Quick, easy ordering, nice people, GREAT Kona coffee!
Written: Jun 29 '09 (Updated Jun 29 '09)
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Sweet Spirit Farms is at http://www.sweetspiritfarms.com, and is a direct-from-farm vendor of 100% Hawaiian Kona coffee and other food and small gift items via the internet. This is all well and good, but keep reading to understand why I say you should pay particular attention to the Kona coffee if you are, like me, a Kona fiend in the mornings. :)
I have been a customer at Sweet Spirit Farms since January, 2009, and have been extremely pleased at both the cheerful and speedy service AND the quality of the Kona coffee I receive from them (particularly the quality of the coffee, since I'm a BIG Kona fan!) ever since that first order. In Christmas 2008 I started looking around for a new farm from which to buy my Kona, since my then-current supplier had some service issues and the taste of the last couple of bags they'd sent me was... well... not BAD, but just sort of BORING. After perusing roughly 4-6 other sites and ordering a "test pound" here and a "test pound" there, I came across Sweet Spirit Farms and ordered a "test pound" from them. The farm, which produces certified 100% Kona coffee and ships anywhere for a very good per-pound rate (compare theirs to your local coffee shop with its middle-man markups), is run by a wonderful couple (with a gorgeous doggie named Nutmeg-- see their website!) named Deb and Paul Sims, who moved to Hawaii some years back after purchasing the land to build their Kona farm.
After making this order, I was quickly and cheerfully greeted with a "thank you" from Deb Sims, with whom I have since traded numerous friendly emails and gotten some good tips, tricks and offers (e.g. their coffee club). It feels good to think you're supporting family farm agriculture instead of big, uncaring corporate gobbledygook when you buy coffee this way, and it feels even better to get this level of service directly from someone at the farm-- which engenders a warm sense of "knowing the owners!" Again, it also doesn't hurt that you're getting 100% Kona fresh-roasted at order at these kinds of prices.
Which leads to the most important part of the review, of course-- namely, how Sweet Spirit Farms Kona actually TASTES. When it comes to my whole-bean coffee, I might well slap my own mommy, after all, if she tried to give me a bad bag of Kona, Blue Mountain or Ethiopian, my three "main" coffees!!! Ah, but this is where Sweet Spirit comes through most powerfully in my book; when my "test pound" made its way from HI to NC after only about 2-3 days in the USPS Priority Mail system after quick shipping, I immediately opened and sniffed it. It easily passed the sniff test, with a wonderful, solid fruity aroma that quickly identifies itself as very good Kona, properly roasted. Then, of course, comes the cupping test.... made a pot, put on my most critical "curmudgeon face" as I took the first sip, and immediately changed my expression, eyebrows raised, to "wow... this is really, really good on first taste." I kept tasting that cup-- and then a 2nd... 3rd... quickly downing the full pot (chuckle)-- because I found the Sweet Spirit Kona to be that flavorful and aromatic. This past year's Sweet Spirit crop, in my opinion, has produced one of the best Konas I have ever tasted. According to Deb Sims on the farm website, the 2009 crop is supposed to be better. I have just placed my first big order of it from them, and can't wait for it to get here. I have never had anything less than exceptional Kona from Sweet Spirit Farms.
NOTE ABOUT ROASTING LEVELS I like a medium roast in Kona, so if you prefer a darker or lighter roast, you will have to judge the flavor of your preferred roast for yourself. All I can say with absolute confidence is that, compared to many, many other farms (and local store-bought 100% Kona) I have tried over the years, the medium roast Sweet Spirit Kona is easily one of the finest. As such, I don't order Kona from anyone else these days!
A "coffee club" is available that offers a small but respectable discount on regular purchases of coffee, etc., and checkout on my purchases has been essentially effortless via PayPal with either direct-debit of your checking account OR a credit card (your preference... if you have a PP account already, you'll be checked out in about 20 seconds flat).
Service with a smile, from a small farm operation straight from the island where you're buying directly from the farmers-- and a couple of very, very nice people besides. And when you get the coffee, I think it should make an immediate impression as a very well-grown-harvested-and-roasted product from people who really care about their coffee, too. I think I like the fact that the Sims' appear to be very involved with the local "small farm" Kona-growing community as well. In any case, whatever the secret is to producing great Kona at an ever better price, they've got it-- and Sweet Spirit Farms is definitely worth your OWN "test pound" in the near future if you are, like me, a 100% Hawaiian Kona fanatic. I have relatively high confidence that you'll wind up, also like me, abandoning the "test pound" concept very soon and starting to ask when you order "how many 1-lb. bags can they get in that one Priority Mail box, I wonder?" :)
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: John
Location: North Carolina
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 0 members
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