History

Don Francisco de Paula y Marin was called Manini (tiny) by the Hawaiians but he was no small man in the agricultural history of the Islands. The Spanish confidant of King Kamehameha I, Marin has been credited for introducing coffee to Hawai‘i. He was cultivating coffee and sharing it from his home garden in Honolulu as early as 1813. The British warship HMS Blonde brought in more coffee in 1825, and Chief Boki, governor of O‘ahu, provided the ship gardener with land in Manoa Valley to plant it. From this early cultivation, seedlings were transplanted around the island and onto Neighbor Islands. The Rev. Samuel Ruggles moved trees to Captain Cook on Hawai‘i Island in 1828. By the late 1800’s, coffee was being grown commercially in Kona. It was cultivated in Ka‘u as early as 1894 by J.C. Searle. The Funai family of lower Moa‘aula began growing coffee and has continued for four generations.

In the late 1800s, a Kona newspaper predicted that Ka‘u would give the famed Kona coffee a run for its money. More than 100 years later the prediction has come true, with Ka‘u coffee topping all Hawaiian coffees in local and international cupping and tasting competitions.

Over the last 100 years coffee farming in Ka‘u expanded, shrank, and finally took hold on a larger scale in 1996 when the 135 year old sugar company, the major farming enterprise of the area, shut down. Before 38,000 acres at Ka‘u sugar plantation went fallow, owner C. Brewer and its subsidiaries licensed agricultural plots to sugar workers and other community members in an effort to help them with their economic future.

The displaced workers looked to coffee as one of the most promising avenues for local agriculture. Some of the first post-plantation coffee farmers were Brenda Domondon and John Ah San, Trini and Francis Marques, Jimmy and Lisa Dacalio and Manuel Marques, followed by Leo Norberte, Anabelle and Franklin Orsino, Marsalino Camba, Winslow Rivera, Anna Carriaga, Dennis Salmo, Richard Sambajon and Don Sakata.

The first years were rife with challenges as the farmers struggled to acquire the daunting array of agricultural, processing and business skills required to succeed in the coffee business. The farmers persevered and quietly began to offer their amazing coffee, rooted in Hawaiian coffee-producing tradition but displaying a new and exciting flavor profile.

In addition to farmers on the old sugar lands, independent growers with their own land started growing coffee in the Wood Valley area, including the late Lee Crutchfield, Glen and Lorie Panglao, Fannie Lilly, Ron Self and the Wood Valley Temple. Between Pahala and Na‘alehu, the old Searle coffee farm was started up again by great granddaughter Merle and her husband Phil Becker. In Ocean View, Tom and Joan Kosinski planted coffee eventually acquiring their own coffee mill and roaster. More farmers entered the coffee business on the leased lands, including Rusty and Lorie Obra, Joseph and Leonardo Castaneda, Melchor Fernandez, Milton Dacalio, Jeffrey Gascon, Efren Abellera, Gloria Camba and Rogelio Aquino, Marlon and Amelia Biason, Wiliiam and Grace Tabios, Jose and Berta Meranda, Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, and Amy and Ruby Javar.

Rusty Obra became the first Ka‘u Coffee Growers Cooperative President with Leo Norberte and Lorie Obra following him. The state Agricultural Extension Service, county Research & Development agency, and University of Hawai‘i stepped in to help the farmers with education in growing coffee, running businesses and marketing. By the year 2,000, Ka‘u coffee was on sale at the famed Volcano House Hotel, in grocery stores, gourmet shops, restaurants, farmers markets, and was soon to be sold over the internet.

After C. Brewer sold the Moa‘ula coffee lands in 2004, new owners with their subsidiary Ka`u Farm & Ranch and its land manager Chris Manfredi, helped to promote Ka`u Coffee grown by its lessees by entering into competitions sponsored by such organizations as the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Hawai‘i Coffee Association. The new landowners sponsored more education and cupping classes and Ka`u Coffee did well. At SCAA, in 2007, William Tabios took sixth in the world and Marlon Baisson took first in the Asia Pacific Division. At the SCAA competition in 2008, Manuel Marques coffee took 11th in worldwide competition, edging out Kona coffee. In the 2009 contest, the Bull and Jamie Kailliawa family coffee took seventh in the world and second in the Pacific-Asia Division. At Hawai‘i Coffee Association Competition in 2009, Gloria Camba and Rogelio Aquino's coffee took fourth place in the state and number one from the Ka`u District.

Among the independent growers who own their own land, Aikane Plantation Coffee Company has been awarded the Hawai‘i State Seal of Excellence.

In 2009, Ka‘u Coffee was featured at a gala in the famed Hay Adams Hotel across from the White House, celebrating the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. The First Ka‘u Coffee Festival was launched, a dream of the late Rusty Obra. Miss Ka‘u Coffee was crowned and candidates rode in the famed Merrie Monarch Parade in Hilo. A song was written during the 2009 Coffee Festival Music Workshop and recorded by Daniel Ho on Hei Nani. The album was nominated for a Grammy award in 2010.

The 2010 Miss Ka‘u Coffee Pageant and Ka‘u Coffee Festival were held for a second year. At the SCAA event, Will and Grace Tabios coffee was ranked among the top nine in the world, elevating Hawai‘i to an internationally recognized coffee region. At the Hawai‘i Coffee Association convention, Lorie Obra's coffee won the top award. She was also selected as top producer by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe after a cupping session at Pahala Plantation House co-sponsored by Edumnd C. Olson.

In 2010 Olson began construction of the Ka‘u Coffee Mill with its opening scheduled for Fall. It's designed to serve all the coffee farms in the district.

The 2011 Miss Ka‘u Coffee Pageant and Ka‘u Coffee Festival marked the third year of running successfully. At the 2011 SCAA event, Bull and Jamie Kailiawas “Kailiawa Coffee” won the top award in in Hawai’i, and the United States. Their coffee was also ranked one of the top ten coffees in the world. As a result, Ka‘u was named the Number One Coffee Growing Region in the United States. Lorie Obra’s Rusty’s Hawaiian 100% Ka‘u Coffee was used by Pete Licata to win first in the 2011 Worldwide SCAA Barista Championship. At the Hawai‘i Coffee Association convention Lorie Obra’s Rusty’s Hawaiian 100% Ka‘u Coffee won the top award again, with Leo and Hermie Norbertes JN Coffee closed behind in third place.