Holualoa Kona Coffee Company

We had a great experience learning about Kona coffee. The self guided tour allowed us to see the coffee trees up close as well as the roasting process. Carolyn and the staff were so welcoming, helpful and nice. Carolyn explained the growing process and processing so well. We were able to sample 3 flavors of coffee, chocolate covered peaberry and ‘Ili Kope Avo scrub. The coffee is wonderful and the scrub left my skin velvety soft.

Cool place to spend an hour. The lady was super nice and very educational. They even have some mango trees on the property and she let us eat the fallen fruit from.
definitely not a must do but if you have some time to fill, this is a nice to do.
Pro tip: the apple map will send you to the wrong place. Use google maps to get here.

They have a really great self guided tour! The women we met working there were unbelievably sweet. They answered all of our questions, gave us tasty samples, and even free bananas! I don’t even drink coffee and I loved their coconut crème blend :)

Visiting friends a in Kona, and wanted to get a bit of local coffee to make espresso with while here. My friend, who had picked with them in the past, brought me up to Holualoa. Tasted, and bought their barrel roasted coffee. Only problem, when we opened the bag it was burnt coffee. My home coffee is roasted in our house, and my job is culling burned and under-​roasted beans, so I know my product. This was basic garbage, as running one cup proved. Bitter and charred.
We went back, and I approached the woman who sold me the half pound bag, for over $ 20 by the way. She walked away with her co workers, and then one of them came back and asked for my receipt. Which, since I had no plans to return the coffee, I’d never even taken. «Really» I said? «I didn’t keep a receipt, but she (back to me for the rest of my time there) sold it to me!» They would not take the return, and actually told my friend, after I walked out, that they wondered if the bags contents were even the coffee they sold me. Like I’d replace theirs with the burnt contents of some other coffee?
I would highly recommend avoiding this business. You’ll likely not get what you tasted, when you buy, and I think they must rely on the tourist trade not making a return visit. They know what they bagged up, and somebody made the decision to package a burnt batch, knowingly. Very unethical. And to not even take their bag back, ridiculous!

Very nice rustic plantation. We were immediately greeted by the property cat, and departed with an escort of chickens.
They had two types of coffee, each one excellent. All organic. We chose the darker/​heavier roast. They also carry other products. We picked up a bottle of honey from Big Island Bees, which we’ll visit on our next trip.
Of the three coffee plantations we visited that day we found this in at the top of our list in terms of overall property and coffee taste.

Wow, coffee heaven!
What a great find on the Island. Great coffee that I can really enjoy…

Best coffee farm we visited ! And we visited a few.
The people here made us feel welcome and let us wander around freely between the coffee trees. The grounds are beautiful, there are also bananas and papaya. There are ducks and geese as well. They don’t show you any videos but instead are happy to answer all questions you have. Most of the tour is self-​guided. They hand you a sheet that walks you through part of the process. Then they show you the roasting and explain the differences between the different types of roasting. There is coffee you can taste for free including chocolate covered coffee beans.
This is a family owned business and all coffee is organic. The staff was truly friendly and easy-​going. We bought some of their fantastic coffee but did not feel pressed to do so.
There is a picnic table as well and you are welcome to sit down and stay for a while.

Really great coffee, try some samples while you shop. Love that it’s locally family owned and organic. The packing area ladies seem very nice, but we came too late for the tour. Didn’t seem like there was much to see though. My daughter loved the ducks and chickens!

Really great local coffee plantation. The owners were really nice to us. We actually came later than the posted hours and they still showed us great hospitality. If you are looking for a good local coffee Plantation this is a wonderful place. If you are looking for more of a large scale corporate deal you may want to go somewhere else. Great local coffee and great people here… Mahalo.

I have to agree with the previous poster. Absolutely the best coffee ever. Just came back from Hawaii after taking tours of several coffee plantations. This was the first one we looked at. The self-​guided tour was OK as it was not was I expected. But then learning about their roasting process (standing in the roasting room) mad eit feel more complete. Then we went to two other coffee plantations. We sampled the coffee there as well. Then came back and bought from Holualoa. Very smooth coffee with great flavoring. I’ll be buying from them in the future. the prices are bit on the high side, but you get what you pay for.

Very delicious coffee I like the flavored vanilla macadamia nut and the coffee was of higher quality. Liked the free samples and the lady that ran the farm was nice. I loved the self guided coffee tour and cute farm cat. Wish the coffee was in a
19 year olds budget too pricey but a good price for older people.

Really cute little coffee farm. Well, they have a ton of land but the tour area is a small area. It was nice, not too much walking and especially because it started to sprinkle. They give you a little paper explaining the different areas and you go on your own walking tour. Very interesting to learn about. At the end you get to see them roasting the coffee, then you get to taste it! I am not a huge coffee fan but I loved it! We bought some for presents and went on our way. Great little farm to check out, and its free! :-)

I absolutely love this place and highly recommend it. Now, you may ask why it got 5 stars and for me, it was really simple:
They have an excellent product and their staff is informative and very friendly.
I didn’t visit this trip (October 2011), but I did visit in May 2011.
This place has a huge area that you can look at where they have all their machines and information posted near the machine. I’m sure they give tours, but it’s actually quite fun to go explore yourself.
Now, the coffee samples are excellent. They offer two different samples so you can taste the differences. I forget which ones they have exactly, but they have their own distinct properties.
The coffee they sell comes in different varieties and roasts, some being organic, some not — they also can grind the beans for you on site if you don’t have a burr mill or grinder of sorts.
Now, I was really curious about their organic peaberry — when I asked if there really was a difference in taste, the lady said that if I could taste the difference in the two coffees (I had announced that one was actually bitter but still tasty), then I would be able to tell the difference in the organic peaberry. Well, I went ahead and bought a large bag (with no regrets, because it is truly delicious).
The other thing they had was chocolate covered coffee beans — now that I come to think of it, almost every chocolate covered coffee bean has tasted the same to me — I’m sure it’s because the chocolate over powers the subtleties of coffee.
They also offered mac nuts — these mac nuts were HUGE. Also, they tasted really good, a bit almondy and a little sweet. If you can’t make it to a mac nut plantation, their bag of mac nuts are sure to please.
Also, enjoy the free bananas they have outside — just don’t take the entire hand/​hands they have, apparently a customer had just done that before we arrived.
While this place is a bit difficult to get to and even a bit hard to find — it is completely worth the trip. You’ll have some of the best coffee you can ever taste and be treated with respect.

I’m surprised this great coffee company hasn’t had a review yet. Since my first trip a year ago, I have been buying the Peaberry Organic, it rocks! My test for superior coffee? — no need for milk/​cream. It’s got a great balanced taste with low acidity. The property has great personality as ducks help fertilize the land, and you can take a self-​guided tour that is fun and educational. The ladies in the packing area are always friendly and helpful. Love this place and love this coffee!

Good coffee, I love that it is certified organic.
The owners are related to the owners of Kona Blue Sky Coffee Co. They also roast for other organic farmers in the area.
Brought some back for coffee fanatics and they went through it fast. Needless to say they loved it.
Highly recommended.

This is a small but interesting coffee plantation, family-​owned and all-​organic. They offer free tours, which are rather brief thanks to the size of the operation, but pretty engaging. I especially enjoyed the roasting tutorial at the end. Of course they offer a few samples of their brew.
It’s great to support small, local outfits like this. Come by and say hello to the semi-​tame nenes.