Best Kona Coffee Farms: Tours & Cafes on the Big Island HI
Wondering where you can find the best Kona coffee farms when visiting the Big Island?
After living on the Big Island for a year I became a coffee snob and I never wasted an opportunity to try local Kona coffee.
The Big Island has over 900 Kona coffee farms, which might seem a bit overwhelming. However, not all of them give tours and tastings, so I’ve narrowed down the best I think you should visit.
Alternatively, if you just need a quick coffee to-go without a farm tour, take advantage of ordering Kona coffee at the local cafes I’ve listed.
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Best Kona Coffee Farms & Cafes in Kona
Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation
Tour Fee? No
Address: 73-1942 Ha’o St, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
I took advantage of visiting Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation after hiking the Makuala O’oma Trail down the road.
This coffee plantation is tucked away in a cloud forest on the slopes of Hualalai Mountain.
There is no parking lot, so I had to park my car on the street shoulder.
Walking up to the cute gift shop, I was welcomed by a table with self-serve free samples of their Kona coffee.
While sipping their warm brew, I was able to browse the shelves of products and souvenirs inside, away from the drizzly rain.
I also wandered to sit outside under the cabana and watched an informative video about the coffee process and their property.
I didn’t have to wait long for the next free, 15-minute guided tour, which runs every half hour.
A guide showed us samples of coffee beans through their various stages and guided us through their dry mill warehouse where a portion of the coffee bean magic happens.
I didn’t do it, but for $10/family group, you can take a 20-min stroll through their private garden, exploring the cloud forest ecosystem. With the provided guidebook you’ll be able to spot native Hawaiian plants, learn about Hawaiian culture and the history of Thunder Mountain.
You’ll pass an unexplored lava tube, perhaps see some wildlife, and end at an observation deck perfect for picnicking, overlooking the Kona coffee plantation and the Pacific Ocean down below.
Kona Mountain Coffee
Address: 73-4038 Hulikoa Dr #5, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
My favorite stop for coffee within Kona city limits is at Kona Mountain Coffee. It’s super convenient while heading north to Waikoloa or as the last (or first) stop for coffee from the airport.
Their basic menu keeps the stress of choosing a drink to a minimum. I always just get a simple iced latte. I like the smoothness of the Kona Mountain’s coffee, as it’s a little less fruity than some.
If you’re feeling peckish, Dirty Apron provides their baked goods for an on-the-go snack.
There is no indoor seating but there are outdoor patio tables and chairs to sit and enjoy your drink. I’ve even seen a herd of wild goats passing by the parking lot.
Kona Mountain Coffee is a family owned business selling estate, private reserve, peaberry, and flavored coffee beans. You can peek into the kitchen windows and watch as they roast small batches of their beans.
They also have an extensive gift shop with various Hawaiian-made treats and souvenirs.
Kona Coffee and Tea Co.
Address: 74-5588 Palani Rd, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Another good place to find some Kona coffee to-go in town is at Kona Coffee and Tea Co. next to KTA Superstore. This family-owned, farm-to-cup cafe grows, mills, roasts, and brews their coffee all within a 10-mile radius.
With a modern, chic white and black interior with wooden accents, this is one of the few coffee shops that has indoor seating for remote working on your laptop or meeting up with a friend.
Serving 100% Kona coffee from their farm, they will make up your cup any way you are looking for. Their unique menu item is the Kona Bullet, a hot drip coffee blended with grass fed butter and coconut oil, which was surprisingly not bad, and it kept me from having the caffeine shakes!
For a hot day consider their cold brew on tap (my go-to) or an Espresso Shake, vanilla ice cream blended with two shots of espresso.
Have you been to a coffee shop with Happy Hour? Well, Kona Coffee and Tea Co. offers one everyday from 3-6pm with 15% off in-store orders.
As per the name, they also serve teas, specializing in the Hawaiian mamaki mint. For fermented tea-lovers they have Big Island Booch kombucha on tap.
If you’re hungry, they offer a limited breakfast menu of bagels, half papaya, and acai (if their machine isn’t broken)
Best Kona Coffee Farms & Cafes in Holualoa
Heavenly Hawaiian Kona Coffee Farm
Tour Fee? Yes
Address: 78-1136 Bishop Rd, Holualoa, HI 96725
My favorite coffee farm tour that I’ve done on the island was at Heavenly Hawaiian Kona Coffee Farm.
I lucked out when I visited as they had walk-up availability, but I wouldn’t risk it and would suggest purchasing tickets ahead of time.
I was greeted by Umi the cat before self-serve sampling their different roasts by the pool, overlooking the coffee farm below and the Kona coast in the distance.
Their coffee has unique flavors not really found at other farms like:
- Fire Roast – has an actual smokey flavor to the coffee as it’s roasted in a peanut roaster from 1947
- Kona Sweet – the coffee bean is dried in its fruit giving it a fermented hint
After drinking all the coffee samples, it was time for the tour to start. We were given candy covered macadamia nuts and coffee bean samples, before being led on an hour long guided tour around the property.
They took us past Geisha coffee trees that grow some of the world’s most expensive coffee at $308/lb. We then strolled down the road next to the main coffee orchard before ending at the hoshidana, drying platform.
Their small gift shop for has their items for sale and if you ask, you can try a tea sample made from their coffee skins.
Other extra curricular activities include:
- Paint and Sip class – painting on their covered porch while sipping a brew
- Paniolo Roasting class – roast your own beans and bring home a one-of-a-kind bag of beans with you
- Brew Your Best Cup workshop -learn how to make that perfect cup of coffee yourself.
If you are interested in coffee farm work, Heavenly Hawaiian offers room and board for volunteer work. Ask them for more info.
Heavenly Hawaiian hands down is my favorite coffee farm tour experience on the Big Island, so if you do just one I highly suggest this one.
>> Book Heavenly Hawaiian Coffee Farm Tour Here! <<
UCC Hawaii
Tour Fee? No
Address: 75-5568 Mamalahoa Hwy, Holualoa, HI 96725
UCC (Ueshima Coffee Company) is one of Japan’s largest coffee companies that was founded in 1933. Their Kona coffee estate was established in 1989 on 40-acres of land.
The farm sits alone about 1.5-miles out of Holualoa town with an expansive view overlooking Kona and the Pacific Ocean.
Have a seat at the outdoor bar to strike up a conversation with the barista and sample their coffee.
After sampling, select what you want from their simple menu; order the popular affogato (Kona coffee ice cream with a shot of Kona espresso served in a chilled cappuccino cup).
Employees speak both English and Japanese and offer tours in both languages as well.
Take a free 15-30min tour offered almost every hour.
Or, pay to take the Roastmaster Tour where you can roast ½ pound of your own one-of-kind private reserve and even create a label with your face on it!
Their seasonal Coffee Picking Tour is kinda’ve a scam in my opinion, as they make you pay to pick coffee cherries for them during harvest season. You’ll spend an hour learning about processing coffee and getting out into the field picking coffee off the trees. But at least you get a 4oz bag to bring home.
Holuakoa Coffee Shack
Address: 76-5900 Mamalahoa Hwy, Holualoa, HI 96725
I stopped into Holuakoa Coffee Shack for a cup of Kona coffee while I wandered the street (not streets) of Holualoa.
Friendly staff helped me decide how to take my coffee (I chose cold brew). They serve Uncle Kimo’s Kona coffee, an estate coffee grown in Holualoa, and have housemade syrups for extra flavor: coconut, lavender, sugarcane, or vanilla.
They also makes their own baked goods, minus the tantalizing donuts. I haven’t had any of it, but they told me that their banana bread is always a big hit.
If you need a more substantial meal they also make breakfast and lunch dishes from scratch.
I like their rugged, open-air dining room with a bar overlooking the street for people watching.
Best Kona Coffee Farms & Cafes in Captain Cook
Kona Joe
Tour Fee? No and Yes
Address: 79-7346 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kealakekua, HI 96750
As defined by their highway flag, I can concur that Kona Joe is an Instagrammable spot for Kona coffee in Captain Cook.
Take the long driveway down to a gravel parking lot and walk into a well manicured coffee complex: gift shop to the right and coffee cafe and tours to the left with a beautiful green lawn overlooking the vista view of the Kona coast in between.
Kona Joe has their own patented process of growing coffee trees on trellises like grape vines. It takes years of meticulous pruning and training of the branches to acquire the desired growing pattern. By growing the branches on trellises and wires the branches and coffee cherries are exposed to the sun more uniformly and cause a more even ripening and the dissolved sugars in the fruit are enhanced.
Another unique process Kona Joe uses is not picking the coffee by sight and looking for a ripe red cherry to pluck. Instead they have their own scientific team to test the fruit for pH levels, sugar concentration, and titratable acids. Only when the numbers read the proper balance of acid and dissolved sugars indicating their optimum maturity do they approve coffee harvesting to begin.
You can take a free self-guided Kona coffee tour around the property, peaking into the warehouse with the machines and reading placards along the way.
Or, if you are looking for a more in-depth tour you can pay for a guided tour with a coffee-filled souvenir cup included.
They also offer coffee roasting experiences where you can roast your own beans to take home as a one-of-a-kind souvenir.
Their gift shop feels big but it’s mostly just products spread out to accommodate enough room for tour groups.
Besides finding their estate trellis grown coffee for sale, they also sell Kona coffee picked from neighboring farms but roasted by Kona Joe.
⚠️ Be Aware! They do sell a blended Kona coffee (Kona coffee beans mixed with international coffee beans), so if you are looking for 100% Kona coffee just double check the bag.
After shopping and exploring the grounds, I enjoyed sipping on an iced coffee from the cafe and sitting on the large covered lanai at the bar overlooking the property of trellis coffee trees all the way out to the Pacific Ocean.
Greenwell Farms
Tour Fee? No
Address: 81-6581 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kealakekua, HI 96750
I was pleasantly surprised with the ever popular Greenwell Farms, a down-to-earth coffee farm experience that was established in 1850 and is still run by the Greenwell family today.
When we arrived, we signed up at the computer kiosk for the next available free guided tour, which runs about every 30 minutes.
As we waited for our tour to begin, we hung out in the open air gift shop pavilion and sampled from the long row of free, self-serve coffee samples including flavors like macadamia nut and chocolate.
💁♀️Tab’s Trip Tip: you can come and just sample the coffee without taking a tour if you want.
The guide took us on a 45-60 minute tour among the coffee trees, coffee processing machines and buildings, down through their garden growing peppercorns, bananas and other fruits while giving us some coffee history.
It wasn’t raining on our tour, but if it was, they do provide umbrellas.
Sacred Grounds Coffee Farm
Address: 82 Anoi Pl, Captain Cook, HI 96704
If you aren’t looking for it, you might miss Sacred Grounds Coffee Farm. But that adds to the specialness of this Kona coffee oasis and is my personal favorite stop for the best Kona coffee.
Pull into the driveway is tight and there are only a few parking spaces in the tiny lot. But that’s okay, because there will usually not be any other cars there.
Upon entering the lodge-like building there are two things that strike me:
- Shelves filled with beautiful hand-thrown pottery
- The back door porch that leads to a panoramic view of Kealakekua Bay.
Bill, the owner and potter, will take your order from his very basic coffee menu – no flavored syrups and powders found here or necessary. His coffee is the smoothest, richest Kona coffee on the island that can easily stand on its own.
Everytime I sit on the porch, I feel any and all stress just melt away as I sip my coffee and take in the view with the coffee orchard and fruit trees below, a church steeple poking up down the hill, and the turquoise bay glowing in the distance.
And the best part? I usually have the view to myself without any crowds.
If this is your first time visiting his farm, Bill will likely invite you to wander among his fruit trees and coffee trees and let you pick some to take with you.
Kaya’s Kawanui
Address: 79-7300 Hawaiʻi Belt Rd, Kealakekua, HI 96750
Kaya’s Kawanui is a cute cafe hidden away in plain sight as a nondescript Old West-type building sitting alone in a gravel parking lot on the edge of Hwy 11.
Kaya’s is an organic bakery and cafe serving Kona Rainforest’s organic Kona coffee and mostly vegan and gluten-free foods.
Order your coffee black for the purest form or spice it up by trying their Lavender Cardamon Mocha.
The display case houses organic, vegan treats that will tempt even the non-vegans, like me. Their dragonfruit cashew cheesecake with an almond crust…to die for!
They also serve rotating kombucha flavors from Hawaii’s first state-certified kombucha brewery, Hawaii Kombucha, which you can order on tap or have them fill up a whole growler.
Along the walls are shelves selling Hawaii-made artisan goods like handmade soaps, art, jewelry, and various other knick-knacks.
Coffee Shack
Address: 83-5799 Mamalahoa Hwy Box 510, Captain Cook, HI 96704
One of the most popular stops for coffee and breakfast in Captain Cook is at the Coffee Shack. Parking is always full so you will likely have to find street parking, and waiting for a table is inevitable.
What makes this such a hot spot? They have one of the best views on the island overlooking Kealakekua Bay. The ocean seems to go on for eons. A lot of visitors make this their breakfast stop on their way to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
They serve coffee from their 1.25-acres of 85 year old coffee trees.
If you don’t want to wait for a table, get your coffee to-go and sit on the rock wall for your view or get back on the road.
Best Kona Coffee Cafe North of Kona
Waimea Coffee Company
Address: 65-1279 Kawaihae Rd, Waimea, HI 96743
In Waimea town make a caffeine stop at Waimea Coffee Company within the red and white Parker Square complex. Serving 100% Kona coffee, order your cup how you like it with helpful diagram signs, solo or doppio (single or double shots).
Order a light meal from their menu. They have bagels, sandwiches, soups, wraps, and salads (even a breakfast salad!).
I was able to find a space to sit in their limited indoor seating with cozy, wooden interior that made it a comfortable place to relax on a log seat while it was wet and cool outside.
If you can’t find indoor seating, there are also covered outdoor patio tables. There was live music playing on the porch when I was there.
They have a second location in Hawi at the Kohala Coffee Mill.
Address: 55-3412 Akoni Pule Hwy, Hawi, HI 96719
Serving the same menu items, the biggest difference between the two locations is the view and ice cream.
Hawi offers good people watching from the sidewalk tables while I enjoyed my lunch and drink.
Also, here they serve up Tropical Dreams ice cream, Big Island-made 18% butterfat ice cream! Yum!
Where to Buy Kona Coffee?
Kona coffee can be found all over the Big Island, as well as neighboring islands. Any gift shop or heck, even any grocery store will carry some brand of Kona coffee. Just again, beware of Kona blends if you are looking for 100% Kona coffee.
Of course you can buy it when you visit the plethora of Kona coffee farms. Most farms give you samples of the coffee before you buy, a huge bonus compared to randomly buying a bag that looks pretty off the grocery shelf.
Most coffee farms will also sell their coffee online. If you are on the mainland craving some Kona coffee it can easily be shipped to your door without having to fly halfway across the Pacific to do your caffeine shopping.
Kona Coffee FAQs
Where is Kona Coffee Grown?
Kona coffee is grown in the Kona Coffee Belt, a stretch of land on the mountain slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa. It is only a mere 30 miles long and about 2 miles wide, stretching about as north as the Kona International Airport down to the border of the Ka’u district near Ocean View.
Similar to champagne in France, if coffee isn’t grown within the Kona Coffee Belt then it is NOT Kona coffee.
Why is Kona Coffee so Special?
For the size of reputation Kona coffee has, it only makes up 1% of the world’s coffee supply.
The first reason why Kona coffee is special is that it needs specific conditions to optimally grow and the Kona Coffee Belt offers the best of all conditions:
- Temperate weather with consistent temperatures around 70-80°F that don’t go below 55°F
- Sun but not too much sun; shade or cloud cover in the afternoons to lessen the exposure
- Rain, lots of rain
- High elevations affect taste and Kona coffee is grown at about 3,000ft giving it a mild flavor
- Good soil drainage, the porous lava soil is not only good drainage but high in nutrients
Secondly, Kona coffee must be handpicked due to the steep slopes they are grown on, rather than picked by machine. Not only are they handpicked but they are selectively picked. This means only the ripe coffee cherries are picked, leaving the unripe cherries on the branches to finish ripening.
“I think the Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it by what name you please.”
Mark Twain when he visited the Big Island in 1866
How Much is Kona Coffee?
Kona coffee is some of the most expensive coffee in the world. For any of the good stuff, you’re looking at about $45+/lb for 100% Kona coffee.
Due to the meticulous procedure in handpicking the coffee, then processing it, not to mention the high demand for this Hawaiian coffee, the high price tag is really not surprising.
What is Kona Blend Coffee?
⚠️BE AWARE! Oftentimes you will see coffee labeled as a Kona Blend. These packages are legally allowed to only contain 10% Kona coffee beans, the rest could be from anywhere else in the world.
I see this as a deceptive way of marketing; using the Kona name but selling a cheaper product to unsuspecting customers.
If you are informed ahead of time and buy, that’s totally cool. But if you are desiring a 100% Kona cup of coffee, stay away from blends. Only buy ones labeled 100% Kona.
To get even more technical, when you buy a bag marked Estate Kona coffee you are getting coffee beans grown exclusively on the company’s own property. A lot of larger coffee farms will buy Kona coffee from other smaller farms, usually ones who have only 5 acres and don’t sell it themselves.
Learn about the Big Island’s other coffee:
Ka’u Coffee
History of Kona Coffee Farms
For the history buffs, here’s a quick run down on the history of coffee on the Big Island. Kona coffee has a 200 year old on-again/off-again story.
1820s – Brazilian coffee was introduced to Oahu and planted.
1828 – Coffee from Oahu was planted in the Hilo area; Reverend Samuel Ruggles planted a Hilo seedling in Kona; sugar plantation owners switched to coffee
1850s – coffee crops were destroyed due to weather and pests; ladybugs introduced to help with pest control; Henry Nicholas Greenwell planted coffee in the Kona area
1892 – Hermann Wideman introduced a Guatemalan coffee bean to the Big Island, what is known today as Kona Typica
1899 – the world coffee market crash causes coffee prices to plunge due to oversupply; coffee plantations switch back to sugar.
1917-18 – WWI brings a demand for domestic coffee and a Brazilian frost destroys its coffee causing a worldwide shortage.
1929 – coffee prices plummet due to Great Depression
1940s – during WWII coffee demand rose and Hawaiian coffee production picked back up.
1960s – tourism to the Big Island grew and Kona coffee sales rose
1970s – saturated coffee market brings low prices and high costs plus a labor shortage
1980s – coffee prices rise again and Kona coffee gains a reputation as specialty coffee
1991 – Statute HRS 486-120.6 law allows for a Kona blend that may contain only 10% Kona coffee but must be labeled as such(remember that Kona blend rant?)
1990s – Michael Norton misleads consumers by selling cheap Central American coffee as 100% Kona coffee, thus causing the government to require a certification from the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture to legitimize the coffee beans.
You Might Also Like These Other Farms on the Big Island:
• Lavaloha Chocolate Farm
• Kona Sea Salt Farm
• Vanilla Farm
Epilogue: Best Kona Coffee On the Big Island
You might have typed “Kona coffee farm tour near me” and found too many farms to count.
Finding the best coffee farm on the Big Island can be a difficult venture, especially because there are so many and everyone has their own coffee palette.
These Kona coffee farms and cafes encompass what I believe to have good quality, ambience, and an almost guaranteed positive experience.
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Pack for tropical weather but also prepare for colder than expected nights and early mornings, so a light sweatshirt is recommended. Check out this list of 5 Things Not to Forget to Pack.
