Hawaiian Kona Coffee at Sweet Maria’s

It’s been some time since we stocked Kona coffee … but finally we have a classic Hawaiian coffee for sale!

KonaKona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii: Kona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island... ...more Coffee is grown on the western slopes of the Big Island of HawaiiThe Kona district on the big island of Hawaii produces the best coffee from this state - clean, sweet and mild. : Ah, Hawaii... what a nice place.... ...more near the active volcanoes Mauna Loa and Hualalai. That’s where you’ll find Pam and Ted Darnall’s coffee estateA "coffee estate" is used to imply a farm that has its own processing facility, a wet-mill. In Spanish this is called an Hacienda. A Finca (farm) does... ...more, above the small coastal village of Holualoa.

It’s been a long time since Sweet Maria’s stocked small-farm Kona coffee … or any Hawaiian coffee. One of the reasons was that many small farms were successful selling their coffee direct to customers. But even a small farm needs diverse outlets for their coffee, especially a successful and focused operation.

We were really happy when the Darnalls reached out to us and suggested we meet up and talk Kona. Ted told us straight up “Sweet Maria’s is great but seems like you’re missing something! ” That is, Ted and Pam’s Kona coffee! (Link: Hawaiian coffee at Sweet Maria’s).

The 42 acre Darnall estate (Kona Crown) is planted in TypicaA coffee cultivar; a cross between Typica and Bourbon, originally grown in Brazil: Mundo Novo is a commercial coffee cultivar; a natural hybrid between "Sumatra" and Red Bourbon,... ...more, a varietyA botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies... ...more 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 GuatemalaGuatemalan coffee is considered a top quality coffee producer in Central America. Due to our proximity to Guatemala, some of the nicest coffees from this origin come to... ...more, coffee was first introduced to Kona in the 1820’s from BrazilBrazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra sang, "they grow an awful lot of coffee in Brazil".: Brazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra... ...more.

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 direct approach, establishing the “Darnall Estate” name by managing the harvest and processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural... ...more themselves.

The Darnall’s coffee has the kind of well-balanced sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly... ...more, and moderately bright flavors we look for in wet processWet-processing starts by removing the outer skin of the coffee cherry with a machine called a pulper, then fermenting the remaining fruit (with green bean inside) in water... ...more 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.

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What’s the story behind Kona coffee?

At one time it was easy to be a bit cynical about Hawaiian coffee.  It’s value was not intrinsic, not due to its flavor quality, the fact it tasted good.  It had value by association: folks had a nice vacation and wanted to bring something back to relive their Aloha experience.! 

While that still may be the case (and there is certainly low quality coffee sold to tourists in this manner), there are also many people dedicated to making Hawaiian coffee taste as good as the high price suggests it should be!

The range of coffee wrapped in a bag that reads “Hawaii” is still there … it could be fine small farm Kona, or it could be an old  roast of “Kona blend” that is more suited to serve in a gas station!  The best Hawaiian coffees cost a lot and the worst cost way too much. 

Classic Hawaiian coffee is mild and balanced. Don’t expect fireworks. It’s a charming and subtle coffee when processed in the traditional wet-process method. For small-farm coffees from the big island, Kona in particular, medium roasts show mild cocoa and nut flavors, caramelized sugars, a slight acidic snap to the cup, medium bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all... ...more and a clean finishSimilar to aftertaste, but it refers to the impression as the coffee leaves the palate. Aftertaste is the sensations gathered after the coffee has left the mouth. We... ...more. Sweetness balances out bittering tones, and Kona coffees can really pop as single-origin espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is... ...more!

The Hawaii Kona Value Proposition

Good Hawaiian coffee is expensive. The reason has as much to do with the dynamics of small-scale farming as it does with producing any product in the United States … things cost more. In particular, finding good workers and paying them well is expensive. And of course it’s well worth it to create good jobs and to hold onto good people in a competitive job market. But it means the final product is going to cost more.

If people aren’t framing the Hawaiian coffee value proposition right, they may expect that, based on price alone, a Hawaiian coffee should taste 5x better than some other originIn coffee talk, it refers to a coffee-producing region or country; such as, "I was just at origin." Of course "Origin" for most product we use is not... ...more. (Whatever 5x better means in regards to taste!?)

That person will be disappointed … and it’s a shame because while Kona or other classic wet-process Hawaiian coffee might not set off an explosion on your pallet, it’s a wonderful charming mild coffee. It’s not the loudest but it’s awfully pretty. When did that become a bad thing?

If you do want a classic, clean-cupping Hawaiian coffee to speak to you a bit louder, a great idea is single-origin espresso. I’ve always been impressed with how all those subtle characteristics in a Kona get punched-up when you run it through an espresso machine! (Tip, dose up slightly … when we use 18 gr for other coffees, 19.5 is great for Darnall Estate Kona). And I can say that the crew here, including a few first rate baristas, were really impressed with their first-ever Kona espresso!

Kona coffee is a treat, and other efforts in Hawaii with alternate processing and varieties of coffee are producing very interesting, non-traditional coffee experiences that are well worth exploring.