White Nene Coffee: From a Broken Back to a Champion Roaster in Kona

The nēnē is Hawaiʻi’s state bird, and it has a habit you notice if you watch one long enough. It rests standing on one leg.

Mark Kove noticed. When it came time to name his coffee company, he chose the bird that stands on one leg, because it felt like him. That’s the short version of how White Nene Coffee Roasters got its name. The long version is one of the best founder stories on Hawaiʻi Island.

The plan was houses

Mark was born and raised in Kona. He grew up building houses alongside his father, a general contractor, and that was the plan: stay home and build.

In 2005, at 19 years old, a construction accident broke his back. Doctors feared he might be paralyzed. What followed were years of rehabilitation in California, and slowly, he regained the use of one leg. He still walks with forearm crutches today.

A lot of stories would end there, or at least slow down. Mark’s went to South Korea.

A cup of coffee in Korea

Mark moved to South Korea to study the language. That’s where he found specialty coffee, the kind where every variable matters, from the farm to the roast to the pour. What pulled him in first was latte art, the patterns a skilled barista draws in milk foam. He stayed, taught English, met his wife, and kept going deeper into coffee.

Eventually he brought it all home to Kona. He started working as a barista in 2016, then went after the credentials that serious coffee people respect. He became a licensed Q Arabica Grader, a professional coffee taster, and earned Specialty Coffee Association certifications in roasting and sensory skills.

From a 1980 Vanagon to a championship

White Nene started around 2020, small and scrappy. Mark bought a 1980 Volkswagen Vanagon and spent about a year restoring it into a mobile coffee bar for catering. When shipping delays stranded him on one job, he simply slept in the van. One of its first big outings was a multi-day event at the Four Seasons, where it served coffee to roughly 400 people.

Then the roasting started winning. In 2023, Mark took the Hawaiʻi regional title in roasting and went on to become a finalist at the U.S. Coffee Roasting Championship. He qualified to compete again in 2024.

The business grew with him. White Nene began on a tiny 3-kilo roaster and a sample roaster. Today it runs a machine that can roast up to 200 pounds an hour, and its coffee has been poured at cafés on Maui and Oʻahu as well as all over Kona.

Deeper, not wider

What makes White Nene special is how it works with farmers. Mark has said he’d rather go “deeper with a few farmers rather than wider with many.” So instead of buying from everyone, he builds real partnerships with a small group of Hawaiʻi growers, including Delvin Navarro in Kaʻū, Franck Carisey of Uluwehi Coffee Farm, and Kraig Lee of Kona Farm Direct.

Together they experiment. Some lots go through extended fermentation, some are co-fermented with fruit, and some have even been fermented with champagne yeast. Mark usually roasts light to medium to bring out the fruit and sweetness in the beans, and most of what he sells is single-origin, so you can taste exactly where a coffee came from.

If that sounds intimidating, it isn’t. White Nene describes its team as “ambassadors of aloha,” and it makes a point of being open and approachable rather than snobby. Ask questions. They love talking coffee.

Where to find it

The easiest way to try White Nene is at its coffee trailer in Holualoa, up Māmalahoa Highway in the cool coffee country above Kailua-Kona. It shares the spot with Petals and Provisions and serves espresso drinks, filter coffee, iced specialty drinks, matcha and chai, with pastries from Sundog Bread. The line is part of the charm.

Mark is also working on a second location in downtown Kona, which he hopes will become a community hub. You can buy bags of White Nene coffee online, too, if you want to take a taste of Kona home.

Why this story matters

It would be easy to tell Mark’s story as one about overcoming an injury. It’s really a story about curiosity. He followed it to another country, came home with a craft, and used it to lift up the farmers growing coffee on the slopes where he grew up. Faith, he says, has been central to all of it.

The nēnē stands on one leg. It also flies. Go have a cup and see for yourself.

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This founder story draws on White Nene’s own website and on reporting from West Hawaii Today and Savor Brands. Hours may change. Photos are illustrative and were not taken at White Nene. Top photo: Ekrem Canli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.