"The impression from the judges and organizers is that Kona produces an exceptional cup of coffee from its heritage trees and has so many exciting possibilities for future creativity." Matt Carter, co-chair of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival cupping competition, said that after the 2025 results came in. His sentence names both sides of the question the competition has been asking for three years, and in 2026 it is the only question left on the cupping table.
The 55th festival runs November 6 through 15, with a ten-day program of 40 events. Most of the attention goes to the lantern parade from Kailua Pier and the Holualoa Coffee and Art Stroll. The cupping competition is where Kona decides what its coffee should taste like, and this year's rules have made that decision a simpler one.
Three years, same order at the top
The competition now has two divisions. The Kona Heritage Division is limited to washed Kona typica, processed without commercial yeasts, bacteria or inoculants. The Kona Creative Division accepts any Kona-grown varietal and any processing method. The two are cupped separately, and each awards a top three.
The split started in 2024. The Kona Coffee Farmers Association credited the change to UCC leadership working with farmers and Pacific Coffee Research. The goal was to honor washed, uninoculated typica and still make room for the new cup profiles Kona farms are producing. The festival described Creative as open to "any variety, processing technique, cultivation method, co-ferment, inoculation, etc."
Here is how the top published scores compare across the last three competitions:
| Year | Entries | Top experimental or Creative score | Top traditional or Heritage score | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 83 | 87.50, Geisha Kona Coffee, yeast-inoculated natural Gesha | 85.00, Darnall Estate, typica | 2.50 |
| 2024 | 80 | 87.55, tie in Creative | 86.69, Heritage | 0.86 |
| 2025 | 96 | 86.58, Hawaiian Goat Coffee, SL-34-28 | 85.08, Imagine 100% Kona Coffee, typica | 1.50 |
The 2023 competition used different division names, Classic and Crown, but the comparison holds. Organizers called the Gesha's 87.50 the highest-scoring entry since Pacific Coffee Research began managing the competition in 2018. Darnall Estate's 85.00 took the Kona Heritage Award for a parchment-dried typica fermented without yeast inoculation.
The pattern applies to the very top of the results and nothing more. The divisions are scored on separate tables, and the published summaries don't include full score lists, so the numbers can't show that experimental coffees score higher across the board. Heritage is also getting stronger. The 86.69 Heritage score in 2024 was the highest for the Heritage Award since 2018. The gap has ranged from under one point to two and a half. That is close enough that this year's awards could still go either way.
A smaller field than any recent year
The 2026 rules drop the Kona Certified Division. In 2025, that division used the Heritage criteria and added one more: entries had to come from a certified lot of at least 500 pounds graded No. 1 or above. Gandona 100% Kona Coffee won it with 83.92. The 2026 Heritage rules list no lot-size or certification requirement.
Entries are also capped at 70, first come, first served, at $150 each. Each farm may enter once per division, and each entry needs at least 1.5 pounds of green coffee. In 2025, each entry was exactly 2 pounds. The cap sits below all three recent totals of 83, 80 and 96. Submissions close Friday, October 16, at 4 p.m. They can be dropped off at the UCC kiosk in Holualoa on weekdays or mailed to UCC Hawaii at 75-5568 Mamalahoa Hwy.
Neither the festival nor the Kona Coffee Farmers Association has given a reason for either change. The farmers association's October 2026 newsletter notes that the rules changed and links to them without further comment. In the 2025 results release, festival president Val Corcoran said bringing the competition in-house was an investment in quality standards, transparency and farmer support. What's clear for 2026 is that the awards will come down to two styles, heritage typica and everything else, judged from a smaller field than any of the last three years.
Where the difference gets made, along Māmalahoa Highway
The two divisions differ in what happens on the farm: which variety goes in the ground and how the cherry is fermented, pulped and dried. The festival's 2024 release said those choices "greatly impact the flavor profile of the coffee." Several festival tours that show this work are a short stretch of highway in Kealakekua and Captain Cook. Here they are by date:
- Kona Historical Society's Kona Coffee Living History Farm, 82-6199 Māmalahoa Highway, Captain Cook. Tours run November 6, 10 and 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $15 plus the festival button, or $10 for Hawaiʻi residents plus the button. The farm is closed to the public through October while its interpreters take time off, so the festival dates are the first chance to visit this season.
- Hala Tree Coffee, 82-5966 Māmalahoa Highway, Captain Cook. Guided walking tours run hourly from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays only, November 6 through 13. Tours are free with the button and limited to 12 people each.
- Greenwell Farms Seed to Cup tour, 81-6581 Māmalahoa Highway, Kealakekua. Tours run November 9 through 13 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and are free with the button.
The Living History Farm shows how Kona coffee was traditionally grown and processed, the background to what the Heritage division protects. This year's festival artwork honors the immigrant communities whose work and traditions shaped Kona coffee. With 12 spots per Hala Tree tour and only three Living History Farm dates, these two fill first, so plan them before anything else.
Evenings in Kealakekua that week
Two evening events are a few doors apart on the highway. On Monday, November 9, The Theatery at 79-7384 Hawaiʻi Belt Road hosts a five-course Coffee-Flavored Supper Club from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $95 plus the button, and there are 36 seats. Last year's five-course coffee dinner was at Aloha Theatre. On Wednesday, November 11, Hale Cocoa at 79-7378 Māmalahoa Highway holds the Espresso Martini & Coffee Cocktail Competition from 5 to 7 p.m. It's free with the button and open to ages 21 and older.
Up the road in Kainaliu, SOKO Restaurant is showing fiber art by Ellen Crocker, Trudy Koszarek and Catherine Wynne through November 5. Receptions are on Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. Donkey Mill Art Center's exhibit "Revisiting Kealakekua Bay, Reworking the Captain Cook Monument" is up through December 12. On festival Saturday, November 7, the center adds cultural demonstrations and hands-on lei-making and lauhala activities, with registration required.
Sunday, November 15, in Holualoa
The results are announced at the cupping awards on Sunday, November 15, from 1 to 3 p.m., at Buddha's Cup Sanctuary Event Space, 78-1377 Bishop Road, Holualoa. Entry requires the $10 festival button, and the award-winning coffees are available to sample. Organizers also plan to have cupping feedback sheets at the ceremony. Each division has three winners, so there are six coffees to compare. Every entry must score at least 80 to be considered specialty grade. Scores are reported to two decimal places, and identical scores within a division count as a tie.
The button covers most events on this list and gets special rates on ticketed ones. Festival sources disagree on the age rule for children. The events page says children 5 and under are free. The July release says 12 and under, and several event listings require a button only for those over 12. If you're bringing young children, check with the organizer first.
If you spend November tasting both divisions, the lots on our own slope may come to mind. Hōkūlia's agricultural easements leave room for small-scale farming on the same Kona coffee land these tours walk through. When you want to talk about land like that, the team at Hōkūlia would be glad to show you the community.
