Blind Assessment: A very comfortable, low-key cup. The dark-roast pungency is pronounced but easy-going. Just enough richness to satisfy. Not much nuance but some sweet echoes.

Notes: A very comfortable, low-key cup. The dark-roast pungency is pronounced by easy-going. Just enough richness to satisfy. Not much nuance but some sweet echoes. Most coffee produced on the vast Kauai Estate comes from trees of the relatively undistinguished yellow catuai, a hybrid variety of coffea arabica. This particular selection is from trees of the more traditional (and admired) variety called typica or Gua

Who Should Drink It: The holiday factor:This coffee's dignified, wine-look bag and origin on one of the world's most beautiful islands should provoke attention at gift-opening time. The coffee inside, while hardly distinguished, won't get thrown away.