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Choosing a Kona Hawaii Coffee Tour is daunting. There are a myriad of farms. There are big farms, like Greenwell Farm and small farms, like Hala Tree. Short tours and tours that include classes on roastingand making a perfect cup. There are tours that are free and tours with a cost. In the end, we pick our Kona Hawaii Coffee Tour (s) based on
1)Location-Our bed and breakfast, Ka’awa Loa Plantation, is nestled in Captain Cook, on The Big Island of Hawaii. Wanting to avoid driving the entire day just for coffee, farms closer to our accommodation, work best.
2)Price-Our focus is on tours that are free.
3)Schedule-Even if a tour is free, it may require a reservation, meaning you have to be sure to be at a certain place at a scheduled time. It makes the most sense for our day, to reserve a morning tour, and give ourselves flexibility, by choosing a Kona Hawaii Coffee Tour, that allows for walk-in visitors.
Greenwell Farm
The early morning is spent at Hala Tree Coffee, a small farm, in The Big Island’s, Kona region. We made the morning reservation reservation for Hala Tree Coffee, months before our trip. Our schedule is open for the rest of the day, and scanning my list of farms, we decide to travel to Greenwell Farm, in Kealakekua.
Hala Tree farm is a small farm, started in 2012. Greenwell Farm is one of Hawaii’s largest coffee farms, started in 1850. Henry Nicholas Greenwell, is attributed with creating the type of coffee now branded as Kona Coffee.
Upon our arrival, we notice that, like us, people appreciate the flexibility of a walk-in (aka, no-prior reservations-needed) tour. Greenwell Farm’s visitors’ center is buzzing with people. We are instructed to sign in for a tour on the visitors’ center’s electronic device. The next tour starts in a few minutes. I quickly add our names to the list.
Greenwell’s Farm Tour is free. Tours begin every half-hour, 9:00am-3:00pm. For a cost, you can take the deluxe tour (where you can visit areas not offered on the free tour), and/or take a coffee brewing class.
Our tour guide passes out shade umbrellas for use, as there is a lot of sun exposure during Greenwell’s coffee farm tour. It’s an extra, thoughtful touch, that is much appreciated.
Our large tour group is lead to a seating area, a few steps away from Greenwell Farm’s visitors’ center. Our guide introduces herself,
“I’ll be your tour guide today. My name is Chai. Yes, like the tea, but I work on a coffee farm.”
Chai laughs. Her smile is bright and contagious. Chai started out as a coffee enthusiast, who took her passion further, and worked hard to become a Q-Grader, the coffee version of a sommelier.
We follow Chai deeper into the farm. She points out the details that make Greenwell Farm perfect for growing Kona Coffee. Warm sunny days, cool nights, and nutritious, volcanic soil.
Greenwell’s Farm Tour, takes you through the process of creating the coffee that ends up in your mug. We watch a pulper in action (the machine that peels the fruit), and see where the beans are dried.
Once again, surrounded by plants, Chai invites everyone to pick a Peaberry.
Chai then chooses the, “Peaberry Girl of the tour.” She chooses me! Peaberries are a rarer form of coffee berry that grow well in Kona.
Chai states,
“Peaberries are sweet, mellow, and fruity.” If fruity=quirky, Chai has excellent people instincts. Chai instructs me to open my Peaberry.
Surprise, I get a double bean! I’m asked to swoop my hand around to show the others.
Next, Chai leads us into the farm’s greenhouse. This is where new coffee plants are cultivated. Like C, at Hala Tree Farm, Chai discusses the 2021 coffee leaf rust epidemic. Greenwell Farm, jumped into action. They were able to cultivate a plant more resistant to coffee leaf rust. They grew as many as they could, and distributed them for free, to the other Kona coffee farms.
It’s one of the things I admire the most about the Hawaii Islands. People are interested in being a community and helping each other. They are less interested in competing against each other.
Chai is a lively, animated, tour guide. Love for what she does, beams through her facial expressions and grand arm gestures. In addition to being very knowledgeable, she is also entertaining.
Greenwell Farm has expanded to include growing spices and fruit. One of their larger enterprises is growing peppercorns. I’ve been to a coffee farm before, but I’ve never seen a peppercorn in its natural, growing state. I’m fascinated.
Our Kona Hawaii Coffee Farm tour, loops back to Greenwell Farm’s visitors’ center.
There are an abundance of flavors to taste. Greenwell’s flavors are more subtle than Hala Tree’s.
I’m pleased with our choice to visit one large coffee farm and one small coffee farm, on The Big Island of Hawaii. Chai is an amazing tour guide. Greenwell’s farm tour involves more walking, as you move through several areas of the farm. If you want to experience more of the steps to creating coffee from harvest to a bag of beans, Greenwell is an ideal choice. I was concerned being a big farm, it would be overcrowded and touristy, like our visit to Dole Pineapple Plantation, but Greenwell Farm preserves a chill, Hawaiian farm, family feel. It’s a coffee farm tour, not to be missed.
Read about our Kona Hawaii Coffee Farm Tour at Hala Tree Coffee
Find a place to Stay for you Kona Hawaii Coffee Tour
