White Dog Coffee

Captain Cook is a coffee town in the literal sense. The settlement sits inside the heart of the Kona coffee belt, on the western slope of Hualalai and Mauna Loa, with Mamalahoa Highway running through it as the main artery. Most operations here are working farms with a tasting bar attached. Hala Tree Coffee sits on six acres just off Mamalahoa, USDA certified organic in a region where most estates skip the paperwork, with coffee grown, processed, and roasted on the property and free farm tours that end at a tasting bar.

The Mamalahoa register defines the town. The Coffee Shack hangs off the mauka side of the highway, perched 1,400 feet above Kealakekua Bay with twenty-six miles of Kona coastline laid out below the lanai. The building dates to the 1930s, originally housing for coffee pickers, later a Buddhist meeting place, sold to its current family in 2000. The kitchen runs 100% Kona alongside breakfast and lunch. Kona Joe Coffee a few minutes north grows trees on trellises trained along wire the way Cabernet vines are trained in Edna Valley, the only operation of its kind in Kona, founded by California wine-family operator Joe Alban.

The smaller farms anchor the rest of the map. White Dog Coffee, run by Heath and Jason on the western slope of Hualalai, roasts every batch to order, with macadamia trees interplanted between the rows. Cafe Florian a few minutes south on Mamalahoa Highway in Kealakekua opened in 2014 with Italian-born Rita and her husband Nick, who own the plantation and roast the beans, with a lilikoi tart that has built its own quiet reputation. The Pulled directory tracks 10 specialty rooms in Captain Cook proper.