Kaʻū Varieties Showcased By Big Island Coffee Roasters – CoffeeTalk

Big Island Coffee Roasters, a business that started as a coffee farm in Puna, now supports 25 local farmers by bringing their beans to cups around the world. The company, founded in 2010, by Kelley Stewart and Brandon Damitz, has turned the Puna Pink Bourbon coffee into an award-winning brand, a successful café, and a public roastery in Hilo. They have helped put the relatively young Kaʻū coffee on the map by focusing on revitalizing Hawaiʻi coffee and bringing more recognition to local farmers.

Milling is the step that comes after harvesting, which involves removing the outer fruit pulp of ripe coffee cherries, breaking down the sugars (fermenting) the coffee cherries, washing and drying. After the dried beans are sorted, they are sent to Big Island Coffee Roasters for roasting, which is the process of using heat to transform raw, green coffee beans into the familiar brown beans that unlock flavor and aroma. The beans are then packaged and labeled according to the type of coffee bean and the roast.

In 2023, Stewart and Damitz opened their first public roastery and café at 76 Kalanianaʻole St. in Hilo, across the street from Coconut Grill. They run production, order fulfillment, and the retail shop all in one place. In 2024, they shipped 31,000 orders of coffee beans grown across Hawaiʻi and roasted at Big Island Coffee Roasters to coffee lovers across all 50 U.S. states and 29 countries. Since they began keeping track in late 2023, local farmers participating in the farm-direct coffee and crop purchases have earned a total income of $9.6 million.

Kaʻū Morning Glory, the top-rated Big Island coffee with 97 points on Coffee Review, a leading coffee guide, captures the spirit of the southern Big Island and was carefully crafted from a proprietary blend of exquisite coffee varieties grown on nearby farms. The number of people who came to them from that review was incredible, and they have gotten a lot of exposure for Kaʻū and have been working with farmers in that region more than any other.

The Kaʻū Coffee Festival gives visitors and residents a chance to learn about the history of the industry and taste all the coffee that comes from 600 acres of farmland. It also allows farmers and producers from the area to come together to catch up without a feeling of competition. The Kaʻū Coffee Sensory Experience will be hosted on Saturday, featuring three to four baristas as they prepare 15 varieties of Kaʻū coffee using different brewing methods to best bring out the flavors.

While production numbers continue to grow, the café and roastery have earned Big Island Coffee Roasters numerous accolades and awards, including two this year. The café was recognized as the third best coffee shop for remote workers in a MarketBeat survey and was noted as one of the best cafés on the Big Island by Barista Magazine. With help from their staff of 25, the café and roastery have become a place for brewing workshops, espresso martini classes, mamaki talk-and-sip activities, and a place for people to celebrate.

Big Island Coffee Roasters will be joining Sen. Mazie Hirono for Hawaiʻi on the Hill and will bring Hawaiʻi coffee directly to Congress.

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