Hawaiian MauiGrown – 100% Estate – Maui Mokka – Natural 11 Screen

Description

New 2023 crop!  **** Small Bean Warning ****
Maui Mokka is a small bean to start and this is the smallest screen they produce! Natural processed, so a bit high chaff as well. The screen size is 11, definitely will be the smallest coffee beans you ever did see.

We have been waiting forever for our lovely Maui coffee! As many who follow our newsletters know, Maui confirmed at the start of the season that they did have a little coffee, then went to not having enough coffee. We were a bit bummed to say the least!  So how do we now have a great selection of Maui coffees? Most of their sales are direct on the island and rely heavily on tourism. The local sales have been increasing yearly while their harvests have been down for a chunk of time now.  Little did anyone know that travel to Hawaii would be so disrupted just a couple months later, which freed up a bunch of super cool island coffees! Knowing how much we love the coffee (well really how much you all like the coffee), we were the first on the list to call.

MauiGrown has done an excellent job learning from the last crop to improve the next. Every year they revise the processing method to leave it a little sweeter and cleaner. You can tell the difference just by appearance, it looks much cleaner. An old-world coffee with new world inspirations.

Maui Mokka originated at Ka’anapali Estate in Maui, an experimental coffee plantation project. They transplanted several native coffees from around the world, looking to derive Hawaiian cultivars with unique flavors; the Maui Mokka bean is derived from native Yemeni seed stock. The Ka’anapali project went under in 2002 due to funding issues. In stepped a group of connoisseurs who rescued the Estate from developers, and rehabilitated the original plantings. Today MauiGrown is a thriving farm model producing some very tasty Hawaiian coffee.

Tasting Notes:
Fuller bodied, low acidity with a complex chocolaty factor and some floral aromatics. One can see a little African like herbal spice note in the cup especially at the darker roasts. Light roasts get a little acidity but underdeveloped chocolaty tones, so this guy is pretty much a medium to dark roast Hawaiian. Medium roasts get just a hint more floral upfront, a little sweeter and smoother cup but most will want to shoot for right at 2nd crack – big bodied and a very nice chocolaty spice tone.

Roasting Notes:
Can be a little tricky to roast, high chaff and incredibly small beaned. Believe it or not, this is actually one of smallest beaned coffees we have ever seen! Be careful, they can end up in chaff collectors and/or fall through some drums. Make sure your roast method can handle much smaller than average beans if you buy this one.

With the small beans, they can go much quicker from 1st to 2nd crack than larger beans – so make sure to keep an eye on them closely. They are a high sugar/pectin beans, they tend to get a slight sheen on them earlier in the roasting than most, can be a little deceiving when judging them. I tend to roast at slightly lower temps and judge the roast by time from first crack. The good news, it is a very tasty coffee just touching 2nd crack – an easier to hit roast point.