathe (give up gasses post roasting), or simply dumped straight into a bag (like Starbucks). Also, freshness will be questionable. Beans are like bread- do you buy your bread pretoasted, out of can? That's one reason I'll only buy from a roaster, unless I roast it myself. Lastily, a few years ago, there was a scandal where cental american beans were being passed off as "kona". I heard they have taken steps to prevent this from happening again. Also, Kona is coffee that is grown on the big Island. There is also coffee available from Kaui and Molokai, but they can't be called Kona. The Molokai I had was similar to Kona, but cost $3 a pound less.

[Host Karen]

dsclark, perhaps you missed my closing comment. Personally, I couldn't be less interested in any list of the "top coffees" of any year -- unless it's a list of the "top wines" of any year. I like what I like regardless of whether it appears on some list -- especially when it's compiled by "experts." Experts don't know what I like, and I'm not particularly interested in what they like. So, I stand by MY OPINION that the best coffee I've ever tasted is Mountain Thunder. Perhaps it's not on the "top coffees" list because the experts haven't discovered it yet. :D

 

Karen

[Suebee]

I think saying that Kona is over-rated may be a little harsh. Kona is considered one of the gourmet coffees of the world.

Spleen

 

 

Spleen, I have to add that every time I have bought Kona labeled 100% at Hilo Hatties or some other discount way has been horrible. I do not believe in the $10 bag of Kona coffee. If I only drink Kona once a year, to me, its worth spending the money and getting the good stuff. We may only drink it at holidays now, but it really is the best coffee (to me!) when you make th effort to find good quality beans.

 

So I say, if youre coming all this way, or if youre tight on money, dont get coffee as a souvenier for other people....go to a good grower or shop, sample, sample, sample, and buy a really good bag for yourself!

 

JMO!

[spleen93]

Suebee - I'd have to agree. The cheaper grades of Kona are not as good as the top tier. Even "100% Kona" doesn't necessarily ensure good coffee. And dsclark makes a good point that coffee that's grown on Maui, Molokai, or Kauai (or Oahu for that matter) will have similar taste characteristics as Kona but won't be allowed to be called Kona. I think it's important for people to drink what they like and not be so worried about specifically where a coffee is from and what the price is. Once again, similar to wine. But USUALLY there's a reason why expensive wine (and coffee) is expensive - because it has a certain amount of quallity - not to say that cheaper ones can't be as good or better than the expensive stuff.

 

Spleen

[SweetEmi]

Let's see...I think the Costco question was answered. Definately not within walking distance of Kona town....but if you rent a car - you'll more than likely be shuttled to the airport and back again...on your way back to the airport to drop off the car - try to fill up at Costco - it's much cheaper than anywhere else but there is a line at almost any time of day.

 

Also between town and Costco is the MacPie factory - stop there for a sample and get some shipped home if you like - it is yummmy!!!

 

I think there is a coffee place there but don't quote me.

 

Now, right by the pier in town in Kona - there are a couple of places to buy Kona coffee in small shops - one is Surfin Ass - which is where the stop sign is between the pier and the Hard Rock Cafe, etc. Very near the pier is a shop on the opposite side of the street but I forget what coffee grower sells there. At Huggos there is usually a cart that sells Ferrari Coffee. Oh...and there is a place called Lava Java that sells coffee.

 

Hope that helps!!

Emi

[Suebee]

On Maui, in Lahaina, there was Bad Ass coffee. And in Haleiwa on Oahu's north shore there is a nice coffee shop where you can sample many kinds of beans but the name fails me. It is in the North Shore Marketplace next to Cholos (Mexican Restaurant)

[beachchick]

Spleen, I have to add that every time I have bought Kona labeled 100% at Hilo Hatties or some other discount way has been horrible. I do not believe in the $10 bag of Kona coffee. If I only drink Kona once a year, to me, its worth spending the money and getting the good stuff. We may only drink it at holidays now, but it really is the best coffee (to me!) when you make th effort to find good quality beans.

 

So I say, if youre coming all this way, or if youre tight on money, dont get coffee as a souvenier for other people....go to a good grower or shop, sample, sample, sample, and buy a really good bag for yourself!

 

JMO!

 

I completely agree. We've never bought "discount" Kona coffee beans. What would be the point? We've had great fun tasting around the Kona area. In fact, we were surprised (in a good way) at how smooth and rich the dark roasts tasted. I disagree that high quality Kona can't or shouldn't be dark roasted. We found several that were good, and 2 that were fantastic. We like strong coffee, but can't stand it when the beans are overroasted or brewed improperly. I wouldn't say we're coffee "snobs"--we just like the good stuff.

 

Frankly, if you are paying less than $20/lb (and that's the minimum I would even consider), you are probably getting either inferior grades or not 100% Kona (no matter what the label says). In the case of Kona coffee, you really get what you pay for, IMO. (Same probably goes for the Jamaican coffee. I've seen posts where people have mentioned getting this for $12/lb in the "discount" store--sure, it's coffee and it's on Jamaica, but that's probably as close as it comes. I've never had this coffee and have no idea what I would think about it. I do know that if I ever bought some it would be at the coffee plantation and I would pay lots of $$$.) I love Trader Joe's for many things, but does anyone really think that the Kona they get in is the very top quality available? There's a reason it's cheap. I expect to pay $30/lb (sometimes more) for the very best dark roasted Kona coffee available. If it means we only get 1 lb and have it for special occasions, fine. I want the good stuff or none at all. :D

 

beachchick

[dsclark]

I love Trader Joe's for many things, but does anyone really think that the Kona they get in is the very top quality available? There's a reason it's cheap. I expect to pay $30/lb (sometimes more) for the very best dark roasted Kona coffee available. If it means we only get 1 lb and have it for special occasions, fine. I want the good stuff or none at all. :D

 

beachchick

 

I would agree with all with except the price part. My local roaster sells Kona for the same price as TJ, or, if you want to roast the beans yourself, they'll knock off a buck.

The roasting the key- when someone says that they went to a coffee plantation and tasted the best coffee that they have ever had, I don't doubt them. Chances are, they are used to drinking substandard coffee. At this point, anything freshly roasted, whether from HI or Kenya, will be the best tasting coffee they have ever had. If you don't roast your own beans or buy from a good roaster, sorry, you're drinking stale coffee. Supermarket? Stale. Starbucks? They are the worst roasters. Also, you don't have to be a coffee expert to appreciate the difference between freshly roasted beans and what comes in a can. The best grill cheese is not made with bread that was toasted three months ago and sealed in a can- the best coffee is not made from roasted long ago beans.Ideally, if you really, really want the best beans from Kona, you'll find someone who sells 100% Kona green beans. They'll keep forever and you can roast them whenever you need them.

As for TJ, there stuff does have a high turnover, so there is hope that the Kona would be fresh. Back in college, I used to a be a delivery person for their first supplier of salsa and I used to go to their main warehouse in Pasadena twice a week. They really do move things quickly!

I have never personally roasted Kona beans, but my roaster said that Kona didn't lend itself to dark roast. He experimented with different roasts until he got it right.But, if you roast, you can decide what you like best.

[SweetEmi]

Peaberry is the top quality coffee...try looking for that.

 

Emi

[nic]

Do you know where we can purchase Mac-pie in Honolulu?

[Suebee]

Dukes

[dsclark]

Peaberry is the top quality coffee...try looking for that.

 

Emi

 

Tanzania Peaberry? I have had that. It's rather hard to find, at least for me. I found a small roaster in Arcata, CA who had some. That stuff is pretty darn good . I was just thinking about that the other day...

Here are some reviews of Tanzania coffee:

http://www.coffeereview.com/allreviews.cfm?find=tanzania

[SweetEmi]

Well, actually since we were talking mostly about Kona coffee - that is what I was referring to - but I believe peaberry is the "best" of the crop of coffee.

 

While in Kona - you can go to the MacPie Factory and buy it straight from them!! or I'm sure they are online too. I believe some Costcos have them on the islands too?? yeah??

 

Emi

[beachchick]

Just for the record, we don't buy grocery store coffee. We buy from one of 3 local roasters or when we go to the Bay Area from a couple of roasters there. We also think Starbucks is inferior--bitter, burnt, it's just not good, IMO.

 

I'm not sure I'd say that the coffee we tasted at the plantations in Kona was the best I've ever had. That's something that is hard to define--it's like wine, I don't want the same thing everyday.

 

dsclark: In answer to your previous question, yes I could probably tell a good dark roast Kona in a blind taste. It's apparent that you feel Kona coffee is inferior. Fine, we get that. Please stop chastising those of us who like it as somehow not as "good" a coffee drinker as you. I am not convinced that your local roasters get the very best Kona either. Perhaps that's why it isn't that great; I'm not saying the roaster isn't good, but even a good roaster can only do so much with a bean. A substantial amount of the quality beans seem to be roasted in Hawaii. Mind you, this is just my opinion. You are certainly entitled to your own.

 

beachchick

[Retired not Expired]

I, for one, have always enjoyed Kona coffee. However, good coffee, like good wine, is in the taste buds of the drinker. And many things can change your sense of taste. A recent food you've eaten can change it temporarily. Medicines you take can alter it a great deal. A couple years ago the mere smell of bread would make me gag. Putting it in my mouth would make me sick. After a couple months, we figured out my body was low on zinc. Taking a zinc suppliment let me enjoy bread again. Many people like artificial sweeteners but they always leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

 

Like wine, cheap or expensive, find a coffee you like and drink it. I've had good and bad coffee in restaraunts, planes, and on cruise ships and few of those, good or bad, were fresh roasted custom blends. Like the old cajun cook on TV use to say. "What is the best wine to drink? The one you like". With food, drink, movies, etc., I never worry about what "EXPERTS" say.

 

Being an old retired military man, I have to say I'm one of those never far from a cup of coffee. I always tell people you can tell someone who's been in the military. Put them at the top of some stairs with a full cup of coffee and shove them down the stairs. If they hit bottom without spilling a drop, they've been in the military. If they drink that sucker going down, they were lifers.

 

Dog gone you people, now I'm craving a cup of Kona.

[Suebee]

 

Being an old retired military man, I have to say I'm one of those never far from a cup of coffee. I always tell people you can tell someone who's been in the military. Put them at the top of some stairs with a full cup of coffee and shove them down the stairs. If they hit bottom without spilling a drop, they've been in the military. If they drink that sucker going down, they were lifers.

 

Dog gone you people, now I'm craving a cup of Kona.

 

HA HA! You've pegged my husband! We have 3 coffee makers in the house right now....two are side by side on the counter depending on what we are planning on drinking that day. I think we are still in search that Do-it-all maker we can agree on! :D

[Retired not Expired]

HA HA! You've pegged my husband! We have 3 coffee makers in the house right now....two are side by side on the counter depending on what we are planning on drinking that day. I think we are still in search that Do-it-all maker we can agree on! :D

 

Thanks Suebee. As much as I enjoy a cup of Kona, it's not something I seek to have here in the Ozarks. Some food and drink, I reserve having until that special time and place. To me, Kona coffee is best enjoyed feeling the tropical breeze, hearing the waves break, and watching the sun rise or set while in the islands. That makes it even more special and something I would not like to delute and gives me one more reason to return.

 

I've also been known to arise VERY early and drive 1100 miles in one day to get to a little hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico for a Mexican dinner when traveling west. Just a place I know and enjoy. I just don't like to make special things routine.

 

BTW, I want to thank you and Sleen for your inputs on here. Although I've been fortunate to visit over there a number of times, I still look to both of your inputs as I still learn alot from you.