Hawaiian coffee, particularly Kona coffee, is one of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffees.   It is typically marketed under its geographic name (Kona, Ka’u, Puna, Hamakua, Maui, Kauai, or Molokai).  The first four are locations around the island of Hawaii.   But what is Hawaiian coffee?  Most Hawaiian coffee is Typica, a subvariety of Coffee arabica versus C. canephora (commonly known as C. robusta).  There are other, much less common, coffee species but they are not important in Hawaii. Several other C.  arabica subvarieties and hybrids are grown in Hawaii and are typically sold as limited editions (Catuai, Red Caturra, Yellow Caturra, Mokka, Mundo Nova, Pacamura, Maragogyoe, Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon).  Wikipedia has an extensive list of coffee varieties as does the live eat learn website.  Please note that the identification, naming, and source information on coffee varieties is often not without controversy.

Hawaiian coffee comprises only 0.14% of the worldwide value for coffee, $59 million/yr and $35 billion/yr, respectively (see USDA Coffee Statistics and FAO Statistics for more detail).  Approximately 1,100 Hawaii farms cultivated 7,100 acres of coffee with over 600 of these farms in Kona.  Almost all (97%) of these farms were very small, less than 5 acres.  The larger farms (only 3%) had over 92% of total acreage in coffee.  Coffee is, at best, a source of supplemental income for small farms.

When the very high cost of land is considered, one quickly questions why people want to grow coffee in Hawaii. The reasons can be placed in five broad, not exclusive, categories which vary depending on the type of farm (Table 1).

Only income generation and tax minimization are directly related to short-term operational profitability from coffee.  Valuing the intangibles of “living in paradise” and “keeping land in the family” further complicates financial analyses.  For persons considering coffee farming in Hawaii, an interactive financial analysis tool is included in the Economics section of this website to examine operational profitability. 

Coffee farming in Hawaii is undergoing structural change as it reacts to coffee bean borer (CBB) and coffee leaf rust (CLR).  Phytosanitary methods required to control these diseases are often beyond the financial and time resources available to small farms.  The yield of coffee from small farms is declining along with quality.  This decrease in quality is making the large farms and roasters reluctant to buy from the small farms.  What does this mean?  Will aging local farmers sell their farms to wealthy lifestyle farmers who are more interested in privacy and ambiance than in continuing production?  Will larger operations with economies of scale and the ability to implement best management practices enter into operational agreements with the small farmers and continue production to minimize disease spread (from untended small farms to the larger ones)?

Other sources of information on coffee farming in Hawaii can be found at:

• USDA Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (the sponsor of this web portal)
• Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA)
• College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Kona Coffee Farmers Association
• Hawaii Coffee Association