Hilo Coffee Mill has East Hawaii brands perking
The firm has partnered with 40 small family growers in the area
Something's brewing on the Big Island as the Hilo Coffee Mill is leading a renaissance of East Hawaii coffees at its new plantation-style location in Mountain View.
While Kona has long reigned as producers of island coffee, the rain-forest districts of Puna, Hamakua and Kau, are also hospitable to coffee. In the late 1800s, nearly 6,000 acres of coffee trees flourished in East Hawaii until sugar emerged as the more profitable crop. With sugar's recent decline, small coffee farms are thriving again in East Hawaii, producing specialty coffees found nowhere else in the world. Coffee connoisseurs describe the flavor of East Hawaii coffees as nonacidic and smooth, with a robust edge.
The Hilo Coffee Mill is leading the effort to revive and nurture East Hawaii coffee by partnering with 40 small family farms, helping them process, roast, package and market their coffees.
COURTESY OF HILO COFFEE MILL
Hilo Coffee Mill has partnered with 40 small family farms, helping them to process, roast, package and market their coffees, leading the renaissance of East Hawaii coffees.
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Located in the Volcano Heritage Corridor, midway between Hilo and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the 24-acre Hilo Coffee Mill is open to the public Mondays to Fridays, offering complimentary educational tours that showcase the coffee production process, from plant to cup and every careful step in between.
Visitors on the road will be able to perk up at the Latté Da coffee and tea bar, and shop on site for logo T-shirts, coffee mugs, roasting and brewing supplies, made-in-Hawaii chocolates, teas, gifts and other wares.
Or, simply relax on the mill's large lanai with a mug of 100 percent East Hawaii coffee, and perhaps take a stroll around the farm, watching for native Hawaiian hawks and owls with Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in the backdrop.
For more information, visit www.hilocoffeemill.com, e-mail coffee@hilocoffeemill.com or call 808-968-1333 or toll-free 866-982-5551.