← Back to the shelf
New harvestHawai‘i · Holualoa, North Kona · 1,450 ft

100% Hawaiian Kona

Why it’s worth it

4acres
The whole estate, in the heart of the Kona belt
2,500lb
About everything the farm roasts in a season
10%
All the Kona a bag needs to say Kona. Ours is 100%.
~$3.90a cup
About seven cups in every 4 oz pack, full wash
The estate in Holualoa

Hawaiian Kona

Roast
Process
$27.314 oz~$3.90 per cup

Currently unavailable

What you’re paying for ↓

Floral · Milk chocolate · Hazelnut

Location
Holualoa, North Kona
Varietal
Typica
Elevation
1,450 ft

Hawaiian Kona

What you’re paying for

Real Kona is expensive because there’s so little of it. The whole growing belt runs about 30 miles and is only a mile or two wide, split among roughly 600 to 800 small farms. The ground is volcanic rock, too rough for machines, so pickers walk the same trees again and again through the season, at American wages. Most Kona on a supermarket shelf is a blend that can be 90% something else, and the front of the bag has to say so. This isn’t a blend.

How it reaches you

  1. Holualoa, 1,450 ft
    Picked and processed
    Hand-picked as the cherries ripen, washed, sun-dried, and rested in parchment for two months.
  2. Kona
    Roasted where it grew
    The farm roasts in small batches to a city-style medium, the way the family drinks it.
  3. Kona to Virginia
    Straight from the farm
    It comes to us direct from the island. No broker and no warehouse in between.
  4. Sterling, Virginia
    Tasted, sealed, frozen
    We taste it as it rests. On its best day it’s vacuum-sealed in 4 oz packs and held at −40 °C.
  5. Your kitchen
    Ships within 3 business days
    Held at −40 °C until the day it ships, then sent sealed at room temperature. Open it and start drinking.
The Kona coffee belt, Big Island
The Kona coffee belt, Big Island

Where it grows

Holualoa, on the slopes of Hualalai

The estate covers four acres at about 1,450 feet, on land that has grown coffee for more than sixty years. Around three thousand trees grow in partial shade under macadamia, citrus and banana, in rich volcanic soil, with no chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Only red-ripe cherries are picked, by hand. They’re washed, fermented and dried in the sun, rested in parchment for two months, then milled and sorted by hand. The farm air-roasts in small batches to a classic city-style medium.

Farm name kept private at the family’s request

Big Island · North and South Kona
Topographic map: Big Island · North and South Kona
Origin
Hawai‘i, USA
Region
Holualoa, North Kona
Elevation
1,450 ft
Varietal
Typica
Process
Washed
Drying
Sun-dried, machine-finished
Harvest
2025/26
Farm
4 acres, about 3,000 trees
Roasted
In Kona, by the farm
Size
4 oz whole bean, about seven cups

The story behind these beans

Why real Kona is hard to find

Kona is the best-known coffee name in America and one of the most watered down. Hawai‘i law lets a bag say Kona with 10% Kona inside, and that minimum only rises to 51% in July 2027. So most of what’s sold as Kona is mostly something else. A single estate that roasts its own harvest sells out close to home. Here’s how this one reached you.

Field journalBuyer’s note

Two farms on two volcanoes

We buy Kona from two family farms and we buy direct. This is the North Kona farm: four acres on Hualalai, more than sixty years of coffee on the same land, and a family that still roasts its own harvest.

The other sits at 2,200 feet above Honaunau on Mauna Loa. It’s where our dark roast and the peaberry come from.

Swarnav S Pujari & Anand RajuFounders
Rubia ReserveField journal
The Holualoa estate
The Holualoa estate
The two farms
North Kona
Holualoa · Hualalai · 1,450 ft · 4 acres
South Kona
Honaunau · Mauna Loa · 2,200 ft · 5 acres
Harvest
2025/26, every cherry picked by hand
Field journalBuyer’s note

Two farms on two volcanoes

We buy Kona from two family farms and we buy direct. This is the North Kona farm: four acres on Hualalai, more than sixty years of coffee on the same land, and a family that still roasts its own harvest.

The other sits at 2,200 feet above Honaunau on Mauna Loa. It’s where our dark roast and the peaberry come from.

Swarnav S Pujari & Anand RajuFounders
The two farms
North Kona
Holualoa · Hualalai · 1,450 ft · 4 acres
South Kona
Honaunau · Mauna Loa · 2,200 ft · 5 acres
Harvest
2025/26, every cherry picked by hand

The cup

How it tastes

A classic Kona cup. Smooth and bright, with soft florals over milk chocolate and hazelnut. Gentle acidity, clean sweetness, an easy finish. Rounder than a bright African coffee, and easy to drink every day.

Tasting notes

Medium roast · Full wash · Typica

  • Floral
    Floral
    A light, perfumed lift. You notice it more in the smell than the sip.
  • Cocoa
    Milk chocolate
    Roasted sweetness with a gentle, pleasant bitterness. Soft rather than sharp.
  • Nutty
    Hazelnut
    Toasty and soft, more roasted nut than sugar.

Reading the cup

Each note names what a taster is reminded of in the cup, by aroma first and then on the palate. Nothing is added to the coffee. Beyond the notes, a cup is read on four things.

Acidity
The brightness that gives a cup its lift, the way ripe fruit tastes alive. Low acidity reads round and soft.
Sweetness
Sugars developed in the ripe cherry and in the roast, read as honey, caramel or ripe fruit.
Body
Weight and texture on the palate, from tea-like to syrupy. Think skim milk against whole.
Finish
What stays after the sip, and for how long.

Sealed at its best

Sold on its best day, not its roast date

A roast date tells you when a coffee started, not when it’s good. Most coffees need a rest of several days to a few weeks before they taste right, and it’s different every time. So we taste each one as it rests. On the day it tastes best, it’s vacuum-sealed in 4 oz packs and held at −40 °C.

Nothing stops coffee from aging. Of every way to store it that’s been studied, sealed and frozen slows it down the most. That’s the coffee you open.

Sealed and frozen at −40 °C keeps the most flavor.

RESTFLAVOR036912+MONTHS IN STORAGESEALED + FROZEN ON ITS BEST DAY
Sealed + frozen at −40 °COURS
Sealed, room temperature
Opened, on the shelf
  1. 01

    Roasted at origin

    By the people who grew it, the way they drink it.

  2. 02

    Tasted for peak flavor

    We taste it as it rests and seal it on the day its flavor peaks. The tasting picks the date, not the calendar.

  3. 03

    Sealed and frozen

    Vacuum-sealed on its best day and held at −40 °C.

  4. 04

    Shipped sealed

    Out of the freezer and into the mailer, within 3 business days.

The pack inside its mailer

What arrives

One 4 oz pack
About seven cups.
Roast date on the pack
So you always know exactly what you’re opening.
Sealed for the trip
It travels sealed at room temperature. Once you open it, drink it within one to two weeks for peak flavor.

Questions

Before you buy

What does Kona on other bags mean?

Under Hawai‘i law, a bag can say Kona with as little as 10% Kona coffee inside, as long as the front discloses the rest. That minimum rises to 51% on July 1, 2027. Ours is 100% Kona from one estate.

Is Hawaiian coffee the same as Kona?

No. Kona is one growing region on the Big Island, made up of the North and South Kona districts. Ka‘u, Maui and Kaua‘i grow coffee too, but they’re separate origins.

How long does it keep?

It ships sealed at room temperature, so keep it sealed until you’re ready to brew. Once you open a 4 oz pack, we recommend drinking it within one to two weeks for peak flavor. The roast date is printed on the pack.

Shipping and returns

Ships within 3 business days to the 50 US states and DC. All sales are final. If anything is wrong with your order, email hello@rubiareserve.com and we’ll work to make it right.

Also on the shelf

Hawaiian Kona
Floral · Milk chocolate · Hazelnut
$27.31
~$3.90 a cup