How Hawaiian is Hawaiian coffee?

The answer to the question posed in the article’s title is that it “can vary”.

But politicians, state officials and local coffee farmers are hoping to clear some remarkably muddy waters by pushing for legislative reform.

“For more than twenty-three years, Hawaii has been the only region in the world that statutorily authorizes the use of its geographic names, such as ‘Kona’, ‘Maui’ and ‘Ka’u’, on labels of its specialty agricultural products,” the current bill states.

The real kicker follows as it continues onwards to state that “only 10 percent of the product [has to] originate in the [named] geographic area.”

That means just a tenth of Kona Coffee could actually be sourced from Kona and it wouldn’t be breaking that specific bill.

It’s a pretty incredulous state of affairs when you think about it, especially given that Hawaii is the only coffee-growing area in the United States. You’d think they’d be keen to protect their trademarks.

Many people are hoping to see this figure increase, though there is some debate surrounding how high the threshold should be set. For example; State Representative Richard Creagan wants to see all packages with the Kona label contain at least 51 percent Kona-grown coffee whilst State Senator Russell Ruderman wants to set the bar at 80 percent.

But what everybody seemingly agrees upon is that the current levels need to change, and that the quantity of “non-local” coffee is clearly listed on all packaging.

“Almost all of the coffee farmers I know support this,” said Ruderman.

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association has launched an e-petition in support of the proposed labelling changes and it is believed that the majority of their members have given it their support. Which should come as no surprise to anyone: Since the original law was passed in 1991, many coffee farmers have been fighting its implementation.

There is, however, some resistance to this movement.

“The opposition to the bill is very small, but influential,” Ruderman admitted.

“[It is] one of those things where money and politics is the problem.”

“The issue has been going on so long,” explained Creagan.

“There is so much contention that some are gun shy about hearing it. The problem is there are only seven representatives from the Big Island and 35 [others] who don’t care much about coffee.”

photo: Christopher Michel [CC BY 2.0]