Exploring Coffee Farms at the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival
An educational Sunday morning spent in Kona at both Greenwell Farms and Island Sun Coffee.
During my exciting three days attending the opening weekend of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival (KCCF) on Hawai‘i Island, it was finally time to drive out for a farm tour or two. With the purchase of a $5 festival button, KCCF offers free tours for attendees at multiple coffee farms around the island, so attendees can go straight to the source and see how coffee is grown on Kona.
Greenwell Farms
The first farm I visit is Greenwell Farms, one of the largest and oldest coffee producers in the Kona coffee belt. The tour begins promptly at 9:30 a.m. by our guide, Chai, a local Chinese woman who cheerfully guides us to benches under an avocado tree. We already have coffee samples in paper cups from the gift shop and Greenwell Farms provides umbrellas for free to protect us in case the sun gets too hot. “This is a special tour,” Chai announces with enthusiasm. “Usually, the daily tours do not include a visit to the roasting room or the harvest mill, but since this is for the coffee festival, you guys can take a look!”
The guide at Greenwell Farms taking guests on a tour of the farm.
Photo: Maria Kanai
Our group of 20 coffee enthusiasts start making our way to the roasting room, where the farm roasts 2,000 pounds of coffee a day. Chai explains how the coffee beans are roasted at specific temperatures and time lengths to achieve medium or dark roast. She lets us see and smell the difference from roasted and un-roasted beans, the difference between medium and dark roast. The dark roast is significantly smokier and has a richer smell. As a complete coffee novice, this was fascinating for me to learn.
Next, we walk to the tree farm where we pass various flower and fruit trees so we can check out apple bananas and avocado trees growing at Greenwell Farms. We learn about the history of the farm, which began as a cattle ranch owned by founder Henry Nicholas Greenwell in the mid-1800s and began selling and producing solely coffee in the 1980s. We then get to see where the beans are dried after being picked. Chai enlists the help of a man in our group to push back a red roof that covers the beans from the sun. We have the opportunity next to find and pick bright red arabica cherries off the tree. We get to peel the cherry and taste the bean. One lady is lucky enough to pick a peaberry—an arabica cherry with just one bean. Chai gathers all of us around to see. “There’s only 5% of cherries that are peaberry, which is why the peaberry coffee is so expensive,” she says.
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We walk through the coffee tree orchard and then stop by a black pepper tree, which we sample. It’s spicy, but not too spicy—just the right kick. We see how the coffee trees are grafted, to prevent pests, and then stop by the harvest mill where the first two layers of the beans are removed and then sorted by various machines by weight, size and look.
It’s a two-hour tour, and well worth the time. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes as there’s walking and standing throughout the tour over uneven terrain. If you’re interested in visiting, the farm’s regular complimentary tour takes visitors daily and runs much shorter, for about 45 to 60 minutes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Greenwell Farms, 81-6581 Māmalahoa Hwy., Kealakekua, (808) 323-9616, greenwellfarms.com, @greenwellfarms
Island Sun Coffee
Al and Donna Wooley, owners of Island Sun Coffee on Hawaiʻi Island.
Photo: Maria Kanai
My next visit is Island Sun Coffee, a family-owned and -operated farm by Al and Donna Wooley. A group of about ten are already there, and this one is much less “guided” and more of a talk story with Al, an older gentleman who is already in conversation with an out-of-state visitor when I arrive.
He shows us where the harvested coffee beans are dried and where the pulping machines are. He shares that theirs is a shaded farm, with monkeypod trees that help with growing the coffee trees, providing natural mulch to help retain soil moisture. This results in beans that grow slower, ripen later and a larger and sweeter than the average bean. Coffee is roasted in small batches, and despite its size, the farm has won many coffee competitions and has even been featured on the Food Channel.
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Inside the gift shop, there are farm-sourced chocolate bars for both sampling and sale, various coffees for sale and machines for packaging and making Keurig pods. This tour would be more your speed if you just want to stop by and talk story without going with a large group. There’s a beautiful sitting area by the gift shop, where you can chill with your samples of coffee and enjoy the expansive views of the farm.
Swing by Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a chance to learn about Island Sun Coffee and how their coffee is processed.
Island Sun Coffee, 78-6759 Makenawai St., Kailua-Kona, islandsuncoffee.com, info@islandsuncoffee.com, (808) 322-6575
