Green Gecko Coffee

What a spectacular surprise and truly a hidden gem! If you want to take a step back from the monstrous, touristy, and soulless industrial coffee plantations, this is the place for you. And it’s so much more than a coffee farm/​mill. Lawton, the proprietor, is an utter delight — very informative yet totally interesting and fun. In addition to coffee, he has myriad varieties of fruit trees and other plants and is eager to let you sample them. The coffee is among the best we tried AND priced very reasonably. Do realize he does most of the tours himself and may not always be around when visitors come by, so best to call ahead.
Simply put, if you want a true coffee farm experience without the tacky gift shops and hurried tour, this is it.

Have you ever been doing something and about halfway through you realize you’re going to remember this experience for a long long time? That’s what this was! Lawton was incredible, he took so much time, more than two hours with us. We ate so much unique fruit that I had never seen or even heard of before, right off the trees. We even ate ginger, leaves, and flowers, all picked by us. My wife couldn’t stop taking pictures, I think she even ignored her dad calling a few times before relenting and answering the phone. Lawton was full of information and was basically willing to take as much time with us as we wanted. I don’t think there was an inch of his farm that he didn’t show us in great detail. By the end we were drinking coffee and eating plates of fruit with him and his wonderful husband. They were so hospitable to us, a couple strangers from Oahu, I really can’t say enough good things. Also, they didn’t charge for the tour which is obviously very nice since they took so much of their time with us. We left with a bag of peaberry we bought and a huge, HUGE bag of fruit that they gave us. If you do one tour, this is it!

This is truly the best tour that I’ve ever taken… anywhere. We made the mistake of showing up without calling, thinking that this was one of the normal public tours that are offered at a lot of the farms in the area. Lawton greeted us, was flustered for just a second, and said that his partner would be happy to show us around the farm. Mike then proceeded to take us around the entire farm for a very thorough and personal tour. Along the way he picked fruit from their numerous trees, talked about how they make the farm sustainable, and answering all of the numerous questions that we had.
After the tour he brought us back to their gorgeous office to cut up the fruit (delicious) and to taste wonderfully brewed coffee. We really felt like VIPs.
I’d highly recommend that everyone check this place out for both the hospitality, as well as the fine coffee. Just be sure to call first!

Wow, AMAZING coffee and the hospitality!

Best coffee tour ever! We’ve talked with Michael a couple times in the morning at the Four Seasons Hualalai, where you can try their coffee at ‘Ulu restaurant (I recommend the Chemex) — he told us visitors were very welcome and to just give them a call to set up a time to stop by. Well, we didn’t manage to do it last year when we were on the island, but we did this time! Lawton showed us around the farm and gave us a very interesting history of their property, coffee growing and Hawaii in general — very informative!
While we wandered around, he picked some different fruit that we tried at the end of our tour with some coffee. These guys truly make the most delicious cup of coffee I’ve ever had, so I was happy to be able to see where it was grown! The farm cat, Kea, followed us around and flopped over for occasional belly rubs too :)
Definitely check this out if you’re into good coffee and have a couple hours to spare some day during your trip! Thanks Michael and Lawton!

«How much time do you have?» Lawton asked us when we arrived at this fantastic coffee farm in Kona. Of course, we came unannounced since we had only heard about Green Gecko just an hour earlier after I had posted pictures while we were at another coffee farm (Mountain Thunder). A friend, who saw my posts at Mountain Thunder, suggested that we visit Green Gecko. And off we went.
«We have until 6pm.» I responded. And so our tour began, which lasted 4 hours. Half of the 5 acres that Green Gecko sits on is devoted to Kona coffee, while many different types of fruits are grown on the other half. Fruit trees such as rambutan, soursop, mangoes, lychees, longans, pomelos, and miracle berries. Yes, miracle berries which we were lucky enough to have tried at Green Gecko. Miracle berries are the stuff that molecular gastronomists such as Homaru Cantu and Wylie Dufresne experiment with. After you chew on a miracle berry, acidic fruits like limes and lemons all of a sudden taste sweet and sugary.
But I digress. We are, after all, here for coffee. Well, for starters, their coffee is served at the Four Seasons. So, if it’s good enough for the Four Seasons, then it should be good enough for me. But honestly, their coffee are some of the best coffee you’ll ever have. No bitterness whatsoever but still full-​bodied and wonderfully mellow. For those who take their coffee with cream and sugar, you will not need those. Green Gecko coffee is a great coffee to start weaning yourself away from adding those two «additives» to your coffee and enjoy coffee as they are meant to be enjoyed: hot, black, rich, and delicious.

Mike and Lawton give a great educational tour about Kona coffee on their property. Their coffee was growing amidst flowers and fruit trees — limes, oranges, pomelo and other citrus, avocados, lychees, vi, rambutan, and others too numerous to mention.
Green gecko (lizards) lounging in brightly colored ginger blooms and birds of paradise flowers were eye-​catching, as well as the uniquely turquoise colored jade vine blossoms.
Buildings were nestled into the landscape and a few black lava rock walls that were part of an ancient Kona field system traversed part of the farm.
It was great to see good design and sustainable practices at work. Even better, their coffee, served at the end of the tour, was rich (and lower in acid). The real thing. I highly recommend both the tour and the coffee.

About 10 miles south from Kailua-​Kona. We had a great experience there. The guy, Michael and his partner, the architect have 30 different kinds of fruit trees along with cacao trees, mango, papaya, avogado, etc and he showed us all around their yard. Nice little area to use for weddings with great views.
He served us his coffee and it was out of the world. We got to know there is no regulation for Kona coffee, so when it says Kona blend, it means there is only 10% Kona coffee in it the rest could be from anything. So watch out before you pay $ 3 for a cup of coffee especially in Kailua-​Kona.
They have a beautiful office and home as well with very nice art. They are on their way to get their business going, but we know they have a gold mine. He didn’t charge us anything for a tour (lasted almost 2 hours) and I know he will in the future. You can purchase their coffee online as well.