Hawaii is the main US coffee origin, led by Kona. Volcanic-slope farms harvest mostly from August to December, and Kona name rules are strict.
Hawaii is one of the few US states where coffee is a significant industry. USDA forecast 17.8 million pounds of utilized cherry for 2025-2026, from 6,500 bearing acres and worth about $41.6 million. Kona on the Big Island is the best known, and Kau, Hamakua, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu also grow coffee. Harvest runs broadly from August to March, heaviest from August to December. Only coffee from the North and South Kona districts may be called Kona. Since 1 July 2024 a Hawaii blend label must list the weight percent of every origin, and the minimum Hawaii-grown share is 10% until 30 June 2027, then 51% from 1 July 2027. Coffee berry borer arrived in Kona in 2010, and leaf rust was found by 2021.
History
Don Francisco de Paula y Marin recorded planting coffee seedlings on Oahu in 1813, and Rev. Samuel Ruggles carried cuttings to the Kona District in 1828. A Typica line from Guatemala arrived in 1892 and farmers quickly switched to it. After the 1899 world coffee market crash, plantation owners on other islands leased land to their workers, many of them Japanese, and family farms became the Kona tradition. Hawaiian production peaked in 1957 at over 18 million pounds. In the 1980s the sugarcane and pineapple companies looked for new crops and coffee returned across the islands, and the Kau sugar plantation closed in 1996. Coffee berry borer was found in Kona in 2010 and coffee leaf rust had been found by 2021. Mamo, the first stable Hawaiian-bred cultivar, was released in 2017.
Field notes
- i
Rev. Samuel Ruggles carried coffee cuttings to the Kona District in 1828, from Brazilian stock.
- ii
Hawaii's blend rule is changing: the minimum Hawaii-grown share is 10% until 30 June 2027 and 51% from 1 July 2027, and a federal 51% labeling law was enacted on 11 November 2025.
- iii
"All Hawaiian" may appear on a label only when the coffee was both grown and processed in Hawaii.
- iv
Apart from small experimental plantings and rootstock, all Hawaiian coffee is Arabica, and four large farms, one each on Maui, Kauai, Molokai and Oahu, harvest by machine.
- v
Hawaiian coffee production peaked in 1957 at over 18 million pounds.
Where it growsCoffee is grown on volcanic slopes across several Hawaiian islands, most famously in Kona on the Big Island.
Regions of United States of America
-
Big Island slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa, where the Kona name is legally restricted and farms average 2-5 acres, nearly all Typica.
Kona North · Kona South
-
Far-southern Big Island district that turned to coffee after its sugar plantation closed in 1996. Cups are described as chocolate, cherry, floral and citrus.
-
Haleakala-slope estates in Upcountry plus one large machine-harvested farm on the Lahaina side, and the main home of tiny-beaned Mokka.
-
Coffee here comes largely from one big irrigated, machine-harvested estate on former sugar land at low elevation, mostly Yellow Catuai.
-
A small industry centred on one machine-harvested farm and mill at Kualapu'u, about 850 ft up, mostly Red Catuai.
-
Cool, wet, red-soil strip of the Big Island's northeast coast, a legal label name with tiny farms and cups described as citrus, cocoa and nutty.
-
North Shore farm at 600-700 ft between Wahiawa and Waialua, planted in Typica and harvested by machine, on the island where Hawaiian coffee began.
How it is usually processed
Species
Sources · 5 Every sentence here was checked against a source we read. Taste notes are what guides describe, not promises about your bag. Last revised 2026-11-11.
- Kona coffee · Wikipedia
- Coffee production in Hawaii · Wikipedia
- Coffee (Hawaii), NASS Crop Production release 2025-2026 season · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
- Grown with Aloha: A Guide to Hawai'i's Coffee Industry · Hawaii Coffee Association (with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture), 2018
- 2026 Update on State and Federal Coffee Labeling Laws · Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Quality Assurance Division (presented to the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, 24 Feb 2026)