As it stands, only 10% of the coffee in packages labeled as "Hawaiʻi grown" must be sourced locally. However, new legislation is expected to change that.
Senate Bill 2298 has passed through the state Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Josh Green’s signature to become law. It would require roasted, instant or ready-to-drink coffee marketed as "locally sourced" to have at least 51% local coffee.
Lawmakers approved the measure to address labeling that Hawaiʻi coffee growers say is deceptive to buyers and harmful to the local industry.
“Blenders, 10% blenders, are making millions of dollars each year by putting $5 bags of coffee on the market for $25 to $30 a pound because it's got the name Kona or Kaʻu or Maui on the label, and they're able to mislead consumers into thinking that they're buying Hawaiian coffee,” said Bruce Corker, who owns Rancho Aloha Coffee Farm in Holualoa on Hawaiʻi Island.
Corker said the fight to protect the Hawaiʻi-grown label dates all the way back to the early 1990s. He said Kona coffee farmers had been asking for 51% local coffee in packages marketed as locally sourced since then, so SB2298’s passing this year is decades in the making.
He said the long delay is a result of the Legislature being “run by” the local business community, including coffee blenders.
Hawaiʻi Coffee Company sells some of the most recognized brands of coffee in the state — including Lion Coffee, Royal Kona Coffee and Hawaiian Isles Coffee Roasters — as well as blended coffee products. It opposed SB2298.
It also sells 100% Kona coffee and said that a range of blended options is important for consumers — and for its own operations.
“We believe it is important to offer consumers a range of coffee products so they have options to choose based on taste preferences and affordability," Gerard Bastiaanse, the president of Hawaiʻi Coffee Company, said in a written testimony from April against SB2298.
"(The bill) will force consumers to either select another affordable alternative roasted on the mainland or abroad, by a mainland or international company or to pay a much higher price for a 100% Kona coffee product,” Bastiaanse wrote.
He added that the bill “will reduce the volume of coffee purchased, roasted and packaged at our facility in Kalihi. As a result, the number of employees we currently employ would not be sustainable and a reduction in workforce would occur.”
Laws protecting geographic labeling and marketing of Hawaiʻi coffee began in 1991 when the state Legislature first passed a law requiring at least 10% local coffee in packages marketed as locally sourced. That law has since been expanded several times, most recently when Senate Bill 746 was signed into law last year.
Kona coffee farmers also scored a major victory in a class-action lawsuit against retailers who were selling coffee falsely labeled as being from the Kona region. The defendants included retailers like Costco, Amazon and Safeway. MNS, which operates ABC Stores, and the locally-based coffee seller Mulvadi, were also part of the lawsuit.
The coffee farmers won $41 million in a series of settlements following the five-year legal battle.
SB 2298 will go into effect in July 2027 and signals further support for local coffee farmers.
The measure’s original version wanted to go further than the final draft that left the Capitol, calling for 100% local coffee in packages advertised as being Hawaiʻi-grown. It also asked for a phased-in implementation, with a 25% requirement going into effect this year.
Rep. Nicole Lowen, who introduced the measure, said no other state allows such deceptive labeling for their specialty crops.
“You know, if you buy Georgia peaches, they're from Georgia. And if you buy Idaho potatoes, they're from Idaho. And if you buy Italian wine, you expect that it's 100% Italian wine and not 10% with just the word 'Italian' stuck on it," she said.
"I think when you’re so used to these 10% coffee blends, we don't kind of realize how unusual it is what we allow here."
Lowen said she is confident that the measure will be signed into law.
