bull pahala plantation

PAHALA PLANTATION = an Emerald in the Rough

By

Colleen Wallis

We all arrived at various times to the Pahala Plantation shop/FCU and were greeted by Julia Neal, our knowledgeable tour guide. She kept us going from the moment we all convened at the shop. Julia explained how all the buildings were sold off to the residents of Pahala and kept “in the local family”. The last to be sold off were the supervisor’s homes because they were the last to leave. She explained how Pahala had escaped the invasion of chain food take-aways and modern day shops. Agriculture is still their main product. The sugar cane once occupied 38,000 acres but now this land is being used to grow coffee, macadamia nuts and other vegetation.

We visited many plantation dwellings and one of the most impressive buildings was being readied for a baby birthday party. The interior bedroom had a lovely Hawaiian quilt and all the door and windows had sliding recesses so nothing open in or out.

Julia showed us several of the cottages which she is in charge of as vacation rentals in Old Hawaii. Each cottage was renovated with some new items but many also utilizes many of the olden day furnishings which make them unique. The school cottages that once housed the teachers are now used as guest cottages that can be rented out by couples, families and also individuals.

Another impressive site was the coffee plantation of Bull Kailiawa which is situated on the slopes of the lovely Pahala range. His coffee was taken to the mainland to compete with coffee from all over the world and he said that his Pahala Coffee made a mark and has placed Big Island coffee on the map. He keeps his label exclusively and takes great pains to keep his separated from other coffees. He grinds his own coffee and takes it to Hilo for processing and roasting. His plantation has abundant wild ginger growing along its edge and Koa trees, Kukui nut trees, as well as eucalyptus trees. His coffee has just been picked recently so the trees were all full of just green coffee beans with a sprinkling of yellow and orange beans here and there on the branches. He is so careful to pick only the red ripe berries. He said that is one of the reasons that the flavor of his berries outshines others.

The backdrop of his plantation is the lovely mist shrouded Hillside with iron wood trees, bananas, Ti plants and wild gingers. The sounds of his Hunting dogs barking can be hard as we toured his coffee farm. On the way back, Julia showed us the coffee mill which was being manned by a welder. The fellow explained that the machinery took a thousand pounds of coffee at a time and a lot of farmers also had their coffee dried in the covered drying platform adjacent to the mill. The new machinery came from Brazil and an engineer from Brazil came with it so he could show the fellows at the mill how to operate it.

The ride to Pahala was long but scenic and this area not being a place I have been to in the past was like going back in history and time to a place forgotten by progress. It was indeed a unique experience that I would like to share with friends and visitors.