Many coffee-farm tours are perfunctory 15-minute affairs. This tour, run by the Kona Historical Society, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute, is different and deep. More than just an exploration of how coffee is grown and harvested, it's an evocative look at rural Japanese immigrant life in South Kona throughout several decades of the 20th century. Restored to Hawaiʻi's pre-statehood era, this 5.5-acre working coffee farm once belonged to the Uchida family, who lived here until 1994.
Several of the docents grew up on area coffee farms, so they speak from experience as they show you around the orchards, processing mill, drying roofs and main house. On easy walking tours, you'll learn how to pick coffee cherries and prepare a traditional bentō (Japanese boxed lunch).
The farm is between Miles 110 and 111.
