You are here

Kona Coffee Roasts

French, Vienna Roast or American Roast for Kona Coffee?

We have three roasts at Mountain Thunder for our 100% Kona Coffee: American, Vienna, and French. Some use light, medium and dark roast, while others use city, full-city and full city+. 

The most important consideration is personal preference. Just like wine, it's all a matter of buying and drinking what you like. 

For those who prefer a light roast, we offer our American Roast. The beans are roasted to a medium-to light-brown color and do not show any of the natural oils on the bean. The American roast beans tend to have a slightly sweeter taste and are higher in caffeine level than the Vienna or French roast beans.

Our most popular roast is our Vienna Roast. This is a lighter roast that suits the Kona Coffee beans very well. It brings out the nutty, chocolately and slight cinnamon overtones in typical Kona Coffee. It has a medium-dark color and is sometimes called a Medium or Medium-Dark Roast.

Our French Roast is a bit different from what you may find at a coffee chain or your supermarket. Many "French Roasts" are actually burned coffee that offers the major wholesalers and chains to hide the taste of the lower grade coffee they buy. As such, many coffee aficionados will point out that some of the big chains serve "burnt" coffee. At Mountain Thunder, we have a proprietary process that includes small batches, high tech roasters and the ever-vigilant eyes of our master roasters to ensure that our French Roast is not burned. Our French Roast beans will have some of the natural oils of the coffee bean on the surface.

We generally find that Europeans tend to prefer the slightly bitter French Roast and stronger aroma. Many espresso aficionados also prefer the darker roast.

Black and Tan is a combination of our French Roast beans and our American Roast.

Black and Brown is a mix of our French Roast and our Vienna Roast.

 kona coffee roasts