Hawaii Roasters Award Winning 100% Kona Coffee, Whole Bean, Medium Roast, 14-Ounce Bag

Rating the Hawaii Roasters 100% Kona is a bit tricky - in a way it is like rating the acceleration of a Corvette or the comfort of Mercedes - it is supposes to be among the best!. So with that - if this coffee was the same price as  Folgers Coffee Ground Classic Roast Regular, 11.3-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)  or  Maxwell House French Roast (Medium Dark) Ground Coffee, 33-Ounce Jugs (Pack of 2)  it would rate as a easy 5 star product, but it is not the cost difference is significant. So with that it requires me to grade on a bit of a curve...A bit on how I prepare the coffeeWater provided by  Filtrete 3M Filtrete Water Station Burr Grinder  Cuisinart DBM-8 Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill (CCM-16PC1)  (Medium burr)Coffee maker  Bunn STX Specialty 10-Cup Home Coffee Brewer with Thermal Carafe What I like- A very, very smooth coffee - absolutely no trace of bitterness.- Very aromatic as you grind the beans- Other reviewers compared about the beans being a bit dry - mine were fresh- Nice medium roast - not overly bold (This is a personal preference)- The beans were not oily (indicating over-roasting)Other notes- Not a exotic flavor - it does not offer the range of flavors of a Kenyan or other African coffees (which are usually cheaper). This is difficult to qualify, but other high-end coffees have a more distinguished flavor - the Sumatra's are a bit bolder and almost smokey, Kenyan has a semi-sweet winey/oak flavor and so on... I don't notice any of these in the Kona.Final Verdict - A very good coffee, but it is pricey especially when compared to some of the African countries.4 Stars due to the price (5+ Stars compared to generic coffees)

I have never purchased 30 dollar coffee before so this was kind of splurge for me and I usually drink coffee that comes in 12 ounce bags at about a 5 to 7 dollar range so I wondered how much difference could it really be in quality. I was looking for some good holiday food and I read all the reviews and decided to go ahead and try it out and to my surprise I really enjoyed it and believe me I was expecting quite a bit for 30 dollar coffee. The 1st thing I noticed was the aroma when I 1st broke into the package and it wasn't the normal aroma I was used to when breaking into new coffee for the 1st time. The aroma was so much better and it was so much different and pleasing in smell that I knew it was going to be a great cup of coffee. With anticipation I ground up the beans and made my 1st pot and actually just finished it before this was wrote. I took my time drinking this coffee and I must say I have drank a lot of coffee in my time and thought I wouldn't be able to tell a difference but I found myself looking forward to my next cup. The taste was so fantastic and full of flavor that I really didn't expect it so I was really surprised by that. It was that good instead of with my normal coffee its usually just routine to drink it up even though its good its just not as good as this. If you are looking for some delicious coffee do yourself a favor pick this one up. If you are like me you might splurge every once in a while on food and even if you do it once you will find yourself missing this bag when its gone b/c I know I will. I still have about a whole package remaining and I think I will have to break down again later to get another. Though it is rather expensive I am very happy with this coffee.

I really look forward to Saturday mornings when I brew up a pot of great coffee and have time to sit and savor it. Weekdays what with getting the kids going we use Major Dickenson's from Peet's, but the weekends are different.Having family in Hawai'i we have learned about the pitfalls of buying "Kona" on the mainland (heck even on Ohau). We have bought Kona "blends" that tasted like old Folgers. We have bought stale coffee that should have been tossed. We have bought over roasted beans that were little better than Starbucks French Roast.We have also bought Cromwell Estate peaberry (roasat to order and simply amazing) and until recently, we found that the best bang for the buck was the Costco Kona which you can only get on-island.When we ran out of the last batch of the Costco Kona, we took a gamble on this one and are really happy.Pros:- Medium roast is a real medium roast is highly consistent (leading to a MUCH better cup)- The coffee is truly fresh- The bean size is really consistent and there are no slubs (again leading to a beter cup)- The coffee has a complex flavor that develops over time with a lot of interesting secondary and tertiary flavors- Quality bag-to-bag is excellentCons:- If you like French Roast, this is NOT the coffee for you. French roasting burns out a lot of the flavinoids so you are better off with Starbucks of even Safeway.- at $30 a bag, it is not cheap and I really would like ot drink it every day.If you want a treat, give this a try.