International Jury Cupping Score

87.06

Region

Ka‘u District,
Hawaii Island

Altitude

1,800 - 1,900 feet
above sea level


Estimated Lot Size

42.8 pounds (1 bag, 42.8 lbs)

Winning Bidder

Ryans Coffee Roasters

Aroma Farms Orchard

In 2005, partners Amelia Biason and Marlon Biason launched Aroma Coffee Farms in the Pear Tree area of the Ka‘u District. Coffee from this farm scored 9th place in the 2007 SCAA-Roasters Guild Cupping Pavilion Competition — the first year that Ka‘u coffees made their mark in the specialty-coffee industry. However, this farm was difficult to access and manage, and they sold the lease in 2009.

Four years later, Amelia Biason decided to get back into coffee farming by herself, this time planting a 7.3 acre farm near the Wood Valley area of the Ka‘u District. Her varieties: mostly Guatemalan Typica and Old Hawaiian Typica. “The business around Ka’u coffees was much better when I started the new farm in 2013 compared to the 2000s,” she explained.

Biason had her first small harvest in 2016, and since that time has balanced managing it with her day job as a certified nursing assistant at the Ka‘u Hospital.

“I want to keep doing the work on the farm as long as I’m able,” Biason said. “I take pride in doing a lot of the work myself, seeing how the coffees grow and keeping the farm in good condition.”

Yeast-Fermented, Anaerobic Natural Typica

This lot was harvested in November 2020. After harvest, the coffee cherries were inoculated with a wine yeast selected by Meza to highlight red fruit and floral notes. The inoculated cherries were submerged under water in sealed bags and allowed to ferment in an anaerobic environment. They were dried by Doug McKanna of Kealakekua Bay Farm Management/Kona Geisha Farm using a J. Estrada dehumidifying dryer. This lot rested as whole, dried cherries for about a month, then was milled and screened to 16+ size.