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A coffee shop specializing in 100% Kona coffee is coming to Mountain View later this year.
Created by husband and wife Jorge Mejia and Hanna Mejia Hans, Kona Island Coffee has been operating as a mobile coffee truck based in San Jose since 2023. Now, the couple is in the process of opening a permanent home for their business, expecting to bring their signature Kona coffee drinks and Hawaii-inspired crepes to The Village at San Antonio Center by mid-to-late 2025.
“I think our biggest focus is keeping the quality at the shop, getting people to be more aware of this type of coffee bean, and also educating people that it is important to know where your coffee beans originate from,” Mejia Hans said.
Part of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, a nonprofit that promotes, protects and preserves Kona coffee and its heritage, the couple aims to positively contribute to the Hawaii economy while popularizing this coffee variety in the Bay Area. All coffee drinks at Kona Island Coffee are made with 100% Kona beans, including its signature Kona Island latte with macadamia and coconut. Compared to most Latin American coffee, Kona coffee is less bitter, more acidic and more well balanced with brown sugar and fruity notes, according to Mejia.
“Kona coffee is exclusively hand picked by these farmers, so they’re only picking out the best coffee cherries that they can offer,” Mejia said. “It’s totally different compared to how other farms in other countries usually do it, and that’s what makes Kona coffee exceptional coffee.”
Kona Island latte at Kona Island Coffee with a double shot of Kona espresso, macadamia, coconut and coconut whipped cream ($6.95). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Iced crème brûlée latte from Kona Island Coffee made with a double shot of Kona espresso, creamy crème brûlée and milk ($7.49). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Iced haupia matcha latte at Kona Island Coffee made with coconut green tea, milk and dried strawberries ($6.95). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee.
Many of Kona Island Coffee’s specialty coffee drinks are named after locations on the Big Island, including the Captain Cook latte with honey, vanilla and cinnamon, the Honalo macchiato with hazelnut, the Kamoa mocha with raspberry and dark chocolate and the Hilo latte with ube ($6.25-$7.49). Most of its signature drinks come topped with housemade coconut or ube whipped cream.
At the brick-and-mortar shop, Mejia and Mejia Hans are considering pairing down the amount of specialty beverages to instead focus on more straightforward expressions of Kona coffee, like pour-overs and unadulterated espresso beverages. Kona Island Coffee currently offers both hazelnut- and pineapple-infused Kona coffee pour-overs ($5.45), but the couple hopes to offer a third flavor at the brick and mortar, as well as sell bags of whole Kona coffee beans.
Maui crepe from Kona Island Coffee with strawberries, pistachios, custard cream, coconut whipped cream and crème brûlée ($14.49). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Kona crepe at Kona Island Coffee with Biscoff cookie butter, pineapple, macadamia nuts, coconut whipped cream and caramel sauce ($14.49). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
O’ahu crepe from Kona Island Coffee made with your choice of strawberries or banana, Nutella, macadamia nuts, coconut whipped cream and chocolate sauce ($14.49). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee.
Kona Island Coffee also sources its matcha and tea from Hawaii, offering drinks like the haupia matcha latte, honey mango matcha and teas in flavors like passion orange guava and watermelon strawberry ($4.25-$6.95).
For food, find Hawaii-inspired crepes made with Mejia Hans’ mom’s crepe recipe, featuring flavors like Biscoff cookie butter, pineapple and macadamia nut or strawberries, pistachios and custard creme. Homemade baked goods developed by Mejia Hans are also available, including Hawaiian bread (pineapple, passion fruit, mango and coconut) and ube banana bread. Expect additional housemade Hawaii-inspired baked goods to be available at the brick and mortar, as well as a Hungarian food offering, which Mejia Hans said is still a secret.
Mazapan latte at Kona Island Coffee with a double shot of Kona espresso, peanut candy and milk ($6.75). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Fancy latte from Kona Island Coffee with a double shot of Kona espresso, roasted marshmallow, lavender and oat milk ($6.95). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Four shots of Kona coffee from Kona Island Coffee. Courtesy Kona Island Coffee. 
Passion orange guava Hawaiian black tea at Kona Island Coffee ($4.25). Courtesy Kona Island Coffee.
The inception of Kona Island Coffee began when Mejia and Mejia Hans went on a trip to the Big Island in 2022. There, they “fell in love with the quality of the coffee,” Mejia Hans recalled.
“The coffee experience, what we had there, how they grow the coffee beans there, you can really taste the freshness of the coffee beans,” Mejia Hans said. “Even if you go to a very, very simple, small coffee shop, there is freshly brewed Kona coffee, just something very different from the kind of coffee places here in the Bay Area. And it really blew our minds away.”
After returning home to Campbell, Mejia Hans wanted to continue enjoying Kona coffee every morning, but there were no nearby coffee shops offering coffee drinks made with Kona beans. She recounted that her husband told her that because of the high cost of Kona coffee, it would be impossible for a Bay Area coffee shop to offer it.
“If you tell an engineer that something is impossible, then I’m gonna try to find ways to make it possible,” Mejia Hans said.
Born and raised in Hungary, Mejia Hans worked in Germany as an automotive engineer before being sent to the United States on a project about seven years ago. Here, she met Mejia, a San Jose native, whose background is in tech.
“One of the many conversations (Hanna and I) talked about is, how can we get away from the corporate life and just start something on our own?,” Mejia said. “And I think her and I coincide in terms of, how can we be independent and not work for someone else?”
The couple began Kona Island Coffee as a hobby, keeping their full-time jobs and working on the coffee truck in their spare time.
“We didn’t expect to have such a high turnout, and that’s what led us to say, ‘OK, let’s leave our 9 to 5 and focus on this’ … and, well, the rest is history,” Mejia said.
The couple eventually expanded operations to include two coffee trucks, the second of which they recently shut down to focus on opening the brick and mortar. In addition to being able to offer more food items at the brick and mortar, the couple is also excited about increasing the community coffee shop feel, saying that they’ve already made so many new friends operating as a truck.
“We want to continue to have that sort of mentality where we have a friendly environment, we offer quality coffee, and I think what better place to have that than at a shop where people can sit down and actually enjoy a good coffee,” Mejia said.
The decision to establish Kona Island Coffee’s first brick and mortar in Mountain View was largely due to high turnout at pop-ups in the area, particularly The Dean Apartments directly across from The Village at San Antonio Center and the Park Place Apartments.
Kona Island Coffee’s brick and mortar will be next to Palmetto Superfoods, which is not yet open, and two stores down from Slice House by Tony Gemignani, which opened in May. Sushi Adachi, a Japanese restaurant based in Milpitas, is also expected to open at The Village at San Antonio Center later this year.
Just across San Antonio Road, more food and beverage businesses are coming to The Dean Apartments, with matcha and tea shop Junbi expected to open in March and bakery Craftsman and Wolves anticipated to open later this month.
Kona Island Coffee, 2565 California St. Suite 84, Mountain View; 408-513-6455, Instagram: @konaislandcoffee. Opening mid-to-late 2025.
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