On Hawaii Island — where the coqui’s ‘song’ or ‘whistle’ began receiving notice about 15 years ago — many residents have a far less favorable view of the nightly serenade. A common characterization on the Island is that of a ‘sleep-destroying racket.’

Several years ago a Hilo-based candidate for the state legislature ignored his opponents and campaigned almost exclusively against the coqui frog — and won the election! But the politician’s promise to eradicate the coqui was not kept. The coquis continue to whistle in up-country Kona and in Hilo each night after rain. Hawaii County has essentially given up on its coqui eradication program.

On Oahu however, where the coqui has more recently arrived, the authorities are now beginning the eradication efforts anew. A recent Wall Street Journal A-hed article profiled the Oahu campaign.

On your next visit to the Islands you can decide whether our Puerto Rican guest provides ‘melodious songs’ or an ‘annoying racket.’

This year the website competition was sponsored by Kamehameha Investment Corporation. Website entries from more than 20 different farms were included in the contest.

We are delighted that Rancho Aloha was the recipient of this year’s Sponsor’s Award in recognition of the People’s Choice voting by Coffee Festival attendees.

This is the third time in the last 6 years that Rancho Aloha’s website has been an award winner. We send many mahalos to our website designers, Zac Corker and Ashleigh Williams, for their hard work and skill in designing and updating the website.

Here is evidence of progress:

1. Below is a photo of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s coffee label shirt, proudly worn and displayed at the Olympic ‘athletics’ (that’s track & field for you North Americans) venue in London last month. Wearing the shirt — manufactured from the finest cotton lawn fabric by Tori Richard with genuine Kona farm labels — is our good friend Peter, a resident of the United Kingdom. Peter visited Kona 4 or 5 years ago and has been a loyal purchaser of Rancho Aloha coffee ever since. The KCFA label shirt is from a limited, single production run, and each is an aloha-shirt-collector’s prize. Order your shirt today!
2. Here is a note from Rancho Aloha’s first Austrian customer:

Hello Rancho Aloha,

The coffee arrived today, so it takes more than 2 weeks to cross the Pacific Ocean and the Alps

Quality is excelent, much better than every (very expensive Kona Coffe) available in Austria…wow! You can only get coffee here thats not from organic farming. There are low quality Kona blends, too. I am surprised to be the first Austrian ordering your coffe, but maybe there will some more friends of mine do so in future.

After testing the different roastings I will order more. 

Thanks and kind regards from Europe,
Erik

 Many thanks and aloha to Peter and Erik — and all our European friends.

Drawing from data on more than 400,000 people, the study found that coffee drinkers on average live longer than non-coffee drinkers. Further, the researchers found that longevity increased when the number of cups savored by coffee consumers increased to 4 or 5 per day. More coffee correlates with longer life.

The twist on this story that many Kona coffee growers have recognized arises from the fact that longevity in Hawaii is greater than in any of the other 49 states. We believe that enjoying the rich, smooth, and floral flavors of 100% Kona coffee contributes to the long life and happiness of the people of Hawaii!

The obvious conclusion: Kona Coffee = an elixir for long life. Order here!

CBB has been a damaging pest in almost all coffee growing regions of the world for many years, but Hawaii coffee orchards were free of this beetle until 2010 when CBB was found in South Kona. That year some of the South Kona coffee growers lost 80% or more of their crop.

Unfortunately for those of us who grow coffee in Holualoa and other areas of North Kona, CBB has arrived in the north this growing season. And while there is no prospect of eliminating this pest, there are two approaches which can help to contain the impacts of the CBB:

1. gleaning the orchards of all coffee cherry left on trees at the end of the harvest season, and
2. applying on organically approved version of the fungus b. bassiana.

At Rancho Aloha we are busy following both these mitigation strategies, and we and the rest of Kona Coffee growers are hopeful that CBB populations will be reduced and damage will be limited to 2-5% of the crop. The Kona Coffee Farmers Association has put together this video detailing efforts to control CBB.

For appreciators of Kona coffee, CBB brings bad news and good news. The bad news is that prices are likely to rise as a result of reduced coffee production. The good news is that processing techniques remove the CBB-damaged beans and the world-renowned flavor of 100% Kona coffee will continue to delight consumer palates.

Rancho Aloha needs your help!

The Hawaii State Legislature — at the request of the Honolulu 10% Blenders and their allies — appears almost certain to pass House Bill No. 280. This measure would repeal the mandatory system of inspection and certification of Hawaii-grown coffee that was put in place after the Kona Kai coffee counterfeiting scandal of the mid-1990s.

The current mandatory system has been successfully administered by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture for more than a decade.  This system has provided a measure of assurance as to the origin and quality of Hawaii-grown coffee to buyers throughout the world.

The arguments of the Blenders in support of HB280 are particularly unconvincing and raise questions as to motive.

We hope that you and other appreciators of 100% Kona Coffee will join us in petitioning Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie to veto this bill!

Following the spirit of the Governor’s proclamation, the Kona Coffee Farmers Association has unveiled its ‘Kona Coffee Label Aloha Shirt.’ This shirt brings a stunning new edition to the Hawaiian tradition of colorful Aloha Shirts by featuring actual labels from a dozen Kona coffee farms (including the Rancho Aloha label), together with the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s label and 100% Kona Coffee logo.

The beautiful layout design was the work of Debbie Donald, a KCFA-member farmer. The manufacturing was done by the renowned up-scale Tori Richard Ltd of Honolulu, and created using the company’s trademarked Tori Richard cotton lawn (one of the world’s finest cotton weave).

This project was a cooperative effort of the participating coffee farmers to raise funds for the non-profit Kona Coffee Farmers Association and the Association’s work of protecting the heritage and reputation of the ‘Kona Coffee’ name. This shirt is a limited edition and will not be made again. For those who already have a collection of Aloha Shirts, this shirt will provide a prized addition. For others, it will provide the perfect first step to an anticipated lifelong collection.

Available in sizes from XS to XL, the ‘Kona Coffee Label Aloha Shirt’ provides a unique and stylish garment for women and men. Order yours today!

Alerted to Safeway’s deceptive label by the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s Resolution calling for a nationwide boycott, a Northern California consumer has filed a class action lawsuit against Safeway.

The lawsuit, Thurston vs. Safeway, seeks $5 million in damages on behalf of all consumers who purchased the deceptively labeled Kona Blend coffee. It alleges that Safeway’s labeling violates California consumer protection and fair marketing laws.

The plaintiff, Chanee Thurston, states that she relied on Safeway’s representations that the Kona Blend Coffee was a ‘Kona Blend’ and on its additional statement ‘Revel in the unmatched taste of savory beans from Hawaii’s Big Island,’ and that she was misled because the label did not advise that the majority of the product was non-Kona coffee beans. Ms. Thurston says that she would not have purchased the Kona Blend product if she had known that it contained only a minimal amount of Kona coffee.

Kona’s farmers are interested in the court’s decision on the issues raised in the lawsuit — and particularly on the plaintiff’s assertion that selling a ‘Kona blend’ with less than 51% Kona is a violation of California law. It would be ironic if the Court finds that California law gives more protection for the name and reputation of Hawaii’s premier specialty agricultural crop — Kona Coffee — than does the State of Hawaii.

See the Associated Press article for more.

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SAFEWAY AGREES TO CHANGE THE LABELING OF ITS “SAFEWAY SELECT KONA BLEND” COFFEE

KAILUA KONA, HAWAII, September 1, 2011.

By letter dated August 31, 2011, Safeway Stores notified the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and Russell Kokubun, Chairman of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, that it will make requested modifications in the labeling of “Safeway Select Kona Blend” coffee sold by Safeway on the US Mainland.

In July the Kona Coffee Farmers Association called for a nationwide boycott of all Safeway stores in response to Safeway’s disregard of concerns about deceptively labeled “Safeway Select Kona Blend”. The KCFA’s Boycott resolution also noted that Safeway had for more than four months failed to respond to a letter from HDOA Chairman Russell Kokubun sent to Safeway “strongly urging voluntary compliance with our coffee labeling laws”.

On August 2, 2011, Safeway Director of Public Affairs & Governmental Relations Susan Houghton and other Safeway officials met with KCFA Board member Paul Uster at Safeway headquarters in Pleasanton, California, to review the concerns of Kona coffee growers. Ms. Houghton committed to review those concerns and to determine “[w]hether or not we can increase the Kona blend to the 10% criteria cited by the Hawaii labeling law on coffee.”

In her August 31 letter Ms. Houghton states that Safeway agrees:

1 — The Kona blend packaging will be modified to reflect that the Kona “blend” coffee will contain a minimum of 10 percent Kona beans; and

2 — The Kona blend packaging will be further modified to indicate the geographical location of other beans used in the blend.

Safeway has also committed to offer packages of 100% Kona coffee to Safeway customers in California, beginning next year.

Colehour Bondera, President of the KCFA, in responding to Ms. Houghton has stated, “I want to express to you my thanks, and that of Kona’s coffee farmers, for the decision of Safeway to follow the requests of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and Russell Kokubun, Chairman of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture….We believe these are important steps toward fair labeling and fair use of the Kona name.”

For the Houghton letter, see HERE and the Bondera response—see HERE.

To review the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s position statement on “10% Kona blend” coffee—see HERE.

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association is a volunteer, non-profit, community-based organization of coffee farmers with the mission to promote and protect the economic interests of Kona coffee farmers who grow and sell 100% Kona coffee and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.

What the label does not indicate is that there is anything other than Kona-grown coffee in the package — or that less than 10% of the contents is, in fact, from Kona.

After Safeway headquarters for months ignored questions from the Kona Coffee Farmers Association (KCFA) and Russell Kokubun, Chairperson of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the KCFA in July adopted a resolution calling for a nationwide boycott of Safeway Stores until the ‘Safeway Select Kona Blend’ is truthfully labeled.

Rancho Aloha encourages all appreciators of real Kona Coffee to support the KCFA boycott by

1. Taking a copy of the Safeway Boycott Resolution to the manager of your local Safeway (or Safeway-owned grocery store including Von’s, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Genuardi’s, Carr’s, and Dominick’s); and
2. Encourage the manager to ask Safeway headquarters to change the label to, at a minimum, disclose the percentage of Kona coffee and the origin of the non-Kona in the package.

For more on this consumer protection and fair marketing issue visit the KCFA website.