The Hawaiian Islands lie south of the Tropic of Cancer, and thanks to their volcanic soil and tropical climate, they produce coffee that is recognized worldwide as exceptional. Among these, the Kona region is the most famous, yet the history of coffee cultivation in Hawaii has been full of ups and downs—from the first introduction of the crop in 1825 to infestations of pests and diseases, and then the rise of small estates, nearly two centuries have passed. This article examines the full picture of Hawaiian coffee, from the history of the producing regions, flavor characteristics, and the Kona certification system to the emerging sub-regions of Kau, Hamakua, and Puna, and also explores how roasters such as Front Street Coffee present its unique charm.
Chongqing Specialty Coffee Roaster——Hawaiian Coffee
The Hawaiian Islands are located south of the Tropic of Cancer, roughly between 19 and 22 degrees latitude, making them one of the few premium coffee-growing belts in the world. As the fiftieth U.S. state, Hawaii lies about 2,400 miles from the West Coast of the mainland and is also the only state in the country that produces coffee. The coffee grown here enjoys an international reputation and is often listed among the world’s top coffees.
Volcanic soil and a tropical climate converge here, with moderate humidity and regular afternoon showers, providing nearly idyllic growing conditions for coffee trees and allowing Hawaiian coffee beans to develop a delicate and unique flavor. Overall, Hawaiian coffee has a medium to light body and a medium to strong aroma, balanced by relatively bright acidity. David Kingman, head of Kona Mist, a roaster and retailer on the Big Island of Hawaii, commented: This is absolutely the best coffee in the world, with stone fruit and chocolate notes, smooth and delicious on the palate.
Despite its superior geographical conditions, the history of coffee cultivation in Hawaii has been quite bumpy, and early development was never taken seriously. It was not until 15 years ago that the local coffee industry truly took off. Although two hundred years ago people tried to take advantage of Hawaii’s natural advantages for commercial cultivation and profit, most of these efforts ended in painful lessons.
In 1825, the merchant ship H.M.S. Blonde sailed from gloomy England to the Sandwich Islands on the other side of the world, carrying the bodies of King Kamehameha II and his queen—both of whom had unfortunately died of measles during a visit to London. The accompanying official, Chief Boki, governor of Oahu, decided to escort the bodies back to their homeland. On the return voyage, he recruited a man named John Wilkinson to join the journey. While in London, Chief Boki had witnessed the coffeehouse fashion of the time, and Wilkinson was a coffee expert.
Wilkinson had spent several years supervising coffee and sugarcane cultivation in the West Indies. Chief Boki believed that with Wilkinson’s expertise, a fertile plot in Manoa Valley behind Honolulu could certainly be developed into Hawaii’s first ideal commercial coffee-growing area. During a brief stop in Brazil, Wilkinson selected some coffee seeds and planted them after returning to Hawaii. However, two years later, just as the coffee trees were about to mature, Wilkinson died, and the once-promising coffee plantation suddenly fell into a state of neglect.
From many similar cases, one can seemingly glimpse the potential for the development of Hawaii’s coffee industry. Coffee trees were continually transplanted to other valleys on the island or to other islands, and before long coffee trees were planted on almost all the main Hawaiian islands. At first, coffee trees were popular as an exotic garden plant rather than for commercial cultivation, and many people simply grew one or two in their backyards. Attempts at large-scale commercial cultivation came twenty years later. The second attempt occurred in 1841, when a one-thousand-acre coffee plantation was developed in the Hanalei area of Kauai, planted with coffee trees transplanted from Manoa Valley. Three years later, that plantation exported Hawaiian coffee beans abroad for the first time, amounting to only 245 pounds; thereafter production gradually increased, but it remained small. Although attempts and failures continued, by 1870 Hawaiian coffee bean exports had reached 415,000 pounds.
Just as coffee was gaining a foothold on the islands and seemed poised to become a major crop, tragedy struck again: a severe drought and an outbreak of pests and diseases forced the Hanalei coffee plantation to close in 1855. Although coffee plantations on the Big Island seemed to have better conditions than lower-lying Hanalei, at this time the Big Island also suffered from white scale insects, causing heavy losses.
In the 1890s, people finally found an effective solution to eliminate pests and diseases—introducing the Australian ladybird beetle to combat coffee tree pests and diseases—and the coffee industry on the Big Island flourished again. However, as international coffee futures prices fluctuated and overproduction took its toll, many large coffee plantations went bankrupt because they could not cope with drastic economic changes. Large plantations were quickly replaced by small estates, and these emerging small estates averaged less than five acres of land.
In the 1930s, there were more than 1,000 small coffee estates on the Big Island; by the 1950s, the Kona region of the Big Island already had 6,000 acres of coffee woodland producing coffee beans; by the turn of the century, coffee trees were planted on almost all the main Hawaiian islands. More than 100 years later, today the coffee industry on all the Hawaiian islands has revived, with cultivation extending across the entire state of Hawaii.
Even today, some non-human factors still adversely affect coffee cultivation in Hawaii. For example, the Big Island often experiences sudden rainfall, while other islands have unusually dry climates. According to data from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, total Hawaiian coffee bean production in the 2001/2002 season fell by 13%, with total exports of 7.6 million pounds, a significant decrease from 8.7 million pounds in the previous season.
Coffee trees are commercially cultivated on all the Hawaiian islands. The Big Island has the largest number of coffee estates, about 650, but they are generally very small, totaling less than 2,000 acres. Among the larger growing areas, only 25 coffee farms operate on Maui, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai, though the coffee farms in these places are far larger than those on the Big Island, and their total production is more than three times that of Big Island coffee farms. Surprisingly, Kauai has the largest coffee-growing area of all the islands, over 4,000 acres, but it is managed by a single operator; Molokai has only 550 acres planted with coffee, and Maui and Oahu have even less. Most Hawaiian coffee farmers today still only pick fresh coffee cherries and sell them, but in recent years more and more people have been working to add value to the beans by processing, drying, milling, and roasting them themselves.
The most famous Hawaiian coffee beans and producing region are undoubtedly Kona. This region is located in the southwestern part of the Big Island, 20 miles long and 2 miles wide, covering the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa. Only coffee beans grown within this area and meeting the strictest certification standards can be sold under the Kona trademark. At present, about 100 farms produce beans that meet the standards, and more farms are expected to follow.
Norman Sakada, chairman of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, said: 60% of coffee estates in the Kona region have met the standards in the past 10 years. Kona estate coffee is now somewhat similar to the wineries of Napa Valley. Napa Valley is located in Northern California and is a famous wine-producing region, internationally recognized because its wines have excellent regional characteristics and are worth paying more for.
Coffee grown in other parts of the Big Island is collectively called Hawaiian Coffee. Because the price of Kona coffee has soared in recent years, it has set an example for island residents, showing them how popular and profitable Hawaiian coffee can be. As a result, coffee cultivation gradually became popular in other parts of the Big Island as well.
The coffee-growing area on the west coast of the Big Island has gradually expanded. Land that was originally used for sugarcane gradually declined because production costs in other countries were lower, so landowners abandoned crops that relied on volume and chose to plant crops of high quality and relatively high profit. Out of this wave emerged three emerging coffee sub-regions recognized by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture: Kau, Hamakua, and Puna. Although coffee prices in these regions cannot yet compare with Kona, many experts point out that price increases are only a matter of time, because these regions are just as meticulous about quality.
In the 2001 issue of the Hawaiian Business Journal, Ted Lingle, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), mentioned: In most cases, when ordinary people mention Hawaiian coffee, the first thing they think of is Kona. Other excellent producing regions have only recently developed, so they have not received the same attention.
David Gridley, chairman of the Hawaii Coffee Association, pointed out that the coffee quality standards set by Hawaiian coffee farmers are very strict and are updated once a year, which is why coffee products from Hawaii always perform above standard. He said: I believe that anyone who cares about coffee quality absolutely does not need to doubt the quality level of Hawaiian coffee, because Hawaii’s requirements for coffee quality are the strictest in the world.
Mike Sheldrake, head of Polly’s Gourmet Coffee in Long Beach, California, has personally witnessed the results produced under such strict quality control, the new cultivation techniques introduced by Hawaiian coffee farmers, and the generational turnover among coffee-farming families. He has been selling Hawaiian coffee on the U.S. mainland for thirty years. He said: On this supply board, I have witnessed Hawaii growing better and better coffee beans. Over these years, the quality of Hawaiian coffee has indeed improved very significantly. The improvement in Hawaiian coffee quality is reflected in the price list at Polly’s, where they continue to offer Hawaiian coffee beans at $20-25 per pound. Sheldrake has always purchased the Hawaiian coffee beans used in his shop from Greenwood Farm, an old estate on the Big Island of Hawaii. This estate has a very long history and is one of the oldest, largest, and most substantial coffee plantations on the Big Island.
For newer farms that entered later, one of the biggest challenges is how to market the coffee beans they grow to customers around the world, especially because most of these new farms are small-scale estates. However, with the spread of the Internet, some island coffee farmers and roasters have found it to be an excellent marketing tool, allowing them to develop one-on-one supply relationships with distant customers and to take orders and ship coffee beans directly to customers.
Almost all of Kona Mist’s coffee beans are sold through online transactions, and this approach allows the company to customize coffee products according to customer needs. David Kingman said: We roast only after receiving customer orders. The concept of fresh roasting enables Kona Mist to provide customers with the freshest coffee beans.
Another marketing direction for Hawaiian coffee farmers is Eastern countries. At present, nearly 90% of Hawaiian coffee is sold to the U.S. mainland market. For a long time, the Hawaiian Islands have been widely recognized as a paradise on earth. After nearly two centuries of effort in coffee cultivation, Kona has become almost synonymous with quality. Now, other Hawaiian islands are trying to catch up with Kona’s high quality standards. For many beachgoers and coffee lovers, Hawaii today really is, as Mark Twain described it—the most pleasurable place on earth!
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Front Street Coffee suggests that when roasting Hawaiian coffee beans, a medium-light roast can be used to highlight their stone fruit and chocolate flavors while preserving bright acidity and a smooth mouthfeel. Whether it is Kona or the emerging sub-regions, Front Street Coffee can provide professional roasting solutions to help coffee lovers experience the unique charm of Hawaiian coffee.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
