Hawaii Kona Coffee Bean Grading System_How to Brew Kona Coffee Beans_Kona Coffee Bean Price

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Hawaiian Kona Coffee

Hawaiian Kona coffee is an Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) grown on the main island of Hawaii. It takes its name from its main growing area, on the slopes of the Hualalai and Mauna Loa volcanoes in the South and North Kona districts. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world today, and only coffee produced in the Kona district may be called "Kona coffee."

History

Coffee trees were first brought to the Kona district by Samuel Reverend Ruggles in 1828.

Specifically, Ruggles brought the first trees from Brazil as cuttings in 1828. The British merchant Henry Nicholas Greenwell later moved to the Kona district and established "Kona coffee" as the commercial name for locally produced coffee in the late 19th century.

Hawaiian Kona Coffee Grading System

Famous Hawaiian Kona coffee is divided mainly into Type 1 and Type 2, with several grades under each category.

Type 1 refers to regular flat beans, while Type 2 consists of pea-berry round beans.

Thanks to the excellent processing of Kona coffee, all the grades described below qualify as specialty coffee.

Type 1

Kona Extra Fancy

• (1) Bean size: diameter greater than or equal to 19/64 inch
• (2) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (3) Defective beans: fewer than 10

Kona Fancy

• (1) Bean size: diameter greater than or equal to 18/64 inch
• (2) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (3) Defective beans: fewer than 16

Kona Number One

• (1) Bean size: diameter greater than or equal to 16/64 inch
• (2) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (3) Defective beans: fewer than 20

Kona Prime Grade

• (1) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (2) Defective beans: by weight, no more than 25%
• Fermented beans and black beans must not exceed 5% of total weight

Type 2

Kona Number One Pea-Berry

• (1) Bean size: diameter greater than or equal to 10/64 inch
• (2) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (3) Defective beans: fewer than 20

Kona Prime Pea-Berry

• (1) Moisture content: 9%–12%
• (2) Defective beans: by weight, no more than 25%
• Fermented beans and black beans must not exceed 5% of total weight

Hawaiian Kona Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Hawaiian Kona beans offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide extremely high value. A 100-gram package costs only 120 yuan; at 15 g per cup of single-origin coffee, one package makes 6 cups, so each cup costs only about 20 yuan. That is exceptional value compared with cafe prices that often exceed 100 yuan per cup.

FrontStreet Coffee: A Guangzhou-based roastery with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, offering both famous and lesser-known beans, as well as online store services: https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kona is prized for its balance, and if that balanced, low-acid style appeals to you, Brazil is a great everyday alternative. FrontStreet's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic single-origin: a half-sun-dried bean from the well-known Cerrado region, medium-roasted to deliver creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a rounded, low-acid body and a touch of bitterness. It works for pour-over, moka pot, siphon, French press, and espresso.

FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon, from Mogiana near South Minas, is a rarer yellow Bourbon with cleaner fruit character and a sugarcane sweetness, plus fruit and chocolate notes. Brazilian beans also anchor many of FrontStreet's espresso blends—the Classic Blend, the nutty Premium Blend, the balanced Black Cocoa Blend, and the shop-focused Commercial Blend—where they add chocolate and cream aromas along with a soft, balanced sweet-tart-bitter profile.