Why Those Coffee Labels Matter

The Better the Bean, the Better the Brew
by Sarah Blanchard
CoffeeTimes.com

“We grow the most wonderful coffee in the world.” Tom Greenwell, co-owner (with his wife Jennifer) of Greenwell Farms in Kona, isn’t just boasting about his own coffee. It’s Big Island coffee, and specifically Kona coffee, that he’s talking about so enthusiastically. “Customers who really love coffee also care about quality. The Hawaii coffee certification program helps us all keep our quality standards high.” The question of quality, Greenwell emphasizes, isn’t just about the fabulous aromas and the superb flavors and the deep, rich color of a robust brew—it begins way before that, with the tending and harvesting of the beans.

A Little Coffee Country History

The coffee industry in Hawaii has had many ups and downs since the day the first coffee trees arrived on the Big Island in the early 1800s. The plants grew well in Hilo and even better in Kona, especially on the slopes near Kealakekua. The industry boomed during the latter part of that century, then went bust in 1899 as world markets collapsed. Many coffee farms were converted to sugar plantations during the following decades; then coffee made a comeback, often on smaller family estates. In the 1950s, there was another decline in the coffee market; but, after the Hawaii sugar industry died in the late 20th century, coffee trees were re-planted on land that had been previously dedicated to sugarcane.

Grown on upslope lands such as those owned by Greenwell Farms, which was established in 1850, Kona coffee began to gain serious name recognition. To customers, “Kona” meant high-quality, flavorful roasts that carried the added cachet of an exotic, tropical island paradise. Recognizing quality when they tasted it, customers were happy to pay more for anything labeled “Kona.”

But then, in the mid-1990s, customers’ trust in the Kona coffee name plummeted. Over a span of several years, California coffee broker Michael Norton bought large quantities of Central American coffee, re-packed it with a smaller amount of Kona, labeled it as “pure Kona coffee,” and sold it on the market at the much-higher Kona prices. Evidence gathered by the U.S. Customs Service revealed that Norton had raked in nearly $15 million in profits through this scheme. (To read the full details of this story, and view the Justice Department’s original affidavit, see http://www.coffeetimes.com/konakaiaffidavit.pdf)

Defective beans are tested for in each lot of Hawaiian coffee inspected. Green coffee in Hawaii is inspected for size, density, moisture content, aroma and bean defect count.

Norton went to jail, but the damage to the Kona coffee industry lingered long after the fraud was exposed. Shawn Slocum, Processed Foods and Dealer Licensing Specialist with Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture (DOA), says, “A lot of roasters and re-sellers got burned. U.S. Customs caught the perpetrator, but the Kona name was nearly ruined.” Farmers of 100% Kona coffee were harmed the most by Norton’s scam.

More...