Navarro Coffee Farm is located in the remote and peaceful Moa’ula Cloud Rest Area that lies on the eastern slopes of Mauna Loa, one of the largest active volcanoes on earth. It is part of the Ka'u region of Big Island, with the farm situated at an elevation of 2,100 feet.

In 1995 Nette’s grandfather was one of the first farmers to plant coffee in the Ka’u region. With the closure of the Ka’u sugar mill farmers were given land and encouraged to grow coffee which was picked and then driven to Kona to be processed and sold. By 2010-12 the farmers in Ka’u were starting to get recognized for the quality of coffee they were producing. The biggest buyer at the time was Starbucks who set protocols for the washed processing of the coffee and all the farmers in the area processed their coffee all the same in this protocol. When it was time for Nette’s grandfather to retire Delvin, Nette’s Husband, who had spent his life around agriculture and learnt how to farm coffee at the Olson Trust stepped up to manage the 20 acre farm. Delvin who was newer to coffee farming and not tied down by protocols and traditions started to experiment with some alternative coffee processing. In 2020 Delvin submitted a naturally processed coffee from the end of the season into a cupping review and blew the judges away. This was the affirmation he needed to throw away the rule book and start pushing boundaries on what coffee from Ka’u can be.

What is Mango Ale Fermentation?

Following on from last years experiments with ale yeasts Delvin has taken it to another level. Firstly Delvin made a fermentation base with ripe mango, honey from his farm and water then pitched a Norwegian strain of ale yeast called Kviek to kick start off a controlled fermentation. To this liquor he adds pulped Typica harvested that day. The coffee, mango and honey are allowed to ferment for 72hrs then are washed to remove the remaining mucilage and dried on drying boxes in the sun till 10% moisture.

Producers Name: Delvin & Shawnette Navarro

Farm Name: Navarro Coffee Farm / Hawaiian Monarch

Location: Moa’ula Cloud Rest Area, Ka’u, Hawaii Island

Harvest: Hand picked Spring 2024

Altitude: 2100ft

Variety: Typica

Process: Mango ale yeast fermentation

Drying Method: dried on raised beds

This is a relationship coffee from our friends at Navarro Coffee Farm .  Introduced by Mark from White Nene we purchased 60lb at $25 per pound. 

The coffee commodity purchase price at the time of purchase was $1.91/lb