Before coffee drinkers can savor a cup of Kona coffee, several processes must first occur. Coffee cherry is pulped through rough rollers that separate seeds from the red skin and sticky pulp. These seeds formed within the coffee cherry are the all-important coffee beans. After pulping and fermentation, the beans are washed and dried.

Two common drying methods are used. The modern method employs a hot, rotating drum dryer and takes a skilled operator only a few hours. The traditional method is a slower sun-drying method that can take anywhere from six to eight days, depending on weather. Beans are spread out on a flat platform known by its Japanese name, hoshidana, and exposed to the sun. The beans are raked often with a special wooden rake for uniform drying. Innovative Kona coffee pioneers designed the hoshidana with a roof that rolls out to shelter the drying coffee beans at the first sign of rain. Many Kona coffee farmers hold to the traditional drying method.

At this stage, dried beans are called parchment due to their stiff, white parchment-like skin. Milling removes the parchment skin and leaves the beans polished. Beans that have been milled but not yet roasted are "green coffee." The green coffee is now ready for sorting by quality grades.

A set of screens separates green coffee by size and shape. Kona coffee generally produces 20% Extra Fancy-grade beans, 35% Fancy-grade beans, 30% Number One-grade beans, 10% Prime and just 5% Peaberry.

Under strict conditions green coffee can be stored without losing flavor. Unroasted, green coffee is bagged in 100-pound sacks and sold on the world market.