People ask us all the time who's actually behind Kona Mountain Coffee. Not the brand. The person.

It's Bill. He's our dad, our uncle, our CEO, and the reason there's a bag of 100% Kona coffee sitting on your counter right now. 

Business runs in the family

His grandmother, Emily "Honey" Ho, ran Honey's in Kāneʻohe. If you grew up on the windward side of Oʻahu, you know it. It was a landmark, and more than that, it was one of those neighborhood places where everybody ended up eventually. Honey was the heart of it. A hard worker, a loving matriarch, the kind of woman who held an entire family together with strength and aloha.

Honey's restaurant in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, where Bill grew up working

That restaurant is where Bill first saw what running a business actually looks like. Not the fun parts. Sweeping floors, scrubbing bathrooms, cleaning up long after closing, and paying attention to people.

But honestly? That's the whole reason KMC works the way it does. When you learn the business from that side, hospitality stops being a job description. It becomes a commitment to whoever walks through your door.

Emily "Honey" Ho with her son Don Ho

From a family restaurant to a farm on the Big Island

Bill carried those values across the channel into something already growing on the mountain. In 2007, he and his wife Stephanie became partners in an existing Kona coffee farm and opened Kona Mountain Coffee's retail and bar location, with a pretty simple idea: grow, roast, and share authentic 100% Kona coffee with the world. They've since taken full ownership.

Bill and Stephanie, owners of Kona Mountain Coffee on the Big Island of Hawaii

Before KMC, there was Kona Confections

Coffee wasn't the first thing Bill built. Long before KMC, he was behind Kona Confections, hand-making Hawai'i Korn Krunch and chocolates. Read more about us here.

Bill with Kona Confections' Hawaii Korn Krunch, hand made in Hawaii

What "100% Kona" and "Extra Fancy" actually mean

Worth knowing before you buy Kona coffee from anyone, including us.

100% Kona means no blending

A lot of bags on grocery shelves say "Kona Blend," which legally can mean as little as 10% Kona coffee and 90% beans from somewhere else entirely. Ours is 100% Kona, never mixed with other origins. It's the single biggest thing to check on a label.

Extra Fancy is a grade, not marketing

Hawaii grades Kona coffee by bean size and defect count, and Extra Fancy is the highest classification. It's roughly the top 20% of our crop. Bigger, denser, cleaner beans, which is what gives you that smooth cup without the bitterness people associate with dark roast.

Elevation does the heavy lifting

Our coffee grows on the volcanic slopes of the Big Island between 1,200 and 2,400 feet. The combination of volcanic soil, morning sun, and afternoon cloud cover slows the cherry down as it ripens. Slower ripening, more developed sugars, better cup. 

Thanks for sweeping all those floors, Bill.