Wednesday, June 10th, 2009...5:00 pm
Kona Coffee Confusion
I forgot the exact dollar amount, but I recall during college a friend telling me they got a full pound of Hawaiian Kona coffee at price that seemed too good to be true. I looked at the bag and sure enough it had a picture of Hawaii, a Kona label and then I saw the word Style. I had learned from one of my early coffee mentors that the word Style usually means there is no Kona coffee in the blend.
Kona Style indicates a blend of coffee beans roasted in the Style a Kona would be roasted.
Pretty sneaky? Or one might think fradulent. The more common way a lower priced Kona Coffee is sold to the public is by putting the term Blend beside Kona. How much Kona is in a Kona Blend? INeedCoffee contributor and Kona Coffee farmer Gary Strawn answered this question in the post Kona Blends.
If you purchase Kona coffee from a store anywhere other than Kona, you are very likely purchasing a Kona Blend. Here in Hawaii there is a state law that requires a minimum of 10% Kona coffee and the percentage has to be written on the label. On the mainland there is no such law so a “Kona Blend” might be 0% Kona coffee. Even at 10%, that means a Kona blend is 90% cheaper filler beans.
Even 10% seems fraudulent to me. It did to others as well. A bill (HB931) was introduced that would have increased the state law minimum of 10% to 51%. That bill failed to make it to committee and in the same post, Gary Strawn details how what started as a decent idea turned into a bill that even he couldn’t support.
Photo Kona’s coffee beans by mikefats
What do you need to know when it comes to Kona Coffee?
- AVOID: Kona Roast – Most likely has 0% Kona coffee.
- AVOID: Kona Style – Most likely has 0% Kona coffee.
- AVOID: Kona Blend – Has just 10% Kona coffee if purchased in Hawaii and as little as 0% if purchased elsewhere.
- BUY: 100% Kona Coffee – Island coffee is special and will cost more. Make sure you getting 100% Kona.
Sources:
Kona Blends – By Gary Strawn of Kona Earth Coffee.
Gary Strawn – INeedCoffee contributor page.
Hawaiian Coffee - Island by island Hawaiian coffee overview by Chris Arnold.
Kona coffee – Blending information on the Kona coffee Wikipedia page.
HB931 – Bill proposal to change the Kona Blend labeling law.
8 Comments
June 10th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Just the other day I saw a coupon for “Royal Kona coffee” on sale at the local grocery store for $3.89 for a half pound. A half pound of Kona usually costs $13.89 so my first thought was “Wow, I better lower my prices.” Then I looked closer and saw that the coffee is “Royal Kona” brand which, in this case, contained 0% Kona coffee.
Misleading? Yes. Illegal? No, they never said it was Kona coffee, Royal Kona is just the name of the company.
I wouldn’t care so much except I know there are consumers out there that buy coffee like this then think “I don’t know what all the hype is about, this Kona doesn’t taste any different than Folgers.”
June 10th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
The only thing worse is when they save that $3.89 coffee for a “special occasion” a month or two later. Now they drinking a stale version of bad coffee.
I know too many stories of people that bought less than 100% Kona on their first day of vacation in Hawaii and then didn’t brew it up back home until weeks later.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Any time we have a farm tour, we brew up some fresh coffee so our guests can try it. Quite often their eyes light up because they’ve never had fresh coffee before. Being a Kona coffee farmer, I’m certainly biased in favor of Kona coffee but I still agree that fresh coffee is even more important than origin. It’s kind of sad how many people have never had a good cup of coffee. That’s probably why adding cream and sugar is so common.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
It seems to go along with a lot of the misleading labels on products now. I knew about the Kona blend being misleading, but I never even thought about Kona style before. I’m planning on reviewing some Kona coffee soon (mainly because I’ve never had any), so I’ll be looking carefully at the fine print before I make my purchase.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Yah, those sneaky blend guys really give us Kona coffee farmers trouble. A typical pound of 100% Kona sells for a little more than $20, compared to $5 to $8 a pound for blends. Tourists see the huge price difference, and see the word “Kona.” They figure that they are just getting a great deal, and buy the cheaper blend. Little do they know, they are drinking bad coffee with their friends back home and calling it Kona. Terrible!
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:18 am
Let’s look at it from a different perspective: Anything KONA will lead ultimately to KONA COFFEE. Be it a sugary JackInTheBox Kona Shake, a Kona bicycle, a Kona luau, a Kona Coffee Gum from Wrigley’s, a 10% Kona Blend, a Kona coffee maker or the Turkish bath fixture company with the name ‘Kona’: Somebody in the room will always point out that the region Kona, Hawaii grows a darn good, but expensive coffee. But one has to look for the 100% Kona sign. Like with designer handbags, the fake doesn’t feel as good as the real thing to the owner, and one feels increasingly bad to have cheated herself to a cheaper experience. Or having been cheated upon.
So I feel not as angry over the lack of protection we Kona coffee farmers get from our government as I did years ago. Plenty of customers we won from the hordes of cheated 10% BLEND buyers. And they are angrily spreading the news and sending ever more curious customers to us local farmers
August 5th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Are there any independent reviews out there of the various 100% Kona coffee brands for a given year? Not sure if – like wine – quality is more seasonal (e.g. rain) or process (e.g. when picked) that makes the significant comparative taste differences. I’m looking for insight on who got it right, and who’s sliding along on the name alone. THAT is the kind of information (and critique) that will make the Kona product soar (for those who are doing it right). I live in Santa Monica California, and can’t find (of all places) anyone who can show me the quality of fine 100% Kona. I’m forced to crap-shoot through anonymous online purchases. Frankly, the price is keeping me away. I need more information first. Business Opportunity: like “wine tasting”, organize a “100% Kona coffee tasting” event!!!!!!!!
August 5th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I hear you, John. There are a few independent reviewers like Ken Davids, Colin Newell, and the new kid in town, Jason Coffee, who review amongst others also Kona coffees. But there is no cohesive over arching consumer report-like evaluation.
Compare it to Napa Valley. Similar amount of Napa vineyards to Kona coffee farms: 600+ Some have only a few trees, some have 80 acres. Plenty of cupping competitions and way, way too many “awards”. Everybody claims to have won some these days.
Best bet for you: Come to the Kona Coffee Festival in November and go to the Kona Coffee & Art Stroll in Holualoa. You can cup for free at least 20-30 different farms, meet the owners, talk about coffee till the cows come home, find a supplier you like and you’ll fly back to LA with new found Kona coffee certainties.
More about the complexity of Kona coffee farming: “Kona Coffee Farming: Escape or Reality?”
http://coffee.bc.ca/?pg=4
Kind of a tongue-in-cheek description of what’s going on here with us Kona coffee growers.
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