• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Coffee Review

The World's Leading Coffee Guide

Advanced Search

  • Reviews
    • Latest Reviews
    • Top-Rated (94+)
    • Espressos
    • Best Values
    • Top 30 Coffees of 2021
    • Taiwan Coffees – 台灣送評的咖啡豆
    • Pods and Capsules
    • Reviews by U.S. City
    • Green/Unroasted
    • Advanced Search
  • Reports
    • Latest Reports
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia-Pacific
    • Espressos
    • Annual Top 30
    • Processing Method
    • Social/Environmental
    • Tree Variety
    • Blends
  • Equipment
    • The New Fellow Ode Brew Grinder
    • Mid-Range Burr Coffee Grinders
    • Electric Gooseneck Kettles
    • Interpreting Equipment Ratings
  • Journal
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
    • How Coffee Review Works
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Kenneth Davids
    • Our Team
    • Our Advertisers
    • Our Sponsors
    • Learn
      • Interpreting Coffee Reviews
      • Reference
      • Glossary
    • Contact Us
  • Trade
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
    • Becoming an Advertiser
    • Campaign Package Deals
    • Getting Coffees Reviewed
    • Quoting Reviews
    • Award Certificates
    • Media Kit
  • 中文 – Chinese
    • 台灣送評的咖啡豆
    • 如何將您的咖啡送評
    • “行銷攻略” 促銷活動
  • Members
    • WHY BECOME A MEMBER?
    • Member Benefits
    • Our Sponsors
    • Programs and Initiatives
    • Member Support

Shop for top-rated coffees at Durango Coffee Company

Shop for No. 1 coffee of 2021 at Paradise Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Amavida Coffee Roasters

Shop for Top-rated coffees at Barrington Coffee Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Kakalove in Taiwan

Shop for top-rated coffees at GoCoffeeGo

Shop for No. 15 Coffee of 2020 at Hala Tree Kona Coffee

Shop at Rhetoric Coffee

Shop for 93-point Yemen coffee at Baba Java


What’s the Best Hawaiian Coffee?

July 2, 2013 by Kenneth Davids

Perhaps as we approach the All-American holiday of Independence Day, it’s appropriate to consider what the “best” American coffee is.  And, given that Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows commercial quantities of coffee, it might naturally lead to the question “What’s the best Hawaiian coffee?”

That is a question raised in a recent reader search on CoffeeReview.com.  First of all, as objective reviewers, we always shy away from the term “best” because it somehow suggests absolute superiority and fails to recognize the subtleties and ambiguities of coffee appreciation.  But, that said, clearly some Hawaiian coffees are better than others, both within and among the main growing regions.

The most famous of Hawaiian coffees are from the Kona growing area of the Big Island.  However, coffee is grown on other parts of the Big Island (Ka’u and Puna, possibly others) as well as all of the major islands of Hawaii, including Kauai, Maui, Oahu, and Molokai.  Each of the coffees have their own distinctive qualities, driven by significantly different growing conditions and processing methods.  We’ve reviewed coffees from Kona, Ka’u, Maui, Kauai, and Molokai.  However, it’s been roughly a decade since we’ve evaluated coffees from Kauai and Molokai so we would caution readers that these reviews are almost irrelevant when considering the quality of current coffees produced on these islands.

So, we’ll focus our attention on the other growing areas where we have at least several sample points – Kona, Ka’u, and Maui – let’s say since 2010.  If you average the scores of all reviews that meet our criteria, the data is inconclusive in trying to determine the “best” Hawaiian coffee.  Since 2010, the average Coffee Review rating for Hawaiian coffees are as follows:

Maui (3 reviews) – 92.3 points

Ka’u (8 reviews) – 92.2 points

Kona (16 reviews) – 91.4 points

In short, they are all excellent, but a couple observations….

I’m not sure averaging three reviews from Maui is statistically significant but it might be surprising to some that all three reviews from Maui were 90 points or higher.  And two of these excellent reviews are of the distinctive Maui Mokka produced by Kimo Falconer at MauiGrown Coffee.

All 8 reviews for Ka’u coffees also scored 90 points or higher.  That’s quite impressive for a coffee growing area that until 5 years ago was largely unknown to consumers.

Kona coffees also scored very well but four of the 16 coffees reviewed earned 89 points.  That is still an excellent coffee but it explains the slightly lower average score for Kona coffees.  My takeaway is that you just need to be a little more careful when choosing coffee beans from Kona because you will find greater variation in quality.

Aloha and Happy 4th of July!

Here are some recommended resources for Hawaiian coffees:

MauiGrown Coffee (Maui)

Hula Daddy Kona Coffee (Big Island)

Rusty’s Hawaiian Coffee (Big Island)

Coffees of Hawaii (Molokai, others)

Waialua Estate Coffee (Oahu)

Miguel Meza’s Isla Custom Coffees

 

Filed Under: Journal

Primary Sidebar

Shop for top-rated coffees at Durango Coffee Company

Shop for No. 1 coffee of 2021 at Paradise Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Amavida Coffee Roasters

Shop for Top-rated coffees at Barrington Coffee Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Kakalove in Taiwan

Shop for top-rated coffees at GoCoffeeGo

Shop for No. 15 Coffee of 2020 at Hala Tree Kona Coffee

Shop at Rhetoric Coffee

Shop for 93-point Yemen coffee at Baba Java

Become an advertiser

Get Coffees Reviewed

 

Connect with Us

Sign Up for Our Free E-Newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive our free e-mail newsletter
  • Coffee Reviews
  • Tasting Reports
  • Reference
  • Glossary
  • Please Support Our Advertisers
  • Contact Us
  • Journal
  • Kenneth Davids
  • Interpreting Coffee Reviews
  • Roast Definitions
  • Caveats about Coffee Ratings
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Getting Coffees Reviewed
  • Advertising Opportunities
  • Quoting Reviews
  • Copyright
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Security

Copyright © 2022 Coffee Review. All Rights Reserved.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.