Picture this. The sky over Kailua Bay is still faintly pink. The air smells like roasting coffee, ripe papaya, and something floral you can't quite name. A farmer in a worn sun hat lifts a cluster of coffee cherries from a wooden crate and explains exactly when he picked them. Next to him, a woman arranges bundles of dried mamaki leaf, still green enough to look alive. Across the row, someone ladles fresh coconut water straight from the shell into a paper cup and hands it to you without being asked.
This is what a local Hawaii food market feels like in Kona. Not a performance. Not a tourist attraction. A real, working exchange between people who grew something extraordinary and people who want to eat it, drink it, or bring it home.
Hawaii carries a complicated relationship with its own food supply. Despite growing some of the most prized agricultural products in the world, the state imports roughly 85 to 90 percent of its food. That import dependency pushes grocery costs significantly higher than the mainland average. In 2026, the Hawaii imported grocery basket runs approximately 42 percent above the national mainland average, according to livinginhawaii.com. That number makes every local tomato, every bag of estate-grown coffee, every jar of raw honey from the Kohala hills into something more than a purchase. It's a small act of choosing the island over the supply chain.
Kona and Holualoa sit at the center of this choice. The western slope of Mauna Loa, stretching roughly 30 miles from Kealakehe in the north to Honaunau in the south, is one of the most productive agricultural corridors in the Pacific. Coffee, macadamia nuts, tropical fruit, mamaki tea, and specialty herbs grow here in overlapping abundance. The farms are small, most of them family-run, and many of them sell directly to the public through farmers markets, roadside stands, and farm visits.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know about local Hawaii food markets in Kona and Holualoa. You'll learn what to find, when to arrive, how to spot genuine 100% Kona coffee, and what makes this region unlike any other food market destination in the United States. Whether you're visiting for a week or you've lived here for years and want to shop smarter, this is your starting point.
Why Kona and Holualoa Are the Heart of Big Island Market Culture
Not every part of Hawaii has the same relationship with its farmland. The Big Island is unique because it contains 11 of the world's 13 climate zones within a single island. That range makes it possible to grow breadfruit at sea level, coffee at 1,500 feet, and strawberries near the summit of Mauna Kea. But the western slope, the Kona side, holds a particular concentration of food culture that you won't find duplicated anywhere else in the state.
Understanding why requires a look at the geography, the farming structure, and the character of the communities that have built market culture here over generations.
The Kona Coffee Belt and What It Grows
The Kona Coffee Belt is not a marketing phrase. It refers to a specific strip of land running along the western slope of Mauna Loa, sitting between roughly 800 and 2,500 feet in elevation. This elevation range matters enormously. It places coffee trees above the coastal heat and humidity, where temperatures are cooler during the night and mornings are often shrouded in cloud. That cloud cover acts as a natural shade canopy in the afternoons, protecting the trees from harsh equatorial sun while keeping moisture levels consistent.
The soil in this belt is volcanic, derived from relatively young lava flows rich in minerals that most agricultural regions never access. You can read more about what makes these growing conditions so distinctive for Hawaiian crops in our overview of Hawaiian soil nutrient properties for growing herbal tea. The same mineral richness that benefits coffee trees also supports mamaki, macadamia nuts, tropical fruit, and a broad range of edible and medicinal plants.
Coffee is the most famous product of the belt, and rightly so. Kona coffee regularly commands premium prices on the world market because of these growing conditions. But walking through a Kona-area farm or market, you'll quickly realize that coffee is not the only story. Macadamia nut trees, originally introduced to Hawaii in the 1880s, grow in clusters throughout the same elevation band. Papayas, avocados, breadfruit, and bananas fill in the spaces between. And mamaki, the native Hawaiian herbal plant, grows wild and cultivated across properties from Holualoa down through Captain Cook.
Holualoa itself sits at approximately 1,400 feet above sea level, perched above Kailua-Kona on the mauka side of the highway. The elevation gives it a cooler, more temperate climate than the coast, and that climate has shaped its character as a community. Holualoa is known for its concentration of small coffee farms, art galleries, and artisan producers. It feels quieter and more intimate than the downtown Kona markets, and that intimacy makes it a distinctive part of the local food landscape.
The Role of Small Farms in the Local Food Economy
Most Kona coffee farms are small. The majority of estates in the belt measure under 5 acres. These are not industrial operations. They are family businesses where the same person who planted the trees often processes the cherry, roasts the bean, and shows up at a market table on Saturday morning to sell it directly to you. That direct relationship between grower and buyer is not incidental to Kona market culture. It is the foundation of it.
For these small farms, farmers markets represent one of the most important direct-to-consumer sales channels available. The alternative, selling through distributors or grocery wholesalers, often strips out the premium that makes the economics of a small Hawaiian farm work. When you buy a bag of coffee from a vendor at a Kona market, you are sustaining a business model that depends on that personal transaction.
The importance of that model became painfully clear in early 2026. A significant Kona-low storm system battered the Big Island in late March and early April, causing widespread damage across farms and disrupting market activity. Governor Josh Green estimated total statewide damage near $1 billion, with farm losses alone reaching approximately $18.9 million. Reporting from The Garden Island and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser documented how the storm's impact rippled from individual farms through to vendors and markets throughout the region. The recovery has been steady through summer and fall, but those numbers put a human face on what it means when a local market vendor has a rough season.
Buying directly at a Kona-area market is not just a lifestyle choice. For many farm families on this slope, it's a meaningful piece of economic survival.
How Holualoa Differs from Kailua-Kona Market Culture
Kailua-Kona, the main commercial hub of the district, hosts larger and busier market events. The energy there is vibrant and sometimes crowded, especially near the waterfront and along Ali'i Drive. If you want volume, variety, and the full sensory experience of a busy market morning, downtown Kona delivers.
Holualoa offers something different. Because of its position above the main town, the community has developed a character more rooted in artisan production than commercial scale. You'll find small-batch coffee roasters who operate out of backyard setups. Farm stands where the owner is also the farmer who grew everything on the table. Local artists whose work reflects genuine connection to the land rather than airport-ready souvenir production.
At Buddha's Cup, we're part of that Holualoa fabric. Our farm sits in this elevated belt, growing Kona coffee and mamaki tea with the same attention to place that defines the best small producers on this hillside. We'll return to what that means for visitors a little later in this guide.
A Practical Map of Kona-Area Farmers Markets
Navigating the market landscape in the Kona district takes a little planning. Markets run on different days, some weekly and some rotating. Hours shift seasonally. Vendor counts fluctuate depending on the time of year and what's in harvest. Having a clear sense of the landscape before you arrive saves time and helps you prioritize.
Here's a grounded, practical overview of where to go, when to go, and what to expect at each.
The Core Kona Markets (Downtown and Nearby)
Between Kailua-Kona and Captain Cook, there are at least six farmers markets and two farm stands, with at least one market option open every day of the week according to research compiled by lovebigisland.com. The concentration of options means that even if you arrive on a Tuesday and your hotel is on Ali'i Drive, you can find fresh, local produce and farm products within a reasonable drive.
The Kona Farmers Market, located in the heart of Kailua-Kona, is one of the most accessible starting points for visitors. It operates multiple days per week and offers a mix of produce, coffee, prepared foods, crafts, and specialty items. Wednesday and Saturday tend to draw the largest vendor counts at most Kona-area markets. If you can plan your visit around those days, you'll see the full picture.
The Ali'i Gardens Marketplace operates more as a rotating market and artisan fair than a traditional produce market, but it carries local food vendors alongside craft sellers. It has historically operated on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, though schedules can shift seasonally, so verifying before you go is worth the extra step.
Further south toward Captain Cook and Kealakekua, you'll find smaller, more locally oriented markets that tend to serve the farming community directly. These often have higher concentrations of actual farmers rather than resellers, which can make them excellent spots for specific finds like fresh-picked coffee, rare tropical fruit varieties, and estate-grown mamaki.
Practical logistics matter here. Hawaii-guide.com recommends arriving before 9 AM for the best selection, and that advice holds in Kona. The combination of cooler morning temperatures and the limited quantity of truly local, small-batch products means early arrivals get the premium items. Mangosteen, jaboticaba, and specialty coffee cherry jam often run out before mid-morning. Cash is the currency of choice at most vendor tables. Some vendors accept cards with a processing fee, but bringing a mix of small bills and larger denominations makes transactions smoother and faster for everyone.
One thing worth noting: markets in Hawaii vary significantly in their sourcing rules. Some markets require that everything sold be grown or produced in Hawaii. Others allow resellers to bring in mainland or imported goods alongside local products. Knowing the rules of the specific market you're visiting helps you understand what guarantees you have about where your purchase came from. We'll come back to this point in the shopping tips section.
If you're interested in incorporating fresh local fruit into beverages and tea experiences, our guide to creating vibrant iced tea experiences with local fruits gives you practical ideas for what to do with your market haul once you get home or back to your rental kitchen.
The Hilo Farmers Market as a Day-Trip Benchmark
Hilo sits about 59 miles from Kailua-Kona on the eastern side of the island, roughly an hour to an hour and a half by car depending on which route you take. That distance makes it a half-day or full-day commitment, not a quick detour. But for anyone serious about exploring Big Island market culture in full, the Hilo Farmers Market is worth the drive.
It operates on Wednesdays and Saturdays as its peak market days, with a smaller version running daily at the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Mamo Street. On peak days, the market swells to approximately 150 vendors, making it the largest farmers market on the island and one of the most significant in the state. Hours run from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and as with Kona, arriving in the early morning gives you the best access to the best products.
The variety in Hilo skews toward the tropical and exotic. The east side of the Big Island receives dramatically more rainfall than the Kona side, which means the farms there grow different things. Anthurium, bird of paradise, and other cut flowers appear in abundance. Varieties of tropical fruit that rarely make it into standard grocery distribution, things like rambutan, sapodilla, and longan, show up at Hilo in quantities that can be astonishing for first-time visitors.
What Hilo lacks, compared to the Kona markets, is the concentrated coffee culture. You'll find Kona coffee sold in Hilo, but the density of estate coffee vendors, the ability to meet the person who actually grew and roasted your beans, is higher on the Kona side. Think of Hilo as the benchmark for tropical produce volume and variety, and Kona as the benchmark for coffee, macadamia, and specialty tea depth.
Cash is strongly preferred in Hilo as well. Bring more than you think you'll need. A visit that starts as a quick browse rarely stays that way.
Summer and Seasonal Market Schedules
Market schedules in Hawaii are not static. They shift with the seasons, with harvests, and with community events. Summer 2026 saw strong recovery across Kona-area markets after the spring storm disruptions. By June and July, vendor counts had largely returned to pre-storm levels, and the summer harvest brought a fresh wave of specialty items to market tables.
According to alohacalendar.com's summer 2026 market coverage, notable seasonal finds included Kona coffee cherry jam from farms that processed their mid-year cherry harvests into preserves, macadamia nut products from farms in the upper elevation belt, and a range of local honey varieties. Summer also brings the highest tourist traffic to the Kona coast, which means markets can feel more crowded and some items sell out faster than they would in the quieter fall and winter months.
Fall and early winter, the period we're currently in as of November 2026, represents one of the best times to visit Kona-area markets. Tourist traffic has softened since peak summer, but the coffee harvest is in full swing. The main Kona coffee harvest typically runs from late August through December, with peak cherry picking concentrated in October and November. This means market tables right now are stocked with the freshest possible beans, and some vendors are selling beans they picked within the week.
Before visiting any specific market, check schedules directly. Hours and vendor participation can change with little notice. Most markets have social media pages or websites that post weekly updates. Calling ahead, especially for smaller markets, is never a bad idea.
What to Find at Local Hawaii Food Markets in Kona and Holualoa
This is where the real education begins. Knowing that markets exist is one thing. Knowing what to look for, how to evaluate quality, and how to avoid common pitfalls is what turns a market visit into a genuinely rewarding experience. Here's a category-by-category breakdown of what you'll find, and how to find the best of it.
100% Kona Coffee: How to Buy It Right
Kona coffee is one of the most recognizable specialty coffees in the world, and it is also one of the most frequently misrepresented. The label trap is real and worth understanding before you buy anything.
Hawaiian law allows a product labeled "Kona Blend" to contain as little as 10 percent actual Kona coffee. The remaining 90 percent can be commodity coffee from anywhere in the world. This blend labeling is legal, it's widely practiced, and it results in products that look like authentic Kona coffee on the shelf but deliver a fraction of the flavor, complexity, and provenance that the real thing offers. When you're at a market, the solution is simple: look for the words "100% Kona Coffee" on the label, nothing less.
Beyond the 100% designation, the most meaningful indicator of quality is single-estate origin. That means the coffee was grown, processed, and roasted on a single farm, not blended from multiple sources within the belt. Single-estate Kona coffee carries the terroir of a specific piece of land, a specific set of trees, a specific farmer's decisions about processing and roasting. It's traceable in a way that blends are not.
At markets that require all products to be 100% grown or produced in Hawaii, as noted by livinginhawaii.com in their 2026 farmers market overview, you have a structural guarantee that the coffee you're looking at came from Hawaiian soil. That structural protection doesn't exist at every market, which is another reason to understand the rules of the specific market you're visiting.
What to look for on a bag at a Kona market: the farm name, the roast date (fresher is better, ideally within two to four weeks), the processing method (washed, natural, honey-processed), and any single-estate or single-origin language. The roast date matters more than many buyers realize. Coffee is a perishable product and its flavor degrades over time, particularly after the bag is opened. Buying from someone who roasts on a small batch cycle, as many Kona estate producers do, gives you beans at peak flavor.
Some seasonal market finds in this category are especially worth watching for. Kona coffee cherry jam, made from the outer fruit of the coffee cherry after the bean is extracted, appears at markets during and just after harvest season. It has a bright, slightly tangy sweetness with subtle coffee undertones. It's genuinely unusual and genuinely delicious.
If you're wondering whether to pay more for a limited or single-harvest Kona designation, our FAQ on paying a premium for limited harvest Kona breaks down when that price difference is justified. And if you want to understand what flavor notes to expect from different estates and roast profiles, our guide on finding specific flavors in Kona coffee gives you a practical vocabulary for evaluating what's in your cup.
Tropical Produce, Hawaiian Herbs, and Specialty Foods
Coffee may headline the Kona market experience, but the produce tables are where you encounter the full agricultural richness of the Big Island in its most direct form.
Tropical fruit varieties available at Kona and Holualoa markets range from the familiar to the genuinely rare. Papayas, bananas, avocados, and coconuts are baseline finds year-round. But the markets also bring out things that most visitors have never encountered outside of Hawaii. Jaboticaba, a Brazilian grape-like fruit that grows directly on the trunk of its tree, appears in limited quantities when in season. Mangosteen, deeply purple and custardy inside, comes and goes with the harvest cycles of farms in the humid elevation bands. White pineapple from farms in the Wahiawa area of Oahu occasionally appears at inter-island vendor tables.
According to howtoliveinhawaii.com's comprehensive 2026 market guide, orchids also make regular appearances at Big Island markets, sold as cut flowers or rooted plants. If you're a visitor with checked luggage and no USDA concerns about bringing plants home to the mainland, rooted orchids from a Hawaii farm are a remarkable find.
Local honey deserves its own mention. Big Island honey varies dramatically by region and by what the bees are foraging. Macadamia blossom honey has a light, almost floral sweetness. Lehua honey, made from the blossoms of the ohia lehua tree, is famous for its tendency to crystallize quickly and its distinctive, slightly perfumed flavor. Wildflower honeys from the Kona belt pick up notes of coffee blossom and tropical fruit. Livinginhawaii.com highlights local honey as one of the consistently excellent finds at Hawaii farmers markets.
Macadamia nut products appear in many forms beyond the whole nut. Butters, spreads, flavored crunch mixes, and infused oils all show up at market tables. If you want to understand the landscape of macadamia products available through Hawaiian producers before you shop, our guides on macadamia nut butter from Hawaii and macadamia nut brittle in Hawaii give you a useful foundation.
Fresh Hawaiian ginger is another market find worth seeking out deliberately. The ginger grown in Hawaii differs from mainland or imported ginger in its moisture content, its heat level, and its aromatic complexity. Fresh Hawaiian ginger is juicier, slightly less fibrous, and often carries a more pronounced floral note alongside its characteristic spice. It's a staple in local kitchens and an excellent base ingredient for tea blending. Our FAQ on where to buy fresh Hawaiian ginger for tea blends covers how to find, evaluate, and use it effectively.
Prepared Foods, Hawaiian Snacks, and Gift Items
Not everything at a Kona market goes into a bag for later. Some of the best finds are meant to be eaten on the spot, standing in the morning sun with a cup of freshly brewed estate coffee in one hand and something delicious in the other.
Prepared food vendors at Kona-area markets typically include plate lunch options featuring local proteins, rice, and mac salad. Fish tacos made with fresh catch are common and consistently good. Fresh coconut, hacked open to order and served with a straw, is a market staple that never loses its appeal. Baked goods made with local ingredients, banana bread, macadamia nut cookies, Kona coffee brownies, fill out the prepared food landscape.
Hawaiian snacks with a focus on local ingredients have grown into a distinct category at Big Island markets. These range from taro chips to dried tropical fruit to coconut-based confections. Some vendors emphasize traditional or native-inspired preparations that reflect the ingredients and food practices of Hawaiian culture before industrial food arrived. If you're interested in healthier options within the native Hawaiian snack category, our FAQ on healthier alternatives in native Hawaiian snacks outlines what to look for.
Gift items at Kona markets span a wide range of quality and authenticity. The rule of thumb is simple: look for items that say "made in Hawaii" rather than "inspired by Hawaii" or "Hawaii design." Genuine local craft includes things like hand-turned koa wood bowls, screen-printed textiles made in-state, and botanical products using ingredients grown in Hawaii.
Coffee-infused sweets are a category unto themselves in Kona. Rum cakes made with Kona coffee, chocolate truffles infused with estate-grown beans, coffee brittle, and chocolate-covered espresso beans all make excellent take-home gifts that reflect the actual agricultural identity of the region. At Buddha's Cup, our rum cakes are a popular example of this category, combining local coffee with classic baking in a form that travels well and tastes distinctly of place. Our guide on what flavors are highlighted in Kona coffee and macadamia truffles gives you a sense of the flavor profiles that make these pairings so memorable.
Mamaki Tea and Hawaiian Herbal Finds at Kona Markets
If Kona coffee is the most famous agricultural product to come out of this hillside, mamaki tea may be the most underappreciated. At Buddha's Cup, we grow mamaki on our farm in Holualoa, and we've watched it earn growing recognition among visitors and local shoppers alike. Here's everything you need to know about finding and evaluating it at Kona-area markets.
What Is Mamaki and Why Is It at Every Kona Market?
Mamaki (Pipturus albidus) is a native Hawaiian plant, a member of the nettle family that grows throughout the Hawaiian Islands at a range of elevations. It is one of the very few endemic herbal teas available anywhere in the United States, meaning it grows naturally only in Hawaii and nowhere else in the world. That geographic exclusivity makes it a genuinely special find for anyone interested in place-based beverages and botanical products.
In traditional Hawaiian healing practice, mamaki was used for a range of purposes. The leaves were brewed as a beverage, the bark was used in medicinal applications, and the plant held cultural significance within the native healing tradition called la'au lapa'au. That cultural context is not incidental. It gives mamaki a depth of meaning that goes beyond its flavor profile, connecting the drink to centuries of Hawaiian relationship with the land.
From a contemporary wellness perspective, mamaki is gaining recognition for its antioxidant content. It is naturally caffeine-free, making it accessible throughout the day and appropriate for people who are sensitive to stimulants. Its flavor is mild and slightly earthy, with a clean finish that makes it approachable for people who don't typically drink herbal teas. The health properties of mamaki and other local Hawaiian tea ingredients are covered in depth in our FAQ on the healthful qualities of local ingredients in teas.
At Kona-area markets, you'll find mamaki sold in several forms. Dried loose leaf is the most common. Pre-bagged tea sachets from small producers are also widely available. Some vendors sell fresh mamaki leaf when in active harvest. Each form has its advantages, and understanding the differences helps you make a more informed choice.
How to Evaluate Mamaki Quality at a Market
Not all mamaki sold at markets is created equal. The quality range is real, and a few key questions can help you find the best of what's available.
Fresh-dried mamaki, meaning leaves that were harvested and dried at low temperature within a recent timeframe, looks noticeably different from commercially processed mamaki that may have been sitting in a warehouse. Fresh-dried leaf retains more of its green color. The texture is lighter and less brittle. The aroma when you open the bag is noticeable, with a mild green, slightly vegetal fragrance. Commercially over-processed mamaki often looks brownish, smells dusty or flat, and produces a thin, colorless brew.
When you're at a market table, ask the vendor directly: where was this grown? How was it dried? Is it blended with anything else? A vendor who grows their own mamaki and processes it on-farm will typically be able to answer these questions without hesitation. A reseller who bought it from a distributor may not know. That gap in knowledge is itself a signal.
Single-origin, estate-grown mamaki gives you the most traceable and typically the most flavorful experience. When you can connect the dried leaf on the market table to a specific farm on a specific hillside, you're getting something with genuine provenance, not just a package with a Hawaiian-sounding name on it.
If you're interested in understanding how mamaki compares to other loose-leaf Hawaiian teas in terms of wellness properties and market availability, our FAQ on the top loose-leaf Hawaiian teas for immunity gives you a broader picture of the landscape.
Beyond Mamaki: Other Hawaiian Herbal Teas at Local Markets
Mamaki may be the flagship native Hawaiian herbal tea, but it isn't the only botanical find at Kona-area markets. The Big Island's climate supports a remarkable range of plants used in herbal preparations, and small producers have built cottage industries around many of them.
Lemongrass grown in Hawaii has a particularly bright, citrus-forward character that reflects the volcanic soil and tropical sunshine. It's commonly sold in fresh bundles or dried form and blends beautifully with mamaki as a base. Moringa, the tropical super-leaf that has gained significant mainstream attention over the past decade, grows well in lower-elevation parts of the Big Island and appears at markets in dried leaf, powder, and capsule form. Noni, the pungent and distinctive Hawaiian fruit with a long history in traditional medicine, shows up in juice concentrates, dried preparations, and blended products. Hibiscus, locally called roselle in some preparations, adds brilliant color and tartness to tea blends.
Hawaiian herbal blends from small producers represent some of the most creative and place-specific products at Kona-area markets. These blends often combine mamaki with lemongrass, hibiscus, or ginger in ratios developed by the producer based on their own growing and tasting experience. When evaluating a blended product, look for labels that name each ingredient and its origin. The more specific the sourcing information, the more confident you can be about what you're getting.
If you're wondering how to source Hawaiian herbal products when you're not physically in Hawaii, our FAQ on finding Hawaiian herbal blends outside the islands addresses that question for the growing global audience interested in authentic Hawaiian botanicals.
At Buddha's Cup, visitors who come for a farm tour often discover the mamaki growing alongside our coffee trees and walk away with a fuller understanding of how these two plants share the same hillside, the same soil, and the same farming philosophy. If you're in Holualoa, seeing the plant in the ground before you buy the dried leaf is an experience worth seeking out.
How to Shop Local Hawaii Food Markets Like a Resident
Market shopping in Hawaii has its own rhythm. Visitors who arrive unprepared often miss the best products, overpay for inferior goods, or leave frustrated by logistics that would have been easy to navigate with a little advance knowledge. Here's how to do it right.
Arrive before 9 AM. This is the single most useful piece of advice for any Kona-area market visit. Hawaii-guide.com cites the early arrival window as essential for best selection, and experienced local shoppers will tell you the same thing. The combination of cooler morning temperatures and limited supply of genuinely local, small-batch products means that the best items are gone by mid-morning. Jaboticaba, fresh mamaki, single-estate coffee roasted the previous day, local catch, specialty honey, all of these have a ceiling on how much is available. First come, first served is the working rule.
Bring cash. Most vendors at Kona-area markets either don't accept cards at all or charge a processing fee of three to four percent for card transactions. Small bills in the five and ten dollar range make transactions smoother for everyone, particularly at busy times when a vendor is managing multiple customers. Some markets have an ATM nearby, but lines at those machines grow as the morning progresses. Come prepared.
Bring a cooler or insulated bag. If you're buying coffee beans, fresh produce, raw honey, or anything else temperature-sensitive, a soft-sided cooler or insulated tote makes a significant difference. The Kona sun is intense even in the morning, and locally roasted coffee beans can be affected by heat exposure before you get them back to wherever you're staying. Fresh herbs and delicate tropical fruit also benefit from cooler storage during the drive home.
Ask every vendor "is this grown here?" and listen carefully to the answer. Markets with strict 100% Hawaii-grown rules, as highlighted by livinginhawaii.com, give you a structural guarantee that eliminates the need for this question. But at markets without strict sourcing