Are you interested in getting your hands on a great cup of coffee?  If so, you might want to check out the Sweet Kona Light Roast coffee produced by Hula Daddy Coffee of Kona, Hawaii.  This brew managed to earn 97 out of 100 possible points at the Coffee Review this month -making it the one of only three coffees to have every received such a high score.

The Coffee Review

The Coffee Review has been reviewing coffee for 11 years and, since it was founded by Ron Walters and Ken Davids in February 1997, the publication has become one of the most respected buying guides in the world.  According to the company’s website, Coffee Review was developed with the goal of entertaining and educating coffee drinkers as well as food service professionals and others within the coffee trade.  So, if you are a serious coffee drinker, you have likely already heard of the Coffee Review.  If not, you may want to visit the Coffee Review website in order to learn more about the organization and how it ranks its coffee.

Obtaining the Highest Score

Although the Hula Daddy Sweet Kona Light Roast is not the only coffee to have ever received a score of 97, only three other brews have enjoyed such a high ranking.  Two of these coffees are derived from Africa while one is from Panama, making the Sweet Kona Light Roast to achieve such a high ranking.  In addition, no coffee has managed to score higher than 97.

According to Davids, the coffee received such a high score due to its exceptional flavor, saying it is “the purest dried-in-the-fruit coffee I have every cupped.  Extraordinarily complex, lush yet pure, cleanly and delicately wine-like, it seems to display all of the complexly fruit-promoting virtues of dry processing within a hint of the nagging, astringent downside.”

Achieving an Extraordinary Flavor

Of course, developing such an exceptional coffee is no small task.  First, the beans for the Sweet Kona Light Roast bled were grown on the 14 acre farm in Mt, Hualalai that is owned by the company.  Then, the relatively new roastmaster Miguel Meza worked his magic.  According to the owner of Hula Daddy, Karen Jue, Meza is largely responsible for the amazing flavor of the coffee.  Meza recently moved from Minnesota, where he had managed to establish a reputation as both a quality green coffee buyer and roaster, to the island of Hawaii.  Since then, he has been recognized by Davids as “one of specialty coffee’s younger visionaries.”

Of course, Meza is taking all of the recognition in stride, only saying “If there was ever any doubt, this proves that Kona Coffee deserves to be ranked among the great coffees in the world.”

This sentiment seems to be echoed by the results of the Coffee Review ranking, as its Kona Private Reserve brew also received a very high score of 90.  Both Kona Private Reserve and Sweet Kona Light Roast are available at the Hula Daddy visitor center in Holualoa.  Or, if you don’t plan on visiting the Big Island any time soon, you can purchase your own brew by visiting the Hula Daddy website.

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