Kaua'i Coffee Company

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Last month we stopped in at Kauai Coffee Company. It had probably been about ten years since we were there previously - our visit was before it was acquired by the current ownership.

After that prior visit, I was totally unimpressed. I thought it was mediocre coffee, being marketed and priced as if it were Kona coffee. Since then I would see it in stores, still being priced as if it were Kona, and I always passed on it.

After our visit I changed my mind. Under the current ownership, they have considerably expanded the range of offerings, and to my observations, the quality was markedly improved - and with Kona as a reference point, it isn't that far out of whack. They appear to have done a good job of identifying specific coffee varietals that do well at their plantation, and they're probably more skilled at roasting than they used to be.

It's still about twice as expensive as the Starbucks Sumatra and Komodo Dragon blends that I use regularly - and which I decidedly prefer to any of the offerings I tried at Kauai Coffee. So I won't switch. But then I don't buy Kona either.

We did buy some of their Typica and Estate blends (whole bean), partly to support the local economy and also to give them a more extended trial back home, using our grinder and coffee maker. Which we are doing.

 

[DaveNV]

Thanks, Steve. I enjoy Kauai Coffee when on island, but always found it a bit too “medium” blend for my taste. I prefer darker roasts, as a rule. I may never have purchased the right variety.

Part of my problem with enjoying the coffee at their plantation is we aren’t there until afternoons most days. I only drink a few cups of coffee on any day, and it’s always first thing in the morning. So it’s hard to make a good comparison right in the moment. We usually buy a pound at the store and enjoy it at the timeshare.

Will be interested to compare it when we’re next on island. That will be for a week after we will have just spent a week in Kona. So the contrast will be a good test.

Dave

 

[Gypsy65]

This has nothing to do with your posts. But it’s interesting

https://www.littlecoffeeplace.com/salt-in-coffee

 

[geist1223]

One big problem I have with Kona Coffee that you find in the stores is that it only has to be 10% actual Kona to be labeled Kona. Kauai Coffee is always 100 Kauai.

Edited: our favorite Coffee from the Islands is Mokka grown on Maui.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

One big problem I have with Kona Coffee that you find in the stores is that it only has to be 10% actual Kona to be labeled Kona. Kauai Coffee is always 100 Kauai.

Edited: our favorite Coffee from the Islands is Mokka grown on Maui.

re Kona - that's true. When I buy I always make sure it's 100% Kona.

One time in a farmers market on Kaua'i there was a local growing selling local Moloa'a, presumably grown in that area on Kaua'i. That was very good and, being direct from the grower, considerably cheaper than Kona. Unfortunately, we've only seen it that one trip.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Thanks, Steve. I enjoy Kauai Coffee when on island, but always found it a bit too “medium” blend for my taste. I prefer darker roasts, as a rule. I may never have purchased the right variety.

Part of my problem with enjoying the coffee at their plantation is we aren’t there until afternoons most days. I only drink a few cups of coffee on any day, and it’s always first thing in the morning. So it’s hard to make a good comparison right in the moment. We usually buy a pound at the store and enjoy it at the timeshare.

Will be interested to compare it when we’re next on island. That will be for a week after we will have just spent a week in Kona. So the contrast will be a good test.

Dave

When we were there they had a number of varietals in mild, medium, and strong roasts. We tasted quite a few. DW liked the Typica, which is one of their medium roasts. I like darker roasts, but the Typica was my favorite of the medium roasts. For the darker roasts I got the Estate blend.

As I recall, the estate was around $25/lb; the Typical was $35/lb. So more expensive than the Komodo Dragon and Sumatra blends at Starbucks, which I decidedly prefer anyway. Those are the only two coffees I've found (including almost all other Starbucks options and every variety of Peet's and Caribou I've tried) which I can make as strong as I like without turning undrinkably bitter.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

This has nothing to do with your posts. But it’s interesting

https://www.littlecoffeeplace.com/salt-in-coffee

There's a lot more science than that underlying brewing coffee. When you pass water through that bed of ground coffee, you running an extraction process. What you extract depends on a number of variables - what is available for extraction (i.e, the original bean and the roasting process), the temperature, the extraction time, and other constituents that are in the water.

Then after the coffee exits the coffee maker additional changes occur. There are chemical reactions that occur in the brew. Most importantly, volatile compounds will volatilize, and the amount of volatilization is closely related to the temperature. Since the bitter compounds are low volatility, coffee gets bitter as it sits. And the worst thing to do is leave that pot of coffee sitting on a hot plate - that just maximizes the loss of flavor and increase in bitterness.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

For a humorous take down of coffee snobs (Moi??? I say!), Conan O'Brien takes Jordan Schlansky Coffee Tasting

 

[bnoble]

I know someone who at least once bought Kopi Luwak. That's a coffee snob.

 

[jacknsara]

Aloha,
Our favorite Kauai Coffee Company coffees are/were Blue Mountain* and Mondo Novo*. They have created many different varieties since we dropped our club membership. We were club members at Kauai Coffee for many years but dropped it several years ago for a few reasons, the primary reason being that it seemed to have a short shelf life (i.e. it tasted better in Kauai than weeks later on the mainland). Another reason we dropped the club membership was that we could get just about the same discount (10%) while on Kauai by finding the little yellow coupon book available alongside other free tourist advertising magazines at some distribution points.
The farmers market where we occasionally see the Moloaa coffee is Saturday morning outside the community college.
Jack
* from https://kauaicoffee.com/about-kauai-coffee-company/faqs/ We have five varieties of Arabica coffee beans: Yellow Catuai (Brazilian seed), Red Catuai (Brazilian seed), Typica (Guatemalan seed), Blue Mountain (Jamaican seed), and Mundo Novo (Central American seed).