Some of the fattest coffee beans we’ve seen in Kona come from the Holualoa Mauka appellation. The Kona Lea Plantation is a fine example of this. Pictured here is their dark roast product, but they also have a very nice medium. These are premium beans, big and uniform. The dark roast is a bit too dark for our taste, though we recognize that others prefer it. We find the burned flavor masks any fruit that was available and the real taste of the terroir.

The medium roast carries the characteristics of Holualoa coffee very well with an understated fruit and a strong earth that represents a sense of place with the rocky lack of soil.

A rather unique feature when ordering coffee from this company, in addition to selecting the roast you can select whether it is air roasted or drum roasted.

At a price point of $47.00 per pound this seems steep – but they do throw in shipping so not all that bad.

Their tasting room is open to the public so no need to call ahead. See their website for hours.

http://www.konalea.com/