HOT ! Kona Extra Fancy Lions Gate Farm Green Coffee Beans

Kona Hawaii USA Extra Fancy Grade Lions Gate Farm Arabica Raw Coffee beans

Sweet balanced to mild acidity, pleasing soft body, excellent coffee flavor (but not bold), sweet, caramel, clean, cocoa, hints of fruits. I have only cupped this Kona a couple times due to limited quantity and just receiving it. Tested at an American Roast. Nice big beans are easy to roast, keep the roasting slow, temperature low, and medium roast (American to City + is max) so you can taste the nuanced flavors of the bean.

Roasting Aroma: Wheat toast, sugar cane, pineapple, soft fruit

Dry Aroma: Cocoa, fruit, sugar cane

Brewed Aroma: Cocoa, caramel, faint fruit

Varietals: Heirloom Kona

Altitude: 250 - 850 Meters

Soil: Volcanic Loam

Processing: Fully Washed

Note: This is now a repeating (I buy it when new crop is available) Kona for us so I still provide the Grower\'s own description below .

Lions Gate Kona Coffee Farm is five hectares (14 acres) on the slopes of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Volcano. The \"heirloom\" trees grown at Lions Gate Farm are from 60 to 100 years old. Like a fine wine grape, age adds body and depth to coffee. The result is a wonderfully smooth, flavorful coffee with no bitterness.

Our Estate coffee is selected from the best beans produced on the farm. Hand-picked from September through December, the beans are milled and dried on-site in the warm Kona sun. Three generations of the Shriner family work together to ensure that only the highest quality coffee is provided to our customers under the Estate label. 

The Big Island region of Kona, has produced coffee since the early 1800\'s. Kona\'s sunny mornings, cool ocean breezes, and cloudy afternoons provide the perfect climate the coffee plant prefers. This climate, combined with  rich volcanic soil, and the amazing amount of hand-labor and care help to produce one of the best premium coffees in the world.

Aloha! Thank you for Home roasting our 100% Kona Lions Gate Extra Fancy grade coffee.

We want you to get the most out of our premium Specialty Kona Coffees so here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Roasting Information: Many coffee “experts” will tell you the ideal roast for Kona coffee is a City (~Agtron 52) medium roast. Personally I find this highlights the varietal flavors more so than a darker roast. Many of our customers however enjoy the Kona smoothness in a Full City (Agtron 45) darkish roast. It comes down to your preference of course. There is nearly universal agreement that any roast past second crack (Agtron 38) will wash out the flavor and leave little but carmelized sugars with any coffee bean.

Roast Temperatures: Kona coffee is grown at a relatively low altitude, resulting in a low-density green coffee bean. Low-density beans are more sensitive to extreme heat. Our Kona coffee takes well to a slower roast at lower intake temperatures. Generally a good Kona roast profile is a low roasting temperature during the first 3-5 minutes (the drying phase) followed by a moderate-heat roasting cycle. This should result in evenly expanded beans with consistent color development inside and outside, and no signs of scorching or tipping. Kona should not be roasted at a high heat throughout.

My personal profile: I roast on a 5k Sivetz-style fluid bed air roaster (this would be similar to a FreshRoast Home Coffee roaster except Home roaster times will be much less). I reach first crack at 400° in about 13 minutes. I draw out the temperature gradient and pull my Medium roast at a City(+) temp of 435° at about 16 minutes. If I am continuing through to Full City, I will damper down the flame and coast into second crack. I pull at rolling second crack at about 17 minutes and 450°. Your temps and times on a drum roaster will be different, obviously, but the principals are the same. Go easy on the heat and stretch out the finish to highlight the bean’s qualities.

The Farm and Roasting information above is edited copy provided by the Shriner Family, owners and Growers of Lions Gate Farms 100% Kona Extra Fancy grade coffee.