TREE TO CUP: Hawaii Holds its Own as Coffee Growing State

Hawaii, our 50th state, has been growing coffee since the 19th century when the British first brought coffee trees to the islands from Brazil. They are now grown, in varying degrees of quality and quantity on five of the islands: Maui, Molokai, Kauai, Hawaii, and Oahu. The varying degrees range from small family run one acre of certified organic, rain-fed farms to totally commercial plots of 4,000 acres that are totally mechanized, irrigated plantations. The islands produce more than 8 million pounds yearly on 7,400 acres and all the coffee is Coffea Arabica.

Perhaps the most well known Hawaiian coffee is from Kona, known for its clean pleasant taste and good aftertaste. While long in positive reputation, Kona coffee is not today one of the stellar beans on the word's coffee menu, but great attempts are being made to elevate the quality of Kona, and the coffees that grow on the other islands, particularly Kauai Peaberry and Maui Moka.

Kona is blessed with excellent climate and soil conditions, but relatively low elevations compared to the outstanding regions of coffee growing in other parts of the world. Most coffee in Kona is grown on a narrow belt of land that starts from the town of Kailua down toward Honaunau, along the southwest coast of Hawaii, only two miles wide which starts at a very low 500 feet above sea level and rises only upward of 2800 feet along the slopes of Mount Hualalai and Mauna Loa. Beginning with the rainfalls in February, there are so many white flowers covering the trees it looks like snow in Hawaii. The first pickings begin in late August and continue to January, although the peak season is in November. All these coffees are still hand picked, wet processed, and most are a strain of typical called Guatemala. They have a sweet low acid quality in the cup and, depending on the crop, vary in quality from dull to sweet and lovely. First reports of 2008 crops indicate this should be an excellent year.

The Malulani Estate on Molokai and the Kauai Coffee are attempts to revive commercial coffee growing on the coastal plains of Hawaii which generally offer a full bodied, sweet, low acid cup. The Malulani Estate coffees are dry processed, medium bodied, sweet with low acid and unusual herbal tones.

Perhaps the most ideal way to purchase Hawaiian coffee is directly from the farm on you choice of islands. Most tourists opt for packages of Kona coffee at the airports, but any native will tell you those may have languished on the shelves for way too long. When purchasing these coffees stateside, ask your vendor about when it was purchased, how it cupped this season, to determine if this is your year to savor the coffees of Hawaii.