In 2010, Brandon and Kelleigh found a small coffee farm in a wild, disadvantaged region of Hawai'i, Puna, posted on Craigslist. With little to lose they thought, “Why not?”. They quickly integrated with the community of farmers and sampled coffees from around Hawai'i, surprised by the local diversity that often gets overshadowed.

Their goal was to share the diverse, authentic Hawaiian coffees they tasted and the stories behind them. Milled in small batches, roasted to order, specialty grade.

Over the next three years, they taught themselves to farm, process, and roast Hawaiian coffee. The end goal was always the same: the objectively best Hawaiian coffee they could produce from their land. When they found methods that produced great results, they worked with neighboring farmers to do the same and began sourcing their coffees as well. To their surprise, their obsession paid off.

They were awarded a Hawai'i State Senate Certificate for “putting Puna on the map” and working to elevate the quality of neighboring farms. As the year closed, one of their coffees place din Coffee Review’s “30 Top Coffees of 2013”…. And that became the year Big Island Coffee Roasters was born.