Planters involved from farm to cup

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

There was a time when it was enough for a coffee grower to be a farmer.

To make their businesses successful today, many farmers need to get into processing, roasting, selling and, in some cases, even serving their coffee to coffee drinkers.

"The best way to make money in it is to control it from the farm to the cup," said Al Coscina, who roasts and packages coffee for sale and is looking for investors to reactivate Dole's old 180-acre Waialua coffee plantation on O'ahu.

While the high value of Kona coffee allows many growers there to continue to sell to others for processing and eventual marketing, a number of Kona farms now market through their own shops and on the Internet.

The state's biggest coffee plantations are trying to keep control of every phase of the business, from growing to processing and selling directly to consumers.

"Any time I can make a direct sale of roasted coffee, I'm getting the maximum out of the coffee," said Coby Barbata, sales manager of Coffees of Hawai'i, which operates the Moloka'i Coffee Co.

That's why Kaua'i Coffee with 3,400 acres, Moloka'i Coffee with 500 acres, and Maui Grown with 125 — the three largest actively operating coffee plantations in the state — all sell coffee directly to the consumer as well as wholesaling to other retailers.

Kaua'i Coffee runs a visitor center where it sells coffee and coffee paraphernalia and is launching a chain of coffee shops. Moloka'i Coffee has its visitor center and two places where you can buy fresh-brewed coffee, including the shop at the Moloka'i Airport. Maui Grown doesn't have any yet, but plans to, said President Kimo Falconer.

All three also have Web sites where consumers can order coffee.