Big Island Coffee Roasters

In 2010, we stumbled upon a run-down coffee farm in a rugged region of Hawaiʻi - Puna - posted for sale on Craigslist. It could have been a scam, but with little to lose we thought ‘Why not?’. So we called the owner and took the chance. Up to this point, we thought that Hawaiian coffees were categorically awful, having only tasted artificially flavored, stale or burnt 10% Kona blends. Hoping to make the best from our new land, we dove into farm rehabilitation and the rehabilitation of the craft of coffee production. Having a background in organic agriculture and biology helped. And so the adventure began. After several years spent reviving the land, testing processing methods and training our palates to taste the results, the efforts paid off. In 2013, our Puna Pink Bourbon earned Grand Champion in the Hawaii' Coffee Association Statewide Cupping Competition and became the first and only Puna coffee to receive the award. That was year Big Island Coffee Roasters was born. Over the next few years, we consulted with farmers and tasted coffees from regions that were ignored, overshadowed by Kona. Utilizing local grants, we opened the first coffee mill in East Hawaiʻi in 2014 and began refining, grading and roasting coffees for neighboring farms, occasionally bringing them under our brand.