Column: Protect the good name of Hawaiian coffee from 10% blends

What would you think if you saw a package that said “10% Macaroni and Cheese”? What about 10% Hawaii Guava Juice? What’s the other 90%, you might ask? The package doesn’t say.

In Hawaii, that’s exactly what state laws permit for some Hawaii-grown products.

10% Kona Coffee Blend? Hundreds of thousands of packages are sold to consumers who do not know that 90% of the bag’s contents are from India, Vietnam or Central America.

Using the good Kona name on the bag suggests consumers may smell and taste mellow, delicious Kona coffee. Not true. Even expert cuppers cannot taste 10% Kona coffee in a blend of 90% foreign beans. Consumers are left to believe what they taste is the real thing, when it’s not.

Coffee farmers across the state want honest legislation. We propose that any blend that uses our good names (such as, Kona, Ka‘u, Maui, Kauai) must have at least 51% of the named coffee beans in the blend. And the origin of the other 49% should be identified on the bag.

Other states protect their premium crops. Idaho potatoes must be grown in Idaho, or the state will sue for fraudulent use of their good Idaho name. California wines are carefully protected by state laws that require nearly all of the named geographic origins of the grapes (Napa, Sonoma, etc.) to be grown in that region. Or they will sue for fraud.

For several years we have tried to get the Legislature to pass labeling reform bills to require that all blends of named Hawaii coffees must have at least 51% of that coffee in the bag, and to label the geographic origins of other beans in the blend.

Last session, such a bill (House Bill 144) passed the House but was killed in the Senate. Coffee farmers will back the same reform measure again in 2020.

Our proposed law protects both farmers and consumers; 750 Kona coffee farmers are losing millions of dollars in sales of 10% blends to innocent consumers who cannot know what they are getting is a fraud.

Blenders are making a fortune with their 10% blends and our good Hawaii names, while robbing farmers and consumers. Yes, blends are cheaper to buy than 100% pure coffees, but they are not proportionately cheaper.

Let’s make a 10% blend: Take 10% of $20-per-pound green Kona beans, add them to 90% of $2-per-pound foreign beans. The blender’s cost per pound is less than $4. He can sell that blend for $12 per pound and make a 200% profit.

Take 100% Kona coffee: Farmers and upscale retailers sell it at $30 to $50 per pound, but it costs $25 to roast and bag a pound of Kona coffee. Profits on 100% Kona coffee are lower, but at least these profits are from an honest, legitimate Hawaii-grown product.

If blenders had to put 51% of the named coffee in the bag, they may raise their prices. Both farmers and consumers will benefit. Farmers will receive more money for their crops, and consumers will get a glimpse of how real Hawaii coffees taste.

We are proud of our 150-year history of growing world-class coffees in these islands. Let’s make coffee an honest, state-protected part of our heritage.

Tell your legislators to defend Hawaii’s premier coffees, farmers and consumers from abuse. Make 51% the minimum standard for Hawaii coffee blends.

Sandra Scarr is a Kona coffee farmer in Holualoa.