Hawaii Kona Coffee Brand - Introduction to Hawaii Kona Bay View Estate BAY View Extra Fancy

FrontStreet Coffee - Hawaii Kona Bay View Extra Fancy Introduction

Hawaii's famous coffee is Kona. The trees are planted along the slopes of the Mauna Loa and Hualalai volcanoes, at cultivation altitudes of 800 to 2000 feet. Hawaii's particular climate gives sunny, hot mornings and then afternoon cloud cover that provides natural shade. Because Hawaii has a tropical island climate that stays warm year-round, frost is never a possibility. Hawaii is also free of the pests and diseases that trouble other origins, so its coffee trees yield more per acre than anywhere else in the world. The coffee is graded by size, shape and quantity of defects.

Kona has always been farmed on a family model. At first only men were allowed to work the plantations, but later women joined as well. Hawaiian families preferred to rely on their own labor rather than hire workers, which is why households with eight or nine children were once normal. Over time new immigrants arrived from the Philippines, the mainland United States and Europe to grow coffee in Hawaii. Hawaii eventually developed a social culture centered on the family while remaining open to outside influences — one of its distinctive features.

Hawaii Kona Bay View Extra Fancy

Quality grade: Extra Fancy

Roasting level: Medium-dark roast recommended (High Roast or City Roast)

Grade: Excellent

Bean size: ★★★★ Relatively plump

Acidity: ★★ Slightly acidic

Balance: ★★★★ Relatively stable

Flavor: Smooth, aromatic, with a captivating nutty fragrance

Coffee region: Hawaii Kona District

Green bean processing: Washed

Flavor profile: Rich fruit sweetness and a delicate nutty aroma greet you on opening the bag. On tasting, cream-like rich oils give an exceptionally smooth, delicate mouthfeel. Refreshing, faintly cool vanilla-plant aromatics fill the nasal cavity, with clean, bright, saliva-inducing fruit sweetness and an acidity that never irritates. The aftertaste's sweetness and fruit aroma are remarkably persistent, and the fruit acidity and aroma after swallowing spread through the whole mouth.

Brewing recommendation: Suitable for any brewing method

Knowledge Point: Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee. Its coffee is planted on five main islands of the archipelago: Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, Kauai and Molokai.

In Brief: FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research center, happy to share coffee knowledge. Its sharing is entirely intended to help more people fall in love with coffee. It holds three coffee discount events each month, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to provide the best coffee at the lowest prices to more drinkers. That has been the mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Kona's smooth, balanced, low-acid character is the hallmark of a well-judged medium roast, and FrontStreet Coffee's medium-roast lineup follows the same logic: roast dark enough to round off the acidity, light enough to keep the sweetness and aroma intact. The Brazil Queen's Estate is a good example — a Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, roasted medium to bring out creamy peanut, chocolate, toasted bread and sugarcane sweetness, easy to brew as pour-over, in a moka pot or on an espresso machine.

For a sweeter, fruit-led medium roast, the Strawberry Candy Geisha blend pairs a Costa Rican honey-processed coffee with a Panamanian washed Geisha, producing both orange-blossom honey and a rounded sweetness that suits cold brew, pour-over and espresso alike. FrontStreet's 2013 Sun-Dried Typica, from Yunnan, is roasted medium for a gentle, balanced cup of nuts, brown sugar, black tea and dried apricot, and for the classic balanced profile, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is roasted medium so its acid, bitter, sweet and full notes fuse into chocolate, roasted nut, cream and caramel — the same even, approachable character that makes Kona so widely liked.