Our Story
Aloha,
We are Armando and Karina Rodriguez, founders of Aloha Star 100% Kona Coffee Farm.
Our farm is nestled in the Honomalino Acres subdivision, South Kona, on the Big Island of Hawai'i, along the western slopes of Mauna Loa Volcano, right in the heart of the famous Kona Coffee Belt.
This area is renowned for producing some of the world's finest coffee beans. The ideal combination of elevation, climate, rainfall, and nutrient-rich volcanic soil provides the perfect environment for cultivating our high-quality coffee beans.
Our farm has a total size of 18 acres, which stands between 1,900 to 2,000 feet above sea level. When the property was purchased back in 2004, it was a macadamia nut orchard with 1,200 trees already producing nuts. In spring 2013, after almost ten years of traveling from Phoenix, Arizona to Hawaii to take care of the macadamia nuts orchard, Armando left the management of his small construction company to his brother, and we moved here, making this piece of paradise our permanent home.
When we first moved here, our plan was to sell Mexican food with the help of Armando’s mother, Doña Lydia, but things didn’t go as expected. Instead, we decided to start planting coffee, inspired by our friends Godofredo and Matilde Miranda, a couple from El Salvador who have been farming coffee on the Big Island for years. They generously gave us about 200 "keiki" coffee plants from their farm for free to help us get started. At the end of 2013, we began planting these trees between the rows of our macadamia nut trees, following their advice. That’s how it all began.
Our farm is our home, living on our farm allow us to ensure that we are only producing the highest quality of our crop. We have continued planting more trees every year, most of them developed from seeds. We currently have 10,000+ trees planted, and we continue to develop new keiki trees in our nursery.
In the summer of 2021, we had the opportunity to extend the size of our farm with the purchase of a 5-acre lot, which is located about 1 mile away from our main Estate/home here in South Kona, allowing us to increase our farm’s production.
As an estate farm, we take pride in caring for our coffee trees and overseeing every step of the production process from start to finish. We work alongside our seasonal pickers to handpick only the ripe coffee cherries, personally process the beans, handle the milling (removing the parchment), grading, and sorting of the green beans. We also manage the roasting, packaging, and shipping ourselves. Our mission is to craft the finest 100% Kona coffee, from seed to cup. Learn more.
Since starting this incredible journey in 2013, we’ve been on a continuous learning path, adopting the best practices in the coffee industry for growing, harvesting, processing, milling, and roasting specialty coffee—not just in Hawaii, but around the world. Our hard work has truly paid off, earning our farm multiple awards and recognition for the exceptional quality and flavor of our coffee.
This project represents the dedication, perseverance, and determination to overcome countless challenges, mistakes, and setbacks. Three generations of our family — our parents, our kids, and us — have come together, guided by love and respect for the land, the people, and our community, while staying true to our values and grounded in faith. We are deeply thankful for the chance to live here and incredibly proud to be 100% Kona coffee farmers. This work humbles us, allowing us to teach our children and grandchildren that through honesty and hard work, we can achieve our dreams and goals. Most importantly, it shows that being Latino immigrants is not a barrier to success, dreaming big, or taking pride in our heritage and identity. In return, we strive each day to honor the Aloha spirit of Hawaii and to uphold and elevate the reputation of authentic 100% Kona coffee.
Thank you for choosing us!
Armando, Karina, and our Ohana.
Watch Our Story on YouTube
In 2022, Our farm's story was highlighted by @khonnews in a documentary celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th - October 15th). The documentary, presented by veteran Hawaii journalist Jodi Leong, shares stories of members of the Hispanic/Latino community living and working in Hawaii and across the mainland USA.
You can watch the full video, along with other featured stories, on YouTube
Why Our name changed from King’s Cup to Aloha Star 100% Kona Coffee?
Originally when we launched our brand in 2015, we named it King’s Cup 100% Kona coffee. Named after the Hawaiian King Kamehameha the III, we wanted a brand that could honor Hawaii and its ancestors. In the Summer of 2019, we got a communication from the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) informing us our trademark application for the name Kings Cup 100% Kona coffee was not approved, since there was another trademark already registered on the US Mainland with a very similar name, which might lead to confusion of the brands by the customers. This setback implied starting over, finding a new name, changing our image and branding, reprinting labels, merchandise, etc. a lot of work and money lost. We did not give up; this was a great learning experience about how to turn a problem into an opportunity.
We started brainstorming ideas of a name that could be easily remembered and associated to Hawaii. We chose the name Aloha Star. Hawaii is the Aloha state, and at night our sky is clear, we can see the stars and the constellations almost year-round from our farm. We learned that about 95% of the stars visible from the planet Earth can be seen from the top of the Mauna Kea volcano, here on the Big Island. The brightest star at nighttime in the Hawaiian sky is Sirius (also known as Sirius A or the Dog Star) which is part of the Canis Major constellation. Just after sunset, as the sky gets darker, Sirius displays its light and the view from our farm is just amazing. We named our coffee “Aloha Star”, in honor to the Sirius star. In January 2020, after getting the USPTO’s approval, we launched our new website, with the new name Aloha Star 100% Kona Coffee Farm.
Our image and branding may have changed, but everything else stays the same. We remain dedicated to authenticity, top-notch quality, and the freshness of our products without compromise. Ensuring our customers' satisfaction continues to be our top priority.