The coffee industry of Hawaii is the only significant coffee industry in a member state of the United States of America (excluding territories). While Hawaii is a relatively small producer of coffee (6,600,000 pounds in 2006--ranking well in the bottom tier of coffee producing countries), it is well known for its Kona varieties and its coffee consistently sells for a higher than average price. Hawaiian coffee production is often small in scale, with 790 farms cultivating only 8000 acres of coffee.

In 1825, after visting coffee houses in England, Chief Boki, governor of Oahu, stopped in Brazil to pick up coffee seedlings to plant in Hawaii. Using these seedlings, agriculturalist John Wilkinson successfully planted a coffee orchard on Oahu. From these trees, the first coffee farms were planted in the Kona region.

The industry grew in fits and starts through the mid-1800s, with coffee competing with sugar cane as the most profitable crop for farmers to cultivate. However the combination of a coffee blight and a deterioration the local market led to the collapse of the coffee industry in the 1860s. Abandoned coffee estates would eventually be split up into small farms. Throughout the mid- to late-1800s, the coffee industry would remain volatile. In 1861, coffee exports would total 49,000 pounds, rising to 452,000 pounds in 1870. However, by 1877, coffee exports fell to less than a third of that number.

In 1898, the United States of America began to occupy the Hawaiian Islands. With the protective tariffs no longer in place for exports to the U.S., prices fell and the coffee industry once again collapsed, inducing farmers to return to growing sugar cane. It would not be until 1912 that coffee prices recovered and coffee farming became a more viable endeavor.

The growing conditions on Hawaiian coffee farms vary depending on the region in which they are located. While farms in the Kona district are at a lower elevation than many arabica farms, farms in other coffee growing regions are often grown at even lower elevations.

Most farms in the Kona district are of a relatively smaller size. While there are a number of small farms in other regions of Hawaii, larger farms are being to become more prevalent.

Hawaii is further from the equator from many coffee growing regions. With the resulting cooler climate from its Northerly geographic location, little of Hawaii's coffee is shade grown.   Hawaiian Coffee

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