Image: Caffeine & Co studio
The Coffee Atlas
Hawaii Maui Mokka
Maui Mokka is a tiny-beaned Arabica grown at Kaanapali, West Maui. Three Coffee Review lots scored 85 to 95, and this entry shows what they tasted like.
Flavor profile
avg. of 3 published reviewsScale: 1-10, Coffee Review / SCA-classic-form convention. Averaged from 3 Coffee Review lots of Kaanapali Mokka: Supreme Bean Coffee Roasters (April 2006, 85, medium roast), Paradise Roasters espresso (August 2012, 92, dark roast) and Rusty's Hawaiian peaberry (June 2012, 95, dark roast). Acidity is averaged from 2 lots only, because the espresso review scored 'With Milk' in its place. The lots differ in roast, processing and bean grade, are 14 to 20 years old, and span 10 overall points, so treat this as a loose sketch of the variety, not a category norm.
What it tastes like
Maui Mokka is a small-bean oddity: a Mokka Arabica with Yemeni roots that, per Coffee Review, reached Kaanapali on West Maui by way of Brazil. The beans are tiny and round, and MauiGrown is the estate that grows it commercially, alongside Typica, Red Catuai and Yellow Caturra.
The three reviewed lots read like three different coffees. The all-peaberry lot scored 95 for rose-like flowers, blackberry, candied citrus and dark chocolate, with soft acidity and a silky mouthfeel. The natural-process espresso (92) leaned into dark chocolate and dusk flowers with a buttery body. The 2006 natural scored just 85, with reviewers calling it sweet and floral but astringent, with fermentation they found divisive. Processing and roast matter a great deal with this coffee.
Supply is the practical catch. The 2023 Lahaina fire destroyed MauiGrown’s mill and store, though the fields survived, and a 2025-2026 harvest only recently ended a gap of more than two years. Expect limited stock and check the roast date.
How to brew it
Method fit for this origin · editorial guidance from roaster convention
A filter brew lets the floral and berry aroma read clearly, and the silky body and soft acidity reviewers describe suit a clean cup.
One of the three reviewed lots was a dark-roast espresso that handled milk well, but that is a single lot, not a rule.
Immersion should suit the full, smooth body, though it may blur the delicate floral top notes.
⚠ Fit tiers are editorial guidance drawn from roaster convention; no industry standard scores brew fit, so we show tiers, never invented numbers. Reflects the brewing contexts in which the cited lots were reviewed plus general roaster convention, not an SCA-defined standard and not measured data.
Caffeine content
Caffeine by dry weight · each gold dot = 0.1%
Caffeine content tracks species, not origin, altitude, or processing: robusta beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as arabica. Mokka is an Arabica variety, so this entry is 100% Arabica; no credible per-origin caffeine figure exists, and small beans do not mean more or less caffeine by any source cited here.
Where to buy it
Transparency: some links on this site are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Roasters are picked for genuine, current sourcing of this coffee, never for who pays us.
Hawaiian specialist and live affiliate partner. It sells Kona, not Maui Mokka, so this link is for comparing a different Hawaiian origin.
View lot→Ka'u-based roaster behind the 95-point Maui Mokka Peaberry reviewed in 2012; current availability not confirmed.
View lot→Selection is wide and Maui Mokka is scarce, so check roast dates, 100%-origin labeling and seller reviews before buying.
View lot→Sources & data
- Coffee Review: Maui Mokka Peaberry, Rusty's Hawaiian (June 2012)Score 95; aroma, flavor, acidity, aftertaste and body all 9; rose-like flowers, blackberry, candied citrus, dark chocolate; all peaberry, Kaanapali (1 of 3 averaged)
- Coffee Review: S.O. Espresso Maui Mokka, Paradise Roasters (August 2012)Score 92; aroma 9, flavor 9, aftertaste 8, body 8; natural process, dark roast espresso (2 of 3 averaged)
- Coffee Review: Maui Mokka, Supreme Bean Coffee Roasters (April 2006)Score 85; aroma 9, flavor 8, acidity 7, aftertaste 7, body 7; dry-processed with heavy fermentation, polarizing (3 of 3 averaged)
- West Hawaii Today: Kaanapali coffee farm feature400 acres by 2014; first MauiGrown crop in 2004; roaster's claim that this Mokka hybrid is grown nowhere else
- Maui Now: MauiGrown Coffee marks comeback with 2025-2026 harvest2023 fire destroyed the mill and store but not the fields; Maui Mokka is one of four varieties; roasted coffee now via local roasters
- Crozier et al.: Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake (Food & Function, 2012)Peer-reviewed: robusta beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as arabica, by species