Hawaii Ka'u Coffee

Ka’u sits on the southern slopes of Mauna Loa, close enough to Kona that both share the same island and the same volcanic soil, but far enough that the two regions grew up on opposite timelines. When C. Brewer and Co. closed its sugar mill in 1996 after 135 years of cane, the company leased five-acre plots to displaced workers and newcomers, among them Rusty and Lorie Obra, who went on to help found the Ka’u Coffee Growers Cooperative. Coffee itself had been planted here since 1895, but it only became the district’s main crop once sugar was gone.

That short history shows up in the numbers. According to Coffee Review’s own comparison, Ka’u has averaged 92.2 points across 8 reviews since 2010, with every single one scoring 90 or higher, against Kona’s 91.4-point average across 16 reviews. The region’s scores have stayed high and then climbed further: a standard 2009 medium roast from Rusty’s Hawaiian scored 92, a 2017 natural-process Typica microlot also scored 92, and in May 2025 Ka’u Morning Glory, from Big Island Coffee Roasters, scored 97, landing at number 6 on Coffee Review’s Top 50 Coffees of 2025 and becoming the highest-scoring Ka’u lot on record.

The cup itself leans brighter and busier than Kona’s famously mild one: wisteria and gardenia in the aroma, tangerine zest and pomegranate through the cup, cocoa nib and sandalwood underneath, with a juicy, sparkling acidity that reviewers keep coming back to. Most of it grows from Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra trees, picked by hand from roughly 80-90 small farms (5-10 acres apiece) between 335 and 823 meters, then wet-processed, though natural and honey lots both exist and show up in competition results too.

Ka’u’s name carries the exact same legal exposure Kona’s does: Hawaii’s blend-labeling law lets a bag containing just 10 percent actual Ka’u coffee carry the Ka’u name, the same 10 percent floor that applies to Kona, Hamakua, Puna, and every other named Hawaii district. Ka’u just hasn’t drawn the same fraud headlines or blend-dilution pressure Kona has, mostly because it is still the less famous, less expensive name, not because the law treats it any differently.