Coffee comes in many varieties. Figuring out what to purchase from a menu of different coffee beans, roasts, styles of preparation, and added flavors takes so much time you barely have any left over to enjoy your coffee. If you want to skip right to the best, choose kona coffee, which is seen as a special delicacy.

Kona coffee is made from coffee beans that are grown on Mount Hualalai and Mauna Loa, which are located in the Kona Districts of Hawaii. The coffee name therefore is derived from the region where it is grown. Technically then, no other type of coffee can be called kona if it does not originate from this area of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Growing kona coffee is difficult; it cannot survive just anywhere. The coffee requires sunny mornings, rainy afternoons, and mild evenings to optimally thrive. Because it requires such specific growing conditions, this kind of coffee is rare and is considered a premium variety of coffee by connoisseurs.

Kona coffee is sold either by quality or by type of bean. The two basic kinds of bean are Type I, made from a variety that consists of two coffee beans per cherry, one side oval and one side flat. Type II is from a variety that consists of one rounded bean per cherry. The types of Kona coffee that come from Type I beans are kona fancy, extra fancy, kona prime and kona number 1. Type II Kona coffees are the peaberry prime and peaberry number one, which are generally the rarer Kona coffees.

If you are shopping for gourmet coffee you will find some labeled as kona blend. Most of the time, these are true kona coffees blended with less exotic types and the amount of actual kona in the container could be very small (even as low as ten percent!). The other coffees are usually from Brazil or Central America. While Hawaii requires the proportions to be displayed on the packaging, federal law does not.

This type of coffee is available from many retailer merchants of Hawaii and areas situated outside Hawaii. Besides, you can also find such coffee in local coffee shop or in some restaurants.