This week the Kona Coffee Farmers Association described the coffee belt as a place where "the last cherry comes off the trees and pulpers, dryers, and mills continue operating at full speed." Picking is nearly over along Mamalahoa Highway, and processing is not. The association's president, Mark Petersen, calls this stretch the moment "marketing season is just beginning."
The crowds came to Holualoa Village for last Saturday's Coffee and Art Stroll. The 2026 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival still has four days left in Holualoa. Three farms on the residents' own roads are pouring tastings through Friday, and the cupping awards come to the village on Sunday afternoon. Together they show in public the way forward Kona growers say they need after this season.
The cherry math behind this year's cups
The August 2026 KCFA newsletter began the harvest with a hard number. Cherry opened at $1.90 to $2.25 per pound this season. The association estimates that a conventional Kona or Kaʻū farm needs $3.11 per pound to break even. The newsletter laid out what that gap costs:
- At $2.25 per pound, a farm with average yields loses $2,771 per acre in production costs.
- At $1.90 per pound, the loss grows to $3,893 per acre.
- Picking labor alone takes more than half of gross revenue.
- Breaking even at $2.25 would take 8,508 pounds of cherry per acre, which KCFA calls "well above what most operations produce."
Then the weather made it worse. The September newsletter reported that the winds and heavy rain of Hurricane Lala uprooted coffee trees across Kona, Kaʻū, Wood Valley and Hōlualoa. Many trees were lifted out after the soil became saturated and soft. That issue opened with farmers helping one another and acknowledging "the added work, especially now when we are picking."
The longer trend comes from KCFA's November issue. Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, Hawaii coffee production fell about 32% and average cherry prices rose about 11%. The total farm value of the state's crop still fell about 25%. Higher prices per pound did not make up for the smaller crop.
The August newsletter named three ways forward at current prices: replanting for higher yields, higher cherry prices, or "shifting toward selling roasted." Only one of those can happen this week, and it's the one the remaining Holualoa festival events are built on. A farm that pours its own coffee in its own tasting room is selling a cup, and a cup earns more than cherry sold by the pound.
Three stops on the mauka road, Thursday and Friday
Your $10 festival button covers all three. Festival organizers sell it at every festival event and say it covers 10 days of family-friendly events. Children 5 and under get in free. The farm event pages say a button is required for guests over 12.
| Stop | Address | Hours through Fri., Nov. 13 | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Estate | 75-5568 Mamalahoa Hwy., Holualoa | Store opens 9:00 a.m.; tours at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. | Pick ripe cherry and follow the harvest to the cup |
| Doutor Mauka Meadows | 75-5476 Mamalahoa Hwy., Holualoa | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; last entry 2:00 p.m. | Self-guided farm tour; taste coffee from the farm brewed in different grades |
| Buddha's Cup | 78-1377 Bishop Rd., Holualoa | 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Baristas lead a coffee flight, served like a wine tasting |
Each stop gives a different view of the same economics. UCC starts at the cherry. Its tours meet at the farm's retail shop and invite guests to "try your hand at picking ripe coffee cherry and witness how the harvest transforms to coffee in your cup." After the August numbers, picking a few cherries yourself makes clear why labor takes more than half a farm's gross.
Doutor's Mauka Meadows tasting pours its own harvest in several grades side by side. That is the sorting step that decides what a farm's coffee is worth once it leaves the cherry stage.
Buddha's Cup sells the finished cup. Festival organizers describe its coffee flight as "much like a wine tasting with the vintner or sommelier," with baristas guiding guests through the farm's "award-winning specialty coffees."
The two Mamalahoa Highway stops are open the longest, so they fit an afternoon. Doutor takes guests until 2:00 p.m. Buddha's Cup on Bishop Road closes at 1:00 p.m., so it works best as a morning stop. UCC's tours both run before noon.
Sunday on Bishop Road: where the harvest gets scored
The festival's final day brings its cupping results to Holualoa. The Cupping Competition Awards Ceremony runs Sunday, Nov. 15, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Buddhas Cup Sanctuary Event Space, 78-1377 Bishop Road. Winners are announced and given their awards. The festival provides light pupus and refreshments, and guests can sample the top award-winning coffees. There will also be games and prizes. The $10 button is required for guests 12 and older.
The village had a part in the contest well before Sunday. Under the 2026 rules, farms could drop off entries in person at the UCC Kiosk in Holualoa, weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., between Sept. 27 and Oct. 16. Here is how this year's contest works:
- Every entry must come from the designated Kona Coffee Belt. Judges cup the coffees double-blind and score them on the Specialty Coffee Association's 100-point scale.
- There are two divisions this year. The Kona Heritage Division is limited to washed Kona typica processed without commercial yeasts, bacteria or inoculants. The Kona Creative Division is open to any Kona-grown variety and any processing method. The top three in each division win awards.
- A farm may enter once per division, for a maximum of two entries.
- Any coffee scoring below 80 is not considered specialty grade and is disqualified.
- Entries were capped at 70, first come, first served. Each entry cost $150 and required at least 1.5 pounds of green coffee.
The 70-entry cap stands out next to the 96 entries the festival reported for 2025. In 2026 farms paid $150 an entry and gave up at least 1.5 pounds of green coffee in a season when, by KCFA's math, cherry sold below its cost to grow. Farms enter because a cupping score can be used when they sell. It is a public, blind result a farm can put on a bag of roasted coffee.
Bishop Road has an award like that from last year. In the 2025 results, Imagine 100% Kona Coffee took first place in the Heritage division with a score of 85.08. Kaʻawaloa Trail Farm placed second and Aloha Aina third. Buddha's Cup lists Imagine as its Heritage first-place winner from 2025. Head judge Sherri Johns led the 2025 panel with judges Yuya Kurihara and Makiko Nukui. That year Gandona won the Certified division and Hawaiian Goat Coffee won Creative.
So this year the host farm has its own Heritage result to defend. Sunday's guests taste the winners in the same room where their scores are read.
Saturday in town, where some of those farms are selling
If you go down the hill between the weekday tastings and Sunday's awards, you can find some of the same farms selling to the public in Kailua. The festival Hoʻolauleʻa runs Saturday, Nov. 14, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Makaeo County Pavilion at the Old Airport, 75-5500 Kuakini Highway. The festival button is required. The 2026 vendor list marks Aloha Star, Ohia Hale Farms and Two Owls Coffee as returning. Hawaiian Goat Coffee, Malama Kaʻāina Farms and Misma Lani Farms are listed as new. Hawaiian Goat Coffee won the Creative division at the 2025 cupping. This year, a year after that win, it has a booth on the Hoʻolauleʻa vendor list.
The Hoʻolauleʻa stage runs all day. Performers include Halau Hula ʻO Kawaimaluhia, Na Leo O Kahakai, Ballet Folklorico La Negra, the Tavares Bros, the Kona Visayan Club and Kona Daifukuji Taiko, along with the Miss Kona Coffee 2027 titleholders.
Two evening events fall on the same day this post goes up, Thursday, Nov. 12. The Kona Coffee Latte Art Throw Down has local baristas competing from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Kona Coffee & Tea, 74-5588 Palani Road. Chamber Music Night brings Daniel Lelchuk, Jason Sherbundy and Farley Sangels to Mokuaikaua Church, 75-5713 Aliʻi Drive, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The festival button covers both for guests 12 and older.
In the November KCFA newsletter, Petersen says the coming months "will determine whether this year's hard work translates into profitable returns."
Our team at Aloha Kona Realty Inc works with owners of coffee land up and down the Kona belt. We're always glad to talk about the farms, the seasons and the roads above Kailua that we know well. If this harvest has you thinking about coffee land in Holualoa, please reach out to us. Contact Us.
