We’re big coffee fans at Beat of Hawaii. Jeff hand-roasts weekly and the office crew consumes copious amounts of his fresh brewed Hawaii coffees. So when it comes time to find new sources of the finest beans from the islands, we’re always on the lookout.
Kona Coffee Festival
The 41st annual Kona Coffee and Cultural Festival is about to take place on the Big Island from November 4 through 13. And to find us there, look for us in our soon to be unveiled new Beat of Hawaii t-shirts.
One highlight is the famous cupping contest to determine this year’s winners. Here are the events I’m planning to attend:
1. Saturday Morning Art Stroll. This will be an opportunity to see great art while tasting coffee from (according to Beat of Hawaii friend and Hawaii coffee legend Shawn Steinman), up to 40 farms!
2. Sunday Picking Contest. Held at one of the coffee farms, this competition tests coffee pickers on speed and agility.
Where to find Hawaii-grown coffees
If you can’t make it to the Kona Coffee Festival but still want to try an assortment of Hawaii’s great coffee’s, here are some suggestions:
1. Beach Bum Cafe, Honolulu
Honolulu’s Beach Bum Cafe proudly serves only 100% Hawaii coffees from all of the islands. It is freshly roasted and brewed one cup at a time. You’ll find them downtown at 1088 Bishop Street, Executive Center Suite 101.
2. Mt. Kahala Coffee Co., Waikiki
Waikiki’s gourmet coffee shop is located at the Illikai Hotel. They roast all their own coffees on Oahu’s north shore. Their specialty is Hawaiian Coffees, from five different islands.
2. Coffees of Hawaii, Molokai
Our friends at Coffees of Hawaii offer up a consistently excellent variety of Molokai and Maui grown and home-roasted beans. You’ll have no problem finding one you love. Read our report of our visit from two years ago.
3. Kauai Coffee Company, Kauai
As you may recall, the state (and country’s) largest coffee farm was recently returned to the hands of prior partner Hills Bros. That not withstanding, if you want to try the best of Kauai beans, try their estate-roasted Peaberry, available only through their Eleele store.
4. Big Island coffee farms.
There are about 40 active farms in and around the Holualoa area near Kona. Many offer coffee tours and all ship their coffees to the mainland. Touring farms include Greenwell Farms that we visited and wrote about previously, a new favorite, Hula Daddy, Mountain Thunder and others.
Did we miss any places for great Hawaii coffees? If so, please let us know.
well I must have consumed gallons of the hawaiian coffee over our 2 week trip to the islands.
my favorite is the Kona 100% medium roast grind and I brought a few bags home.
we hit 3 islands, Maui, Big Island and Kauai. our favorite was Kauai, followed by Big Island. Maui was nice, but looks to be getting over saturated with mainland food places. do they really need an Outback and a Cheeseburger in Paradise?
our favorite eating place became Kalapaki Joes in Lihue, they have a great happy hour (3-6) and good food.
our only problem is tha twe are now looking to return ASAP, most likely in 2014.
thanks for all the regular updates and info.
Hi Can I buy a T-shirt? Love the info on my fav beverage!
Hi Laurie.
They won’t be in for a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know.
Aloha,
Jeff
We had a great tour at Greenwell and recommend it to any and all coffee lovers. We bought green beans to roast when we got home.
Before moving here I subscribed to Kauai Coffee Company’s delivery service because it is so worth the shipping costs. Now that I live on Kauai, I get it at a great price because it is usually on sale somewhere.
If you had to choose only one Hawaii coffee, what would it be?
There are coffee farms above Pahala too!