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Coming to Hawaii or live in Hawaii?
Note: Due to the pandemic, some of the features may not be available.
There's no better way to learn all about coffee and or tea than to take a private tour of The Mill. (Private tours consist of one to 5 people and may include bookings outside of your party. It's fun to get to know everyone.)
Your guided tour will be given by one of our seasoned employees who has extensive knowledge in the building of our business, coffee farming, coffee processing, brewing and tasting. And we love to share what we know.
Your tour will begin at the main building, a beautiful plantation style design built in 2005. As we meander our way to the back coffee fields, we'll be greeted by our cage-free chickens. They're friendly and love people.
We'll take you through what used to be an old sugarcane plantation and show you a hand-built water passage used to divert water from the heavy rains well known in this area.
Next we'll head into the coffee fields, lush from the tropical climate we know so well in Mountain View. See over 4 acres of coffee trees started from seed and nurtured for over 3 years before producing their first cup of coffee. Learn about planting, fertilizing and picking coffee, all of which are done by hand by local workers employed by Hilo Coffee Mill.
Then we'll head to the pulping area, located away from the main visitors' area. Pulping and fermenting coffee is a very interesting process and we'll show you how we do it all.
We'll start back, passing beautiful tea fields, which are in their early stages. You'll learn how tea is grown, cultivated and processed. Tea is a new crop for Hawaii and we're in on its beginnings.
As we return, you'll see where our coffee is dried, one of our toughest challenges due to the wet, tropical climate experienced year round, and we're trying to dry it during our rainiest, coldest season of the year.
We'll make our way back to the main building where you'll see our roasting room and get a refresher course on the entire coffee process. Equipped with 2 Diedrich roasters, each with a capacity of 30 pounds, we watch every roast with a human eye, not a push button operation. Now you begin to understand just how special our coffee is.
We've learned and seen a lot. Now it's time to taste and learn about coffee brewing and drinking. We head next door into the retail area and taste some coffee. You'll sample different freshly roasted coffees from around the islands.
OK. Whew! We bet you're hungry and we look forward to serving you cool drinks from our Lattè da Bar.
Tours usually run from 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Please select the options above. When we receive your booking, we'll get in touch with you to work out the details of your visit.
Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for visiting us. We hope to see you soon
@ The Mill.
We also provide:
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free abreviated (15 to 20 minute) tours without appointments
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free educational tours for schools (please call to schedule)
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other free tours upon approval
PLEASE NOTE: 24 hour notice is required unless you call ahead and ask if space is available. Cancellations will be accepted up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. Cancellations after that, or if you do not show within 15 minutes after your scheduled tour time, no refund will be given. Mahalo for understanding! Due to COVID-19, all protocols will be followed. Wear a mask or other approved face covering, and keep a social distance of at least 6 feet from another person.
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