Inexpensive Hawaiian coffee in large quantities (house, buying, live)

[wikiwikirunner]

I'm looking for Hawaiian Coffee (Kona, Ka'u, Puna, Maui, North Shore, or Kauai) that I can get for under $10 per pound if I purchase 10 or more pounds. Is this possible? Can anyone give me some leads as to farms that might be able to fit this need? I live on O'ahu so I have no problem traveling to farms on other islands. I owe my family on the big island a visit anyway .

[terracore]

I would try this place: Sharky's Coffee, 100% Hawaiian Coffee, Roasted to Order

If you buy 5 pounds it's $14/pound. You can email them and ask for a better bulk deal. Being kama'aina I'm sure they will work with you.

I've bought their coffee at the Makuu market. Its very good, and one of the few Hawaiian coffees available in a dark roast, amongst others.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by wikiwikirunner

I'm looking for Hawaiian Coffee (Kona, Ka'u, Puna, Maui, North Shore, or Kauai) that I can get for under $10 per pound if I purchase 10 or more pounds. Is this possible?

I don't think so, I've never seen anything decent that low of a price.

[wikiwikirunner]

Originally Posted by terracore

I would try this place: Sharky's Coffee, 100% Hawaiian Coffee, Roasted to Order

If you buy 5 pounds it's $14/pound. You can email them and ask for a better bulk deal. Being kama'aina I'm sure they will work with you.

I've bought their coffee at the Makuu market. Its very good, and one of the few Hawaiian coffees available in a dark roast, amongst others.

Thanks for the info! I can do $14, just not $24 or $34

[KonaKat]

You might contact the Kona Coffee Council

Kona Coffee Council - Home

[Jungjohann]

Best to buy the beans un-roasted. Many coffee merchants/sellers, Starbucks in particular, will roast the sh#t out of a mediocre bean, then try and pass it off as some high blend crappacinoflappeverde whatever. Coffee roaster will be one of your most rewarding investments over the years..

Just don't burn the house down

[Fair Winds]

Originally Posted by terracore

I would try this place: Sharky's Coffee, 100% Hawaiian Coffee, Roasted to Order

If you buy 5 pounds it's $14/pound. You can email them and ask for a better bulk deal. Being kama'aina I'm sure they will work with you.

I've bought their coffee at the Makuu market. Its very good, and one of the few Hawaiian coffees available in a dark roast, amongst others.

It is not surprising that most Hawaii roasters avoid Dark Roasting given that by that state there isn't much left but the flavor of the roast. Good beans deserve better treatment.

OP, would you be willing to buy green coffee and roasting yourself? It is a smoky proposition, but given the short lifespan of roasted beans, compared to green, buying green in bulk and roasting small batches ever 30 days might be a worthwhile pursuit.

[hotzcatz]

Turn off the smoke detectors, get a cast iron frying pan and put a layer of beans across the bottom. Heat it up while stirring the beans until you just hear one bean pop and the beans should be a dark brown color by then, not black, not sable sort of a dark brown. Pour them out across a baking sheet so they can cool down immediately. Viola! Roasted coffee. Turn the smoke detector back on.

Alternately, you can use a hot air corn popper, the ones with the heat coming in from the sides instead of the bottom works better.

Good luck on finding it for less than $10 a pound. If you've ever picked coffee, you'd offer twice that! Hawaii coffee is hand picked, not machine picked. I haven't a clue how many pounds of cherry you have to pick to get a pound of dry, but dry coffee beans are gonna weigh a lot less than cherry.

[KauaiHiker]

The Kauai coffee is mechanically harvested, and though not as high quality as the Kona, still good coffee. On their website, they have a 5lb bag of "100% Kauai Coffee Regular Medium Roast" for $68 and a 10% off deal going. They also have a 10lb bag of "Kauai Coffee Estate Reserve - Green Beans" red catuai variety for $135 (and I suppose 10% off that too).

http://store.kauaicoffee.com/kauai-c...beans-p76.aspx

[KaraBenNemsi]

You won't get green Ka'u or Kona for under $10. The actual production costs are higher. Or they sell you 'offgrade' beans, which is just shredded garbage and sets your roaster on fire. If you buy roasted, it's much higher (20% weight loss, roasting and bagging costs)

Kauai green you MIGHT get at that price, depending on the grade. But these Kauai mechanical harvested beans taste pretty much like generic coffee IMHO.