Left Coast Farm...Long Mountain Coffee

Kim Johnson epitomizes the core values of the Kona Coffee farmer.  She runs Left Coast Farm like a one man band, and yet this three acre plot of heaven in the rising slopes of Honaunau is one of Kona's finest coffees.  Left Coast Farm won second place in the Gevalia Cup in 2005, and she grows, harvests, packages and markets her coffee under two brands, Left Coast Farm and Long Mountain Coffee.  While her husband Lewis continues his work at USC in Los Angeles, Kim is in Honaunau for extended periods running the farm from their amazing bungalow in the sky high above Kealekekua Bay and the City of Refuge, 2000 vertical feet below.

Kim is extremely active in the Kona Coffee community, and makes the most of her coffee growing enterprise, tirelessly keeping the farm going while upgrading both the cottage and the tending to the triangular forest of  coffee trees. Above you see the view from the back porch of her bungalow, looking down towards the ocean.

Here is Kim standing on the other end of that porch, a recent addition to the house, next to an Oheo Tree column from the notable hardwood tree felled on her property a year ago.  Kim produces around 3000 pounds of coffee a year, and its quality is consistently amazing.  The farm is actually on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa volcano, hence the name for one brand, for Mauna Loa means Long Mountain in Hawaiian. The label for Long Mountain Coffee is meant to resemble a wine bottle, and this is fitting, as the boutique coffee chateaus of Honaunau are to coffee what the small boutique wineries of Napa and Sonoma are to wine. Her Left Coast Farm brand comes in a vibrant cloth bag, but both brands reveal their true colors when brewed and poured in a cup, a sumptuous, rich, full bodied coffee with a glowing aroma and a deep smooth taste. Kim is a vibrant hard working and captivating woman who enjoys the challenge of running a coffee farm and is no stranger to hard work and long hours.  

You can find Left Coast Farm and Long Mountain Coffee on the internet at two websites: www.leftcoastfarm.com and www.longmountainkona.com or call 808 328 9039.