Rain on the south side of Hawaiʻi Island inched onto Jean Orlowski's coffee farm on Saturday afternoon, rehydrating his trees with a much-needed mist of warm water.
“We're supposed to be in the rainy season. We have rain today but we also have a lot of sun,” Orlowski said as he opened his umbrella. “You can have rain for a few days and then you know you have a drought for a week and that's very difficult for the tree.”
Orlowski and his wife run Hala Tree, a local business in the heart of the Kona Coffee Belt. He said they've traveled the world tasting different kinds of coffee — but none compared to the beans they found in Kona.
A combination of volcanic soil, native plants and bountiful fruit trees sit on their original 6 acres that they purchased about a decade ago.
“On a small farm, it's very, very hard actually to reach a level where you can even break even. Or if not, you're really killing yourself walking,” Orlowski said.
They later expanded their farm to 100 acres of land, where they now employ 20 seasonal pickers to help out during harvest time – a normal task for coffee farmers looking for more hands during peak times.
But the work isn’t easy. During the late 1800s, Japanese immigrants began their coffee legacy in these same Kona fields, picking and weeding through overgrown foliage and mosquitos to produce 100-lb sacks of coffee cherry, that would yield only about 16 lbs of roasted coffee to sell.
Wilfred Yamasawa is a third-generation Kona coffee farmer and owner of Kona’s Best Coffee Co. Growing up along the Coffee Belt, he said he remembers when Kona coffee sold for just 6 cents.
“What it is now, which is to the farmer picking the red beans, is $2.60 a pound now,” he said. “It's kind of out of control but I think it's well deserved because of the amount of time and labor it takes.”
As Yamasawa ages, he depends on his son to take over the family business. But not every farm has the privilege of passing the torch to their kin.
The Kona community has seen an influx of immigrant workers over the last decade, which he said has helped boost the production of coffee.
“They are producing, keeping the farms industry vibrant,” Yamasawa said.
“I see them, I see my past. I don't know about this one,” he joked, pointing to his son sitting next to him. “Yeah, his idea is to start working after two hours. But he's getting it.”
Celebrating the coffee culture
The 52nd annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is a 10-day event to celebrate the community’s farmers and fall harvest.
Festival President Valerie Corcoran has spent the last 34 years involved in the event.
“I stick with it because I'm promoting the culture. All the people who woke up early in the morning, you know when to pick coffee or school system on coffee schedule, things like that,” she said.
Each year, organizers try to bring in new ways of engaging younger coffee enthusiasts – while also keeping traditions alive. For 2023, they introduced Cafe Bingo and their featured festival artist, Shar Tuiʻasoa, better known as Punky Aloha.
The logo artwork shows a farmer picking coffee cherries in a field, with her hair swirling in a movement that resembles steam rising from a freshly brewed cup, Tuiʻasoa explained.
“They said just make something beautiful. And that's like the magic words to me. Like that's my favorite kind of projects, you know, where they just like, we trust your vision,” she said. “I always go to the people, I always go to the workers. So it's a celebration of the farmers, and movement and happiness.”
The event is a celebration of changes and traditions. Thomas Kahikina Ching moved to Kona in 1979, noting that the only jobs at the time were in the hotel industry – or in the fields.
“It's nasty work, you know, but we, you almost have to be involved with coffee some way somehow, if you're living in Kona. If you are not picking it, you are picking it up, you are dropping it off, you are helping other friends or family to move materials or product,” he said.
He said nowadays, farms wouldn’t be able to survive without the help of immigrant farmers flown in for about 12 weeks of the year from Mexico, Central America and even California.
“That's what this whole hoʻolauleʻa (celebration) is about. It’s about the meeting of cultures, sharing the same goal of being successful farmers in the coffee business and industry,” he said.
The future of coffee in Hawaiʻi
During the 2021-2022 season, the state Department of Agriculture reported that the production value of coffee was at almost $62 million.
It’s the second-highest level recorded for the industry, according to the DOA.
However, experts predict this year’s production will decline by about 8%, partly due to labor shortages and a destructive fungus known as Coffee Leaf Rust.
Orlowski said starting about three years ago, Kona coffee farmers lost most of their production to the rust. And while his trees have resisted it well compared to other farms, he has had to make the difficult decision to no longer be completely organic.
“The reason is that the coffee rust is killing those trees,” he said, “We are living from the farm. So it's very important to protect those trees. And we believe that organically it's very difficult to do. It's very risky.”
Ching said that as a former farmer, he recognizes the ongoing complexities working against keeping coffee local to Hawaiʻi.
“I feel for the local farmers. Because every year there's a new pest, there's a new bug, and then a new tax or a new something that you know, if it's not the government trying to come after you, it's some kind of insect or bug that is invaded,” Ching said.
“And these coffee farmers still persevere and continue to try and put the best product they can.”
