Every December, Coffee Review highlights its most exciting coffees of the year. We're pleased to see them choose our Ka'u Classic Dark Roast as #26!

This is our bestselling coffee in Hawai'i. That’s no surprise because we tested and adjusted its roast profile based on feedback at farmers markets and tastings at local stores. Our goal: to create a lighter profile than locals are used to in a dark roast. We played with different roasts around second crack, until customers would try this coffee with no milk or sugar and say things like, "That’s really smooth. It’s dark roast, but not too dark!”

Here is Coffee Review's Blind Assessment: "Crisply chocolaty, floral-toned. Nectarine, brown sugar, wisteria, baking chocolate, fresh-cut oak in aroma and cup. Complex, bittersweet structure with quiet acidity; very full, syrupy-smooth mouthfeel. Baking chocolate and oak notes characterize the long finish, with pretty hints of wisteria underneath."

And its Bottom Line: "This Ka’u Typica strikes a lovely balance between the depth of a classic dark roast and the levity of a fruit- and floral-driven, medium-roasted Typica cup."

Off all our coffees, this coffee pairs particularly well with sweets -- which is perfect for the holidays. Click here to buy some for friends and family (and add a bag for yourself, of course).

"Whatever obstacles you face, you can overcome them. Just be persistent!" --Lorie Obra

In this in-depth interview for Subkit's "Go Solo" series, our co-founder, Lorie Obra, recalls how she became an entrepreneur:

"My husband and I always wanted to retire in Hawaii Island’s Ka‘u District. We’d been traveling to Pahala, one of the area’s little towns since my in-laws moved there in the 1980s.

In 1996, the sugar mill in Pahala closed, leaving hundreds of townspeople unemployed. These displaced workers received a big grant to turn the sugar plantations into small, family-owned coffee farms. Their reasoning: If coffee made Kona famous, wouldn’t it work in Ka‘u?

A couple of years later, my husband received an early-retirement package from his job. The first thing we did was head to Pahala, where we started scouting business opportunities. That’s how we landed in a young coffee farm founded by one of Rusty’s friends, a former sugar-mill worker. This friend was telling us all about coffee, but we weren’t really listening to him. Rusty and I locked eyes, and without saying a word, we knew we would become coffee farmers..."

Read more here.

Do you remember our Father's Day video of Rusty Obra, our late company founder? We talked about his commitment to the Ka'u community, and how he still guides us today.

One of the ways we carry forth Rusty’s philosophy is lending our farm to scientific research. And we love our latest project: a study of different ground covers to learn which ones best improve soil nutrients and prevent soil erosion — thereby making coffee farms more resilient amidst climate change.

Five Ka'u farms, all in different microclimates, are taking part in the study. Here’s John Ah San, one of the farmers, showing us a gorgeous test plot of perennial peanut in his field. Our project’s lead scientist (in the blue shirt) is Melanie Willich from The Kohala Center:

As part of the project, we're installing five weather stations at these farms, and making the data available to the public. So anyone who needs weather data -- such as other farmers, policy makers and meteorologists -- can use it, too!

Here’s the best part: We’ll take all of this information and turn it into educational materials for coffee farmers around the state. One of our goals is to have at least 10 additional coffee farmers add ground cover to their fields as a result of this study. We'll tell them where to buy the seeds, suggest one (or more) ground covers based on their individual microclimates, and help them troubleshoot problems.

Many thanks to the USDA and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA), for providing grant funding and administration for the weather stations, cover-crop seeds, technical assistance from The Kohala Center and educational materials. When the seeds and weather stations arrive, we'll show them to you. In case you haven’t guessed, this is the stuff of nerdy farmers’ dreams...

Oh, how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything. Two years ago, our very own Rusty Obra Jr. was showing off his skills at the Hankyu World Fair in Osaka, Japan. As the 2015 US AeroPress Champion, he's had plenty of practice cranking out his signature drinks -- and even doubled up on AeroPresses to keep up with hundreds of orders! (See video above.)

Ralph and Rusty remember it as a hectic, yet fun time. A typhoon shut down the fair for an afternoon, but we still kept selling out of coffee and had to keep roasting more on the show floor.

This year, due to the pandemic, the Hankyu team opted for a virtual fair. Instead of serving up AeroPresses, cold brews, and hot drip coffees as quickly as possible, Ralph and Joan sat at home and told the Rusty's Hawaiian story:

The video is viewable only on YouTube, so you can check out the full segment here. (Our story begins at 34:40.) 

I have to admit, it still cracks me up to see Ralph on a tractor. When we met in grad school — almost 21 years ago! — his dream was to make it as a sportscaster. You know, wear some fancy suits, sit on the anchor desk in a big city, and pontificate about football.

Six years after we graduated, Ralph was a weekend sports anchor for the NBC affiliate in Fresno, Calif., and I was the food writer for The Fresno Bee. Our jobs were ridiculously fun. But then the Great Recession hit, and a future in journalism looked increasingly uncertain.

At the same time, my mom (Lorie) was here in Hawaii, continuing to grow Rusty's Hawaiian after my dad died. We worked with her behind the scenes, and by 2011, Plan B became Plan A. Fresno gave us a wonderful sendoff, and Ralph and I moved to the Big Island. Now, Ralph’s usually in T-shirts, jeans and a Cafe Imports hat. And instead of taking the wheel of a TV live truck, he drives a couple of old pickup trucks — or this tractor.

And you know what? We wouldn’t have it any other way. During this pandemic, we’ve thanked our coffee farm a million times over. Here, we have fresh air, ocean views and no trouble social distancing. Not to mention ample running space for our dogs (AKA the best lockdown partners ever).

Lately, folks tell us they're considering their own big leaps. They're inspired by my parents, a couple of green-tea drinkers who left New Jersey for Hawaii to grow coffee. They want to know how Ralph and I made the transition from employees to entrepreneurs, or from city life to a super-rural one. We’re not surprised. World upheavals will push you to places you didn’t know you’d go.

The message I give them is one you may need today: You’re more resilient than you think. So trust yourself, even when you're trying something radically different. You may find out, years later, that it's exactly where you needed to be. ~Joan Obra