Hawaii Kona – Kowali Farm Typica

Rating:

Green is good. And Green Kona beans are in my opinion a pleasure worth its weight in gold. During my previous foray into the world of green coffee bean roasting, I stumbled upon an excellent source for green coffee beans — Sweet Maria’s.

Many moons ago, during an idyllic trip to Maui, I had my first cup of Kona coffee. It was silky and smooth, and the perfect start to each day. With that in mind, I knew I just had to buy some green Kona beans, and not the blended stuff, the real deal.

So off I went to Sweet Maria’s to see what they had to offer. The information I found was abundant and a bit intimidating. Brightness, Flavor, Depth, Finish.. everything you wanted to know about beans but were afraid to ask. Sweet Maria’s offers an excellent page to learn about all of this and more in this excellent write up.

I ultimately chose beans from the Kowali Farm. According to Sweet Maria’s this coffee is grown on a 12 acre Kona farm, and has received frequent accolades as one of the top ten coffees in Kona. I also appreciated that Sweet Maria’s went on to indicated that the farm uses no pesticides and is 100% hand picked. The full review can be seen here.

So how was it?

As I filled the press with hot water, a bubbly crema like foam appears on the top, the smell was divine and I had the crazed look of Gollum from Lord of the Rings in my eye and could swear I heard “My precious…” in my head as I eyed the French Press.A select group of associates were gathered for the tasting. As we sat around the press, watching it, wondering what it would be like we I started to ramble about Sweet Maria’s and how much fun it was to roast these beans. At some point I was asked what this cost. One pound of these beans ran me $16.00 plus shipping, all told, it cost $22.00 — the most expensive pound of coffee I have purchased to date.

That being said, our expectations were quite high. After what seemed like ages, it was ready. I carefully pushed the plunger down and the grounds descended into the nether region of the press and poured the first cup…

I could see the exuded oils swirling on the surface of the cup. The aroma filled my senses and had a slight floral undertone. The coffee had a full, slightly sweet taste, it was not bitter in any sense of the word. It was naturally creamy, and to be quite honest tasted great on its own without the addition of any cream or sugar.

I would highly recommend this Kona. Sweet Maria’s review was spot on and I am really glad I gave this coffee a try. While expensive, its well worth the money.