Hawaii seeks coffee variety to rival renowned Kona

Jan Tenbruggencate
The Honolulu Advertiser

ELE'ELE, Hawaii - Ross Fowler and Joe Lopez visit the Kauai Coffee shop at Port Allen on the island of Kauai for the ice cream, but they don't drink the locally grown coffee.

Lopez concedes he has never even tried the coffee, which grows in deep-green fields that are visible from Port Allen. "What I heard, it was real bitter," he said. Overcoming that reputation for poor quality, established when the plantations were young and the staff inexperienced, is a challenge for the Hawaii coffees grown outside of Kona. Today, those coffees are generally much better, but the growers admit they need an edge.

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