Ka'u Coffee Mill Blessed

Father Joel blessed Ka`u Coffee Mill, with owner Edmund C. Olson following. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

 

   The blessing of the Ka‘ū Coffee Mill brought some 300 people to Keaiwa along Wood Valley Road above Pāhala in January to celebrate the new mill, agricultural park and hydroelectric project. John Cross, who manages both the Edmund C. Olson Trust lands and the Ka‘ū Coffee Mill, said the visitor center and mill were built for all the Ka‘ū Coffee farmers. Not only the Ka‘ū Coffee Mill coffee will be sold at the visitor center, but boutique and award-winning coffee from individual farmers will be sold there, with the first brands displayed being those of Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, Leo Norberte and the Ka‘ū Coffee Growers Cooperative.

Visitor center at Ka`u Coffee Mill
will be open within a month.

      Cross pointed to the Ka‘ū Coffee Mill staff, mill supervisor Lee Segawa, administrative assistant Brenda Iokepa-Moses, coffee consultant Richard Loero, contractor Bob Taylor and others who helped put the operation together. Demetrius Oliveira gave the opening prayer. Father Joel sprinkled holy water around the facility. The band Keaiwa and Keoki Kahumoku provided music. Miss Ka‘ū Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula.

Bull and Jamie Kailiawa serve free homemade food at the blessing. 

      Attendees enjoyed Hawaiian food by the Kailiawa family and fresh vegetables all grown on Olson Trust and Hester lands in Ka‘ū.
“Not too often do you find me speechless, but this finds me close to that,” said state Rep. Bob Herkes during the ceremonies. He praised the Olson Trust for building the mill for local coffee farmers to process their beans and save the time and cost of driving them to Kona and Hilo mills. Herkes descends from a great-grandfather who came to Hawai‘i from Scotland in 1898 and built the first water pipe in Ka‘ū. “Not a flume, a water pipe, and it was made of wood,” he said. Herkes applauded Edmund C. Olson for “taking abandoned sugar cane lands and putting the people back on the ground, working in agriculture.”

Rep. Bob Herkes at the recent blessing
of Ka`u Coffee Mill.

      Sen. Gil Kahele told the people attending the event that he promotes Ka‘ū Coffee every chance he can, serving it at his office in the state Legislature and displaying a Ka‘ū Coffee Mill bag on the wall for everyone to see when they enter his office. He said he has followed the plight of displaced sugar workers from the closing of the sugar company to their journey starting their small coffee farms.
He said Ka‘ū is a special place to him, that his uncle was a fisherman and his grandmother was from Hīlea and Honu‘apo and that he spent summers in Ka‘ū as a child and became good friends with Thomas Kailiawa. He said he is so proud to see the success of Kailiawa’s son Bull and noted that Ka‘ū has the top-rated coffee in the United States. Kahele described Olson as a “good guy” for investing capital in the economic development of Ka‘ū.

County Council member Brittany Smart and state Senator
Gil Kahele promote Ka`u Coffee.

Keiki visit with donkeys packing Ka`u Coffee.

      County Council member Brittany Smart praised Ed Olson and the coffee farmers for all their hard work the last 15 years since the sugar plantation shut down.

Kathleen Kam autographed cards bearing her artwork.

Visitor center at Ka`u Coffee Mill
will be open within a month.

      Ka‘ū Coffee Mill is also a place of art, and Kathleen Kam was noted for her original murals of the land, the wildlife and the people of Ka‘ū. Two murals are completed in the visitor center, and another one is in progress. Four paintings of native birds are on display. A giclee print of Ka‘ū Coffee with nēnē, the Hawaiian state bird, was presented to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando to be placed in the regional headquarters of the National Park Service in San Francisco. Graphic artist Tanya Ibarra was recognized for developing the Ka‘ū Coffee Mill logo. The Pāhala Plantation House crew, under the direction of artist Kathleen Kam, created a sculpture of locally grown vegetables for display. Local woodworker Michael Worthington created koa cabinetry for the visitor center, and the crew from sister company Hāmākua Macadamia Nuts designed the retail space. Until the grand opening later this year, the visitor center will remained closed to the public but all Ka'u Coffee Mill coffee and products can still be purchased online at www.kaucoffeemill.com.

Ed Olson presented a giclee print of
Nene & Ka`u Coffee to Cindy Orlando.

Christmas Parade in Pahala

Ka`u Coffee farmers and beauty queens joined the annual Christmas Parade in Pahala, Dec. 11.

Ka'u Coffee Growers Cooperative

‎2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee First Princess Shailei-Marie Penera, 2010 Miss Ka'u Peaberry, 2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee Second Princess Malia Corpuz.

‎2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee Queen Dayse Andrade

 

 

Ka`u Coffee Festival 2012

The 2012 Ka`u Coffee Festival has been set for Saturday, May 12, and Ka`u Coffee Cooperative members and other supporters are welcoming the entire community to get involved and volunteer. This will be the fourth Ka`u Coffee Festival for the growing industry. Those interested in helping can call Ka`u Coffee Co-op president Gloria Camba at 928-8558.

Congratulations!

Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya (left), with Miss Kona Coffee Corinne Quinajon and first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera.   

Photo by Nalani Parlin 

Congratulations from Ka`u Coffee Mill to Miss Ka`u Coffee, Brandy Shibuya, on winning Miss Aloha Hawai`i! The islandwide pageant was held at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa on November 5<sup>th</sup>. Shibuya, the daughter of Terry-Lee and Dane Shibuya, danced hula for talent and won Miss Congeniality. Next step for the West Hawai`i Community College student is the Miss Hawai`i Pageant to be held next year in Honolulu. The winner of Miss Hawai`i goes on to Miss America. Shibuya will be welcomed at the Veterans Day Concert this Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House where she will be performing hula. Also on stage will be One Journey; the Ka`u High School Ensemble; the Rev. Dennis Kamakahi; David Kamakahi; George Kahumoku, Jr.; Moses Kahumoku; John and Hope Keawe; James Hill; Anne Davison and more. Plate lunches and bottled water will be on sale as a fundraiser for the Ka`u High Ensemble. Ka`u Coffee Mill also congratulates Miss Aloha Hawaii first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera. Lapera is a 2007 graduate of Ka`u High, and daughter of Hi`ilani and Thomas Lapera, Jr.

Ka`u Coffee Mill and the Edmund C. Olson Trust were honored to fund the 2011 Miss Ka`u Coffee scholarship and to underwrite the participation of Miss Ka`u Coffee, Brandy Shibuya, and many community and promotional events. 

 

Ka'u Coffee Mill Develops Hydroelectric Energy

The sugar plantation's old water system came down the mountain in wooden flumes to transport cane to the mill. Now in pipes, it is used for irrigation and will be used to produce energy. Photo by Julia Neal.

Olson Trust is using abandoned sugar plantation water resources and Keaiwa Reservoir to produce hydroelectric energy for farms along Wood Valley Road. Olson Trust workers recently laid pipe, drained the reservoir to repair it and set a course down the hillside to give the water the drop it needs to make electricity.

Keaiwa Reservoir drained for repair. Photo by Julia Neal.

Olson land manager John Cross said the goal is to make the new Ka`u Coffee Mill and macadamia husking plant totally “green and using only renewable energy.” Cross said that Olson also plans to use the excess water for additional agricultural projects such as growing watercress and a loi system to grow kalo – taro – and perhaps make poi. The irrigation water is already used for coffee trees, taro, and truck crops grown by farmers leasing the Olson Trust land.

Kathleen Kam Wins Cover Art Contest

Detail of Akebono Ka`u, Kathleen Kam's winning
art for The Directory 2012 cover, showing
plantation history and the new
independent agriculture.

Kathleen Kam, a local artist who was recently commissioned to paint two large murals at the Ka'u Coffee Mill, has won the cover contest for the 2012 Ka'u Directory, the community and resource guide and phone book for the district. Kathleen recently taught art at Na`alehu School and painted the murals at Punalu`u Bake Shop in Na`alehu, Kilauea General Store in Volcano, the Keauhou Bird Sanctuary in Volcano, KTA in Hilo and Kamehameha Schools on O`ahu. She has also provided artwork for signage and displays at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The selection of The Directory artwork was made through public voting at the Ka`u Federal Credit Union.

Accolades for Our Founder

       When speaking about Edmund C. Olson, Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co. President and Partner Richard Schnitzler told Pacific Business News, “there are people out there, they touch things and they turn to gold, and I would put him in that category. It’s not all about the buck for him.” But Olson didn’t begin life as a wealthy man; his hard work, intuition and good investments have helped him become the self-made millionaire he is today. A man who, according to Schnitzler, “actually cares.”
       Olson has helped several local organizations and businesses; he revived Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co. which was in danger of going bankrupt, helped Hawai’i County buy 230 acres of oceanfront land in Ka‘u, and is selling another 500 acres to the county, which plans to use it for a public park. He also donated $500 thousand to The Nature Conservancy this year.
      After discovering that Ka’u coffee farmers were driving some 70 miles to mill coffee cherries in Hilo or Kona coffee mills, Olson began seeking out ways to help them. Olson began construction on the Ka’u Coffee Mill in 2010. Since then he has meticulously overseen every detail of the project, making sure everything is as he envisioned it.