Big Island Day 4: Coffee Farm

Wednesday 3/18 was a relaxing day.  We woke up and I had cereal and papayas for breakfast.  Todd had Coke and popcorn.  Then we hung out and watched TV.  Around 10am we got to Lehuula Farms to meet up with owner Bob Nelson to take a tour of the coffee farm.  Our next door neighbors Fred & Annie made friends with Bob and his wife Mae while on a trip to Big Island years ago.  Bob showed us the coffee plants and talked about pruning.  

We saw his pulping machines where the coffee cherries get pulped and the outer skin, pulp, and pectin get frictioned and washed away.

Once the pulp is gone and are parchment, they are laid out on the drying deck.

I don’t have a photo, but Bob built a coffee drying machine himself too.  He uses that when the weather is too wet for the beans to dry properly on the deck.

And lastly we saw his roasting room.  

We met Bryan who works there and is “head bean wrangler”.  This is the roasting machine. 

At Lehuula Farms, all their sales are by phone or internet.  They don’t roast the beans until you order them!  And if you purchase 5 lbs, they’ll ship it to you for free!  Bob and Mae has three cats and they were cute.  We went up to Bob's house and he gave us coffee to drink.  Todd even drank the coffee black, which means it was very good!  We chatted a bit and then we ordered sandwiches from Rebel Kitchen up the street.  Then we went with Bob to pick it up.  

Then we ate our sandwiches with Bob and Mae on their dining table on their deck.  I had the shrimp and bacon sandwich and it was delicious!

After that we paid for two pounds of roasted coffee and left.  It was fun!

Photo with Bob and Mae and the coffee trees.

After the coffee farm tour, we went back to the condo and hung out.  Then we drove to downtown Kona and walked around the shops and the waterfront.  

We picked up more papayas from the farmer's market.  We had dinner at Mahina Pizza and it was so delicious!  We shared a salad and a pizza and Todd loved it.  

After dinner we went back and watched "Boyhood".  It was almost 2.5 hours but very good.  Such a new idea for a movie that nobody's done before  Enjoyed seeing the kids actually grow up.  At 9pm we watched the 50 anniversary special for "The Sound of Music".  Another day in paradise!