This is my personal story of exploring coffee in Hawaii. Your experience will likely be completely different than mine. I will share some of my framework and how I fared on the islands.

My Coffee Framework

Before I jump into my Hawaiian coffee adventure, I wanted to share my coffee framework. These points are how I think about coffee and what I like after decades of experimentation.

• I only drink coffee in the morning before I eat. This is a habit that I have had for a long time. I rarely drink coffee late in the day, so my coffee window is about 6 hours in the morning.
• I like to try small amounts of coffee vs. large cups of coffee. Yes, a standard coffee cup is only 8 oz. That’s hard to imagine in our jumbo world.
• I prefer hot coffee for tasting. Cold brew and iced coffee are excellent, but for tasting, I find them not too helpful. Iced coffee was likely brewed hours before you got to the cafe.
• I prefer freshly brewed black coffee to espresso drinks. Most espresso drinks, to me, taste about the same. The added milk and flavors cover up the coffee’s flavor. They are great drinks, they are just something different than black coffee.
• My favorite coffee is from Ethiopia. I like the distinct flavors that come from those beans. It always tastes like I am drinking something special compared to the general coffee flavor profile. I know other regions have pronounced flavors, I just happen to prefer the fruity and floral notes of jasmine flower and bergamot with a slight blueberry aftertaste.
• I never really had Kona coffee on the mainland. I knew it was expensive coffee, and I didn’t have many opportunities to have it.

Why is coffee special in Hawaii?

Hawaii, particularly the Big Island, has ideal growing conditions for coffee. The volcanic soil is rich in minerals, the elevation is suitable, and the weather pattern—sunny mornings, clouds or rain in the afternoon, mild nights, and steady temperatures—provides an environment that coffee plants love. Hawaii is right in the coffee belt.

The “coffee belt” refers to the region around the globe where coffee is grown. It encompasses regions between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. This zone provides the ideal climate and conditions for cultivating coffee. The latitude, climate, elevation, temperature, rainfall, and soil have to be perfect for the finicky coffee plants to flourish.

Hawaii is the only part of the United States in the coffee belt.

Coffee on Oahu

I spent the majority of my trip to Hawaii on the island of Oahu—the island with Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, and Honolulu. Every place on Oahu sells Kona coffee. This is coffee from the Big Island. Even Starbucks sells Kona coffee in bags, but they do not have it available freshly brewed.

There are lots of coffee shops or places to get coffee on Oahu. Tourists expect it. Again, I am not looking for lattes and syrups; I am looking to try the local coffee varietals.

“If they advertise latte art, the regular coffee is not likely to be anything special.”

Hans Scharler

I tried a bunch of the coffee shops, and everything was pretty meh. I also bought a pour over coffee maker and kettle at Target to experiment with bagged coffee. Every place I went—shops, gas stations, grocery stores, Hawaiian ice shacks—sold bagged Hawaiian coffee. They were all the same brands, with no indication of when they were roasted or how long they had been sitting around. I semi enjoyed Maui Coffee made with my expert touch and some primitive tools. The others had no distinct flavors or anything to note.

I kind of expected this outcome. Like I said, being a coffee tourist involves a lot of misses. A hit, though, was the Honolulu Coffee Experience Center. I knew when I walked in that I might have a pleasant experience. They had a bunch of pour over coffee makers lined up on scales, and every order was taking over five minutes to process. Right in the center of the room, they had a giant working coffee roaster on display. I tried two of their options. I paid handsomely for the cups of coffee, but I also got a story about the beans, the cultivation and processing processes, and how they were going to brew it. This really does add a lot to the experience and rounds up any issues with the coffee that you are drinking. Context is everything. FARM TO CUP.

Coffee on The Big Island

I arrived at the Kona airport and was immediately presented with a lot of bagged coffee options in the airport coffee shop. Every brand was different from what I saw on Oahu. Everything was estate-grown. While waiting to get my rental car, I asked a local resident where to go for the best coffee. They gave me two recommendations, and they continued to say that everything else was pretty much for tourists (ahem, not sophisticated coffee tourists like me).

My First Cup of Kona Coffee in Kona

The recommendation that I got was to go to Kona Mountain Coffee. I punched in the coordinates and navigated about 3 miles to the Kona Mountain Coffee Shop in Kailua-Kona. YES. It was fantastic. I had an early morning flight from Oahu to Kona, and I was ready for a cup of coffee. They had two roasts ready to go, and both were fantastic. Distinct flavors came through—chocolate, fruit, hazelnut, and caramel. Waves of caffeine heightened the psychedelic experience after not having any coffee all morning.

This is also where I learned about peaberry coffee. Peaberry coffee is a rare type of coffee bean that develops when only one seed forms inside a coffee cherry, instead of the usual two. This happens to about 5% of the coffee harvest each year. Peaberries are named for their uniquely round, pea-shaped shape and are a bit smaller than the normal coffee bean. This makes it way more expensive.

Roasting Coffee in Kona

I wanted to visit an actual coffee farm, see the coffee plants, pick the cherries, and be in the room where it happens. A Google search yielded 50 options, with almost every option having the same 4.4 review score. I wanted to go off the beaten path and find a unique experience. Again, I am not just a tourist donning an ill-fitting Hawaiian short; I am a coffee tourist, dammit.

I picked Heavenly Hawaiian Farms because its high review score and glowing comments set it apart. Heavenly Hawaiian coffee is grown on the hills of Holualoa, in the heart of Kona. This place was hard to get to which also heightened the experience. I appreciated having a Jeep and the encouraging farm signs along the route. Heavenly Hawaiian had many coffee experiences that you could book: a coffee roasting class, a coffee brewing class, a coffee tasting bar, and a farm tour. I opted for the coffee roasting class. We learned about coffee beans, the roasting process, and how to reach different flavor profiles. We smelled the raw green coffee beans and roasted them using propane and a cast iron skillet. They taught us how to use our senses to perfectly roast coffee beans.

Using smell, sound, taste, and time, we transformed green beans into a medium roast. Our instructor encouraged us to take a bean from various stages and crunch it up in our mouths to get a sense of how the roast was going to turn out. In the beginning, the beans are earthy, and by the end, after The Maillard reaction, they start to taste like coffee as we know and love it and take on the flavors that the plant intended.

They took our roasted coffee beans and heat sealed them in a coffee bag. They encouraged us to name our coffee roasts and sign the bags. This was a great experience. Literally going from farm to bean to coffee all in one day. We learned a lot, and George and I got to share a wonderful class.

Finding Kona Coffee in Hilo

Hilo is on the other side of the Big Island. Hilo is not known for its coffee, but it is sold everywhere. I had a hard time finding a Kona-only coffee shop. They were mostly latte shops and didn’t even mention if the coffee was from Kona or not. I took Becky to Coffee Girl in Hilo, HI, and she had a delightful iced latte with a heart-shaped straw. Everything there was Instagram worthy. I skipped having a latte as I was holding out for a fresh brewed cup of hot black coffee. Our family goal was to hike the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, so I searched for a coffee shop along that route. I found Koana just outside of Hilo. YES! They specialize in “slow black coffee”. Koana is a local Hawaiian specialty coffee shop, located in Mountain View Village, halfway point between Hilo and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

Koana featured coffee from Monarch Coffee and other curated roasts from around Kona. This place had it all—Hario coffee brewers, scales, gooseneck water kettles, coffee tasting note posters, and novelty coffee mugs.

The baristas here told the story of each roast, explained the process, and demonstrated their love for Kona coffee. This was a really cool spot. If you order coffee from these farms over the internet, I recommend 2 oz coffee tasting boxes. I like having a variety of coffee roasts in small batches versus one big bag of beans. My favorite roast from Monarch (so far) is Ohana Espresso. It is surprisingly light and flavorful.

This is My Story

I think that it was worth being a coffee tourist in Hawaii. I learned a lot about coffee, gained a lot of respect for the process, further defined what I am looking for in a coffee, and had varied experiences. I promise you that I am not a coffee snob, I just love using coffee as a backdrop for travel especially in a place where coffee is grown. I recommend that you avoid the lattes, find a cool place, and craft your own experience.

I got so much more than a great cup of coffee. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted. The person asked me if I wanted to take a tour. My interest was piqued. I thought that I was walking into a coffee shop. I was actually walking into a family-ran business briming with pride and enthusiasm. I soon learned that the Hilltop Packs Coffee also makes lightweight equipment for hiking, makes and designs their products inhouse, and have areas for coffee roasting, sulimation printing, and sewing. I saw stacks of outbound orders ready for the pickup by USPS, FedEx, and UPS. This place had a lot of energy. It was alive.

I was given a sample cup to try their daily brews. They serve drip coffee and rotate what you can get in person each day. I tried Bean Juice, Covered Bridge, Bucktown Elbow, Coal Dust, and The Office blends. I enjoyed them all. It was so great to have a great cup of coffee after weeks of hospital and hotel coffee.

I suspect that this shop sells mostly online. I took a look at their website and they have great marketing and social presence. It was really a joy to see their home and then see how they present online. I ended up picking up some coffee to take back home.

On the tour, they took me into the coffee roasting area. I saw the usual equipment, supplies, and was surprised to see a K-cup filling machine. I ahven’t seen this too many times at local roaster but I think it is a great idea to get people into their coffee or add on to their camping products order. The biggest delight was their sign hanging in the coffee roasting area: Be Brave Enough to Suck at Something New. It gave me a Ted Lasso Believe vibe, but it was truly inspiring. When my brother came into town, I made sure to show him the sign and get him a fresh cup of coffee. I was showing him around the place like I had been going their my whole life. When we were there, someone flashed through showing everyone the new beanie that they designed. I could tell that they were proud of the work and they just wanted to show it around to everyone customer or not. The beanie as I understand was from many trials and attempts and this one was a success. Be brave.

My dad was right. You can easily treat anything as an adventure. There’s always something new to discover if you try and shift your perspective around. I am so happy that I sought out something new. Not only did I walk away with some great coffee, but I also brought back a bit of inspiration from the Hilltop Packs Coffee experience. Find something new.

I have always been fascinated by using cards for TV show and movie scripts. I follow Thomas Schnauz, writer/producer for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, on Twitter and he occasionally posts the cards for his episodes. This process seems to scale to any level of complexity.

This got me wondering about some things. I am mostly a rational person. I believe in the scientific method yet I believe my actions leading up to a football game somehow influence the outcome of a game. That is irrational… or is it?

The double-slit experiment demonstrates that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles depending on observation. The observer is somehow influencing the photons in the experiment. Maybe there is something to my lucky cup or maybe humans really love finding patterns.

The 2021 NFL football season has returned with stadiums full of cheering fans. Do NFL Fans Really Affect Games? The Seattle Seahawks believe so much in their fanbase that they call them collectively, “The 12th Man”. The sound generated by this crowd reached sound levels louder than a jet engine.

So, who’s to say? But, get your act together, find your lucky tokens, watch your favorite teams, and enjoy the game. It feels much more fun being involved and connected to the outcome. Cheers.

I have made a lot of coffee over the past year. I enjoy fresh roasted coffee and I like trying new ones. I always feel, “What’s the worst that could happen?” If it is not a great cup, I just make another. Change something and try again. I have the time right now.

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters

I am always looking for coffee roasters around the United States. When I traveled a lot, I tried out new roasters based on some minimal research. Part of the fun was discovering something new. I moved my search online. Through some circuitous channels I found Cellar Door Coffee Roasters in Portland, OR. “Roasted, brewed and served with love.”

I bought two 12oz bags of whole beans: Mexico Chiapas Organic and Big Shot Blend. Big Shot lives up to its name. Its bold but packed full of flavor. The Mexico Chiapas is velvety smooth, nutty, and berry. I recommend either for your morning ritual. For pour over, I found that I had to go finer on the grind. My normal grind setting resulted in a fast and thin extraction. The finer grind allowed the brewing to slow down and extract more of the flavors.

What’s your favorite local coffee roaster? Let me know. I am always looking to try new ones out and support local businesses… online.

I watched a number of videos on how to make coffee using a pour-over coffee maker. It seems rather simple. But, I the devil is in the details along with a much better cup of coffee. I recommend watching a view videos and then trying it out.

Here are some notes that might help you get to a better cup of coffee quicker:

• Choose a ceramic pour-over coffee brewer
• Use a burr coffee grinder
• Use fresh roasted coffee if you can
• Use a gooseneck water pot to control the water pouring over the coffee grounds
• Use a little water to heat up the brewer and cup before starting the brewing – this helps keep the coffee hot throughout the process
• When you start the pour-over brewing process, pour water over and allow the coffee to bloom – you will see a “foam” of bubbling up from the grounds – stop pouring water and let it foam up a bit – the fresher the coffee the more bloom you will see
• Have fun trying things out

I am still learning and want to keep taking this further. The one thing I keep seeing people doing is weighing everything out on a scale – including the water. As I experiment more, I might have to try that so I can control the quality, but in general I have been making some very good, full-flavor cups of coffee without precise measurement.

These sentiments might not mean much to a person that doesn’t drink coffee (or tea), but I am sure you can find a parallel substance in your life. I am not talking about drinking coffee for the sake of drinking coffee, not the times you need it to wake up, but rather the experience of coffee. When you couple a perfect moment with the perfect cup, you create a truly great experience.

“It was a pleasant cafe, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water-proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a cafe au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.”

Ernest Hemingway

I would rather have a brewed coffee or espresso vs. a latte or cappuccino. Certain large-scale coffee vendors have serialized the coffee drink to the point where coffee is second to sugar. A Cafe Americano (espresso plus hot water) is about the best value (but I noticed Starbucks raises the price $.35 every quarter). I am not a purist but I am in it for the coffee taste. I am so much not a purist that sometimes I say “Expresso” when I am in the company of those who take it too far. I like to miss use words and see the retractions, most just simply ignore me.

What are the ingredients of the perfect cup of coffee? I am going to conclude that the situation is just as significant as the actual cup of coffee. Take away the experience and it probably would taste as it tastes from a truck stop in North Dakota. When I am home I meticulously attempt to make the perfect cup of coffee using apparatuses from all over the world.

Here is my approach to the pursuit of the perfect cup:

• Invite a friend (or better yet have the friend make your coffee)

• Have a notebook handy for those best ideas

• Mute the mobile

• Grind a whole bean roast (French is one of the best coffee tastes)

• Use a fine grind for the Aeropress

• Use a coarse grind for the French Press

• Use medium grind for the drip

• Use filtered water and ceramic mugs

• Boil the water and then let it cool off for 2 minutes

• Use a little of the hot water to warm up the carafe and cups

• Brew in your preferred fashion (I prefer the Aeropress for dark roasts and the French press for lighter roasts)

• Don’t overdo the steeping – bitterness is what most people don’t enjoy (bitterness is caused by overheating and over brewing)

• Pour into mugs

• Add warm milk if necessary (a Cafe Au Lait is equal parts coffee and warmed milk)

• Create your moment and enjoy

It’s a lot of work that needs continual attention and improvement. A lot can go wrong, but the overwhelming ingredient is timing.