History of Hāmākua and Hog Heaven Coffee

Hog Heaven Coffee is nestled in Ninole, Hawai‘i — home to the smallest post office in the entire state! Ninole lies along the lush Hāmākua Coast, a breathtaking stretch on the northeast side of the Big Island that runs about 50 miles from just north of Hilo to the majestic Waipi‘o Valley.

Coffee has deep roots in Hāmākua’s history. It was first cultivated commercially in the mid-1800s during the missionary era, thriving in the region’s rich red volcanic soil (Hāmākua Gold'). These early coffee ventures flourished for a time, but by the turn of the 20th century, a collapse in global coffee prices led most farmers to abandon coffee in favor of sugarcane

For nearly a century, sugar dominated the landscape until the 1980s, when Hawai‘i’s sugar industry came to an end. The once-sprawling plantations were divided into smaller parcels and sold, leading to a new era of diversified agriculture and small-scale farming.

Hog Heaven Coffee Farm is part of this modern revival—one of a handful of small growers bringing coffee back to the Hāmākua Coast. In many ways, the region has come full circle: from coffee to sugar and back to coffee again. Today, the same fertile red soil that nourished crops more than a century ago once again sustains a thriving coffee community, producing beans with the distinctive, award-winning flavor and characteristics unique to this special part of Hawai‘i.