"That is a large cup of coffee."

Translation: He kīʻaha kope nui kēlā.

[DABurnside]

Large cup of coffee or large coffee cup? I experimented: "He kīʻaha nui o kope kēlā. Nope.

[kelii....]

You cannot translate every word like that. If you use o meaning of, then you need the requisite article after as well, ke in this case. He kīʻaha nui kēlā o ke kope. / He kīʻaha nui o ke kope kēlā.

Actually as it stands now, that sentence is a bit ambiguous. That Hawaiian could be That is a large coffee cup. or That is a large cup of coffee.

Just as in English a noun can be used as an adjective to specify the type, as a compound noun. In this case, that noun kope is used to describe what is in it.

[CharlesWil267432]

pola is also often used for cup

[Paul161612]

Why not "this is a cup of large coffee"? Is it because a compound noun (cup (of) coffee) is followed by its adjective?

[kelii....]

The adjective large is not supposed to be in that position within that sentence. That does not make sense in English to translate.