Islands Of The Americas - Hawaii

Kona

Hala Tree Coffee, owned by Jean Orlowski and his wife, grows our impeccable Hawaiian Kona coffee. What started as a six-acre plot (only two of which had coffee trees growing) turned into a thriving coffee operation. But it wasn’t just about producing Kona coffee, it was about producing thebest possibleKona coffee.

In addition to learning some tricks of the trade from local coffee farmers, Hala Tree also became USDA Organic certified early on. From there, the farm increased by 20 acres, more coffee seeds were sowed, a processing plant was constructed, and the Orlowskis and their workers won several awards.

But Hala Tree’s mission doesn’t just benefit their founders, it also improves coffee production in Kona as a whole. They support and manage farms on behalf of other Kona farmers and work together to get more farms in the region organic certified. The Orlowskis say it’s their way of giving back to the community that helped them when they first set up shop on Hawaii’s big island.

Love leads to quality. Hala Tree Coffee produces USDA organically grown Kona coffee beans, meaning no synthetic pesticides or chemicals are used at any stage of the coffee process. Hala Tree's passion for organically farmed coffee has resulted in award-winning 100% pure Kona coffee that, when combined with Fresh Roasted Coffee's unique and eco-friendly roasting technology, will not disappoint.

We bring our 100% Kona to a medium roast to highlight its warming spice and sweet notes and underscore them with a little bready richness. Hala Tree uses wet processing to deliver a clean cup with bright acidity, and then uses a combination of sun and mechanical drying before hulling the beans to prevent a burnt taste while roasting.

Maui

Owned by Kimo Falconer, President of MauiGrown Coffee Distributors, LLC, the Ka’anapali Estate in Lahaina, Hawaii, grows Fresh Roasted Coffee’s 100% Maui Mokka and 100% Maui Yellow Caturra.

Sugar Cane to Coffee

The Ka’anapali Estate was originally part of the Pioneer Mill sugar plantation, which shifted to coffee growing in 1988, intent on replacing their sugar cane dollar for dollar. Unfortunately, this turned out to be an infrastructural disaster, but instead of closing and abandoning the trees, Falconer chose to continue regular irrigation to preserve them, hoping to revive the coffee farm.

It seemed like the future of superior coffee in West Maui was hanging in the balance, but this uncertainty wouldn’t last. In an agreement with the landowner, a lease was secured to return the mature coffee trees to full productive status with proper attention paid to stewardship of the land. This effort led to the establishment of MauiGrown Coffee and the rebirth of Maui coffee.

Maui Mokka

MauiGrown is the world’s only producer of the Mokka variety on a commercial scale. This variety originated from where all coffee originates—Ethiopia, but it is much rarer than Ethiopian coffee. Maui Mokka’s yield is low and difficult to hand pick because of its extremely small size, similar to M&M’s Minis, but its unique cup quality makes it worth the work. Ranging from chocolate to ripe fruit to hints of wine, Mokka definitely packs some of its eclectic African heritage into its velvety body.

Fresh Roasted Coffee’s Hawaiian 100% Maui Mokka is medium roasted to preserve its delicate origin notes and to add an herbal twist. This gives its sweet vanilla and peach flavors some ground to stand and shine on.

Maui Yellow Caturra

The Yellow Caturra variety thrives in hot, dry conditions and, unlike Mokka, has high yields. During harvest time, Yellow Caturra is usually the first varietal to ripen, and its color can be attributed to a recessive gene discovered by Brazilian agronomist Carlos Arnaldo Krug in 1942. According to Krug, red berries occur because of an XcXc gene pairing, while a recessive xcxc pairing produces yellow berries. Caturra is also native to Brazil, being a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety.

Yellow Caturra coffees are clean and full-bodied with forward notes of honey, wheat bread, and allspice, all rounded out sweetly with hints of juicy jam. You’ll typically find Yellow Caturra in blends, but Fresh Roasted Coffee believes it’s an outstanding standalone coffee.