We first fell in love with a sleepy little one-stop-light town called Kona on the Big Island in 1988. We couldn't stop thinking about Kona so we came back in 1995. We couldn't resist checking out real estate and eventually talked ourselves into acquiring our own piece of paradise. Our land was originally just a pasture with a few mango and guava trees growing in volcanic "blue rock", the most dense and hardest form of lava.

What to do with our land? Our land is located at a balmy 1200-ft. elevation, nestled on the slopes of the Hualalai Volcano. The land, located in the famous Kona Coffee Belt, is considered one of the world's finest areas for growing fine coffee. The combination of rich volcanic soil, warm sunny days, gentle afternoon showers, and cool nights, creates ideal conditions for growing coffee. As we are active outdoor people, we decided, in Silicon Valley entrepreneurial style, to start our own Kona Coffee farm. .

Coffee trees can grow in rock if the solid rock has been broken up. We had a huge bulldozer break up the rock so coffee trees could be hand planted. The drip irrigation system was laid out to ensure the trees receive ample water. We decided to irrigate the orchard instead of just relying on rainfall. Consistent water and fertilization make the strongest coffee trees and the best tasting coffee! We planted our coffee seedlings in the Spring of 1998.

We decided to name our coffee farm, Kiele (key a lay) O Kona Coffee Company. Kiele is the Hawaiian word for Gardenia and Coffee (Coffea Arabica), is a member of the Gardenia Family. When the trees are in full bloom, the small white blossoms create a marvelous sweet fragrance, much like their Gardenia cousin, which the tropical trade winds spread through the orchard.

First Harvest We had our first harvest in 2001. Coffee ripens slowly over several months and is ready to be hand-picked only when the green fruit turns to a deep red color which is called cherry. We hand pulped (removed the outside skin and pulp) and fermented the seeds overnight to remove the mucilage covering of the seeds. We then sun dried the beans for about six days. At this stage, the coffee is called parchment for the white covering on the beans. After drying, the parchment is removed by hulling. After we had done all this, we roasted our first coffee! It was so exciting to taste our first coffee crop!

Latest Projects Now that we have finished our new house, we are now in the process of setting up our own milling and roasting facility. With our own processing capability, we can mill and roast our coffee to meet our customer needs and maintain the highest quality of our coffee. We are also developing new products grown on our farm to round out our product offerings. Our latest products are tropical fruit jellies such as Liliko’i (passion fruit), guava, papaya with ginger & mint, our unique creation of Kona Coffee Jelly with vanilla, and our own creation, Hot Passion Jelly, made with Liliko’i and Hawaiian Chili Peppers.

We would love to share some of our coffee with you and show you our farm when you come to Kona. We, at Kiele O Kona are proud to be part of Hawaii's rich coffee history. From our Ohana (family) to yours, we hope you enjoy our coffee as much as we enjoy growing it. Aloha and Mahalo Nui Loa (thank you very much). Barbara & Fred Housel