The Coffee Festival's South Kona Week Is a Tour of the Recovery

"The processing plant was isolated for three months so we're planting as fast as we can." That's how Greenwell Coffee Farms' owner described the spring to Big Island Now in July. The March Kona Low washed out the road to the Kealakekua farm's plant. It also cut a ditch 16 to 20 feet deep through the coffee land, including the ground where the farm gives tours.

From November 9 to 13, that same farm hosts the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival's Seed to Cup tour twice a day. This is the 55th festival, with 10 days and about 40 events. Most of the program happens in Kailua-Kona, Holualoa and Keauhou. The farm visits along Māmalahoa Highway take you onto working ground that spent 2026 being repaired, and this year that's the best reason to go.

What the farm tours walk through

The Greenwell tour visits the nursery, the farm, the wet and dry mills and the roasting operation, and it ends with a tasting. On that list are the nursery, which Big Island Now showed full of flood debris after the March 14 storm, and the processing operation that sat cut off for a quarter of the year. Greenwell's owner said the farm took only minor damage in the May earthquake. He also said FEMA would be funding repairs at the maximum amount on a fast-tracked basis.

Farther south, the earthquake did most of the damage. The magnitude 6.0 quake on May 22 struck just south of Hōnaunau-Nāpōʻopoʻo and damaged water catchment systems across the Kona coffee belt. Many farmers and residents lost water for their homes and their crops. Daily Coffee News visited Kanalani Ohana Farm in Hōnaunau, which has grown and roasted its own coffee since 2001. The farm's tank liner took nearly two weeks to repair, and in June the tank still needed a new roof Hawaiʻi Public Radio described Hōnaunau growers hauling water in totes after tanks burst, with repair companies backlogged. Those reports describe June. The County said in July that agricultural damage documented so far ran to hundreds of thousands of dollars, much of it to water systems. It didn't say how many systems had been fixed.

So when a guide at a South Kona farm points out a tank, a mill floor or a young row of trees this November, there's a good chance the story includes the spring.

The cherry on the branch this November

The tours also land in the middle of a harvest that's hard on growers' finances. In its August 2026 newsletter, the Kona Coffee Farmers Association reported opening cherry prices of $1.90 to $2.25 per pound. By the association's math, a conventional Kona farm needs $3.11 per pound to break even. At $2.25, a farm with average yields loses $2,771 per acre, and at $1.90 the loss grows to $3,893. The same issue said breaking even at $2.25 would take 8,508 pounds of cherry per acre, well above what most operations produce. It named three ways forward: replanting for higher yields, higher cherry prices, or selling roasted coffee.

That last option matters for visitors. A tour that ends at a tasting counter and a gift shop is the roasted-coffee path at work, and a bag bought at the farm keeps that sale on the farm. Daily Coffee News also listed coffee leaf rust, coffee berry borer and rising production costs as pressures on this year's crop. Kanalani Ohana Farm plants avocados, cacao and other fruit among its coffee trees to soften the hit from the borer and the rust.

Timing helps the tours, too. In August, KCFA's president wrote that some farms were deep into picking, others were just starting, and a few hadn't begun. The October issue reported that Kona was in a busy picking season. Festival week falls in the thick of the harvest, so the orchards should be working when you visit.

The South Kona schedule, stop by stop

Every South Kona stop sits on or near Māmalahoa Highway, between Kealakekua and Captain Cook.

The Hala Tree tour walks through the orchards and each stage of production, then finishes with an estate-coffee tasting. Groups are capped at 12 people. At the Living History Farm, you explore on your own while costumed interpreters demonstrate historic coffee processing around a 1920s farmhouse. Admission is sold onsite. The Kona Historical Society's general page says the farm is closed to the public in October, so these three November dates are the season's reopening.

Hale Cocoa's site describes the property as a working farm with 2,000 coffee trees, 1,000 cacao trees and 500 White Pineapple plants, along with a chocolate shop, an espresso café and a cocktail bar. On November 11, Big Island bartenders compete there for the best espresso martini and the best other coffee cocktail.

None of the farm event pages says whether you need a reservation. With Hala Tree's 12-person cap, a quick call ahead before a busy weekday slot is reasonable.

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, just down the coast, lists cultural demonstrations at 9 a.m. on November 9 and 10, the first two days of the Greenwell tours. The park's calendar page also shows an older "last updated" date in its footer, so confirm with the park before planning around it.

An exhibition about the bay below

The festival event closest to home for Kealakekua isn't on a farm. Revisiting Kealakekua Bay, Reworking the Captain Cook Monument is on view at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa. It brings together eight artists and collectives who respond to the white obelisk honoring James Cook at Kaʻawaloa, on the shore of the bay. The show explores ancestral place, stories of intergenerational resistance in Hawaiʻi and the legacy of scientific colonialism in the Pacific. Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick curated it in conversation with Mina Elison, and Puʻuhonua Society organized the project. Donkey Mill lists Gaye Chan, Kaili Chun, Sean Connelly, Sally Lundburg and Keith Tallett, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, maliewai, Lawrence Seward and Cory Kamehanaokalā Holt Taum as the participating artists. The art center advises that some works contain mature content.

Donkey Mill runs the show from August 22 to December 12, 2026. The festival lists it November 11 to 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a button required for visitors over 12 and registration required. The festival's artist list doesn't match Donkey Mill's, so the art center's own page is the more reliable roster.

The button, bought close to home

Almost every stop above runs on the $10 festival button. It covers the festival's family-friendly events for all 10 days and gets you special rates on ticketed events. The current schedule says children 5 and under get in free. The Chamber's July announcement said 12 and under, so the schedule page is the one to trust.

You can buy buttons at any festival event. The festival's sales-location list for Captain Cook and Kealakekua includes:

• Kona Historical Society
• Kona Chips
• Ace Hardware
• Choice Mart
• Caffe Florian
• Greenwell Farms
• KTA Express
• Innovations Hair Salon
• Hala Tree Coffee

That page still carries a 2025 heading, so the farms and the Historical Society, which sell buttons at their own festival events, are the safest places to buy one.

The opening night happens up the highway. The Lantern Parade runs from Kailua Pier to Hale Halawai County Pavilion on November 6, from 6 to 7 p.m. In August, the farmers association wrote that it was looking forward to marching in it. On the final day, November 15, the Cupping Competition Awards Ceremony takes place at Buddhas Cup Sanctuary Event Space from 1 to 3 p.m. Between those two dates, the Kealakekua and Captain Cook farms open their mills, nurseries and orchards midway through a harvest that's priced below what it costs to grow.

At Marc Shackman's ʻĀina Luxury Realty, we see the coffee belt as part of what makes Kealakekua home, and the farms along Māmalahoa Highway as neighbors worth supporting. If you'd like to talk about the land, the farms or life on this stretch of the Kona Coast, we're always glad to share what we know, festival week included.