The Kona Coffee Difference

One part of my coffee journey is understanding the Kona Coffee difference.

For me, understanding the Kona Coffee difference involved having my own gear and roasting coffee on my own.

The final step, and most crucial:

I sourced the Kona Coffee beans myself from a coffee farm in Kona and then I roasted the beans at home.

Just buying Kona Coffee is tricky as getting actual Kona Coffee is hard due to limited supply and manufacturers tend to play the: “Kona Coffee (10% Kona, 90% another bean)”. Even around Kona, it’s hard to discern what is true Kona Coffee from others. Even local Kona Coffee farms blended their beans to sell more. I wanted to know the true Kona Coffee taste.

At the coffee farm, there are always samples - drink Kona Coffee to your heart’s content. One thing I learned is that coffee tastes different between the first cup and the second cup. Why? I’m not sure why, I guess that the first cup is because it is the first thing you have after waking up, so your senses and brain are on a clean state compared to a cup later in the day. I enjoyed the Kona coffee at the farm, I couldn’t honestly tell the difference.

I tasted the Kona Coffee difference when I got home, roasted the beans I sourced myself, prepared it just like other coffee on my equipment, and drank it the same time as I would drink coffee - first thing in the morning.

Only then, I tasted the Kona Coffee difference.

The difference is drastic - so clean and smooth, even compared to other coffee beans I roasted myself and had regularly.

From then, I understood coffee tastes - I explored different beans, roasts, and preparation methods.

This experience of Kona Coffee taught me that even getting to experience the difference takes work - one that is worth it as I practiced, developed, and discovered so much about coffee and myself.