Hula Daddy Kona Coffee — Attraction in Hawaii

This is a review of Hula Daddy’s Laura’s Reserve SL34 and their poor customer service. While the confirmed order shows their Bourbon Pointu beans that I ordered and their website showed it as available, in fact there were no Pointu beans available. After a number of communications about my order being late - they usually ship FedEx 3-day - I finally find out 9 days later - after I’d run out of all my good coffee - that they weren’t able to harvest any Pointu beans recently. I had to settle for a replacement, Laura’s Reserve SL 34. For the 2nd time in a row I received no shipping notice or tracking number. You might think it didn’t matter with the Pointu beans since they were never shipped, but I’d already complained to them about this issue before I was told there were no Pointu beans. So it should have been foremost in their minds that I wanted that info and also that it’s normal courteous procedure to inform your customers with shipping info, including tracking number. In fact their own software tells them to include tracking info, highlighted in blue. This appears on their order confirmation form.

When the SL34 didn’t arrive 3 days after I agreed to the substitution and I had received no shipping info, I assumed there was yet another delay with my order. Having completely run out of coffee I went to a local market and bought about $10 worth of 3 different kinds of loose coffee beans to see if I could find something decent to tide me over. When I got home I found that FedEx had delivered the SL34 coffee. Since loose beans are not returnable, thanks to the lack of any shipping notifications from Hula Daddy, I had just wasted $10. I didn’t like Laura’s Reserve SL34 as much as Pointu Laurina, which I love and would give 5 stars. On customer service alone I give Hula...

Wow. I don't think I even knew how amazing my trip here was until I visited other coffee farms in Hawaii, the other islands, and internationally.

HANDS DOWN THIS IS THE BEST COFFEE I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!

Bold statement? Yes! But trust me on this...the quality of Hula Daddys coffee and coffee farm tour is unlike any other.

I visited here last year and upon visiting other coffee farms I ALWAYS brag about coming here to the rest of the farms.

They taught me everything I know about coffee. Wow the tour...is INCREDIBLE. You learn SO MUCH!! Trust me I even knew more than some of the coffee farmers in Kauai from the knowledge I learned on this tour.

The main difference between Hula Daddy and every other farm I've been to is the absolute top hand picked and processed quality that you will not find anywhere else. Because they are smaller than the other big named Hawaiian companies, they still do things by hand..like picking only the ripe berries off the tree, instead of all of them at the same time. You can really taste the quality and feel almost robbed by drinking bad coffee your whole life.

The staff was really friendly, everything is clean and interesting. If you like coffee I would recommend this place for sure! It will change your life and your taste in coffee.

TIPS:

I would suggest calling ahead and asking about tour hours and also the best time for the tour

Come ready to have the best tasting coffee ever, there are samples of so many different kinds of coffees.

Dress comfortably, bring money to buy some to take back to wherever you are...

Hula Daddy Kona Coffee was at the top of my list to visit during our trip to big island. It was unfortunate that it was closed on Sunday and yesterday for the holiday. That made it our #1 priority today before flying out. It was well worth the wait and considerably more informative than the other plantation tour we went on. The tour wasnt overly crowded with only 4 adults and our rugrat in the group. Cost was $10 per adult plus tax for the hour long tour. Lori (sp?), our tour guide, explained the history and took us on a short walk around the grounds. She explained the differences in sizes and how they're used, how they manage their trees and problems that plantation owners deal with and how it affects harvests. Again, very informative. Lori took us back to the roast master and we were able to view a dark roasting from a highly certified roast master. That was a very educational experience as well. They were able to explain the types of coffee farmed at both of their locations on island and how they compared to other high quality coffee. At the tail end of our tour, they prepared us some peaberry pourover, which was my first time drinking that. It was very smooth and we purchased a lb. to take home. The staff was very helpful in explaining different types of pour over or other brewing systems to create a better brew from home. It was an amazing experience and well worth the time and money spent. An absolute must for coffee...