The free tour walks you past coffee plants on this 26-acre farm in various stages of production, from flower to cherry. The guide will deepen your experience by explaining what it is about the sloped, volcanic growing conditions in Kona that make Kona coffee legendary.
Tasting samples are on offer in the main room and there is a full-service coffee bar, including espresso.
The Roastmaster tour, $45, is a 40-minute intensive on the art of roasting green, site-sourced beans. Participants work with a half-pound of coffee and choose their roasts (10 options).
Staff supervises the experience, which includes vintage heavyweight early 20th-century roasters and a light-to dark chart for reference.
The prize is a coffee bag with a personalized photo and name for carrying home the freshly-roasted coffee.
Coffee sold by UCC is not ground, but cracked with a roller, or “crackulator.” This means no friction and no heating of the bean. Once cracked, the coffee is shaken to remove the chaff (which gives coffee astringency).
7 days a week, except Thanksgiving & Christmas