Kona Coffee: Prized Coffee from Hawaii

Kona Coffee is a prized coffee from Hawaii. It is valued for its mild, subtle, yet complex flavors. Kona Coffee is grown in the Kona District of the Big Island of Hawaii, where the climate and soil are ideal for coffee production. The beans are hand-picked and processed using traditional methods, which results in a high-quality coffee with a unique flavor.

Who was the First Person to Grown Kona Coffee in Hawaii?

The first person to attempt to grow coffee in Hawaii is the horticultural experimenter don Francisco de Paula Marin. Marin introduced numerous plant species to the Hawaiian Islands.

Coffee beans and plant cuttings from Brazil were originally brought to Oahu in 1825. By 1828, Kona coffee beans were growing successfully on the Big Island, proving to be an extremely successful agricultural product and cultural phenomenon. By the 1850s, Kona Coffee was recognized as a brand. In the late 1800s, the Brazilian plants were replaced with Guatemalan coffee plants from which today's crops are descended.

Between 1885 and 1925, nearly 180,000 Japanese emigrated to Hawaii and many of them in search of autonomy found their way to the coffee farming industry on the island of Kona. The coffee farming industry was rejuvenated by the arrival of the Japanese coffee farmers. They planted hundreds of acres, restored old fields and improved the process of coffee drying and implemented new technologies. The Japanese, giving up on returning to Japan, stayed in the area and influenced and were influenced by the culture.

If you are ever on the Big Island of Hawaii, be sure to visit the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, the only living history coffee farm in the nation to have a rich immersive experience of the history of Kona coffee farming.