Coffee Purists Battle Blenders
The group is taking their battle to the state Legislature, having drafted a bill that requires coffee sellers to disclose the origins of all coffee beens. It’s expected to be introduced by Sen. Josh Green.
The association issued a press release on Thursday:
Under current law such packages are only required to put “10% Kona Blend” in small print at the bottom of the label; there is no requirement to disclose the origin of the 90%, nor is there a requirement to explicitly indicate that there is, in fact, non-Kona grown coffee in the package.
When the original bill leading to the “10% blend” coffee labeling law was introduced by in 1991, there was a provision mandating disclosure of the origin of all coffee in a blend. However, pressure on the Legislature from the Honolulu coffee blenders resulted in changing this disclosure requirement from “mandatory” to “voluntary”. In the more than 20 years since passage of the original law, none of the major Honolulu blenders has ever chosen to voluntarily disclosure of the origin of the imported coffee in their blends.
KCFA President Colehour Bondera has observed, “All too often consumers see the word KONA in the brand name in large print at the top of the label and incorrectly assume they are buying ‘Kona Coffee’ when the package is 90% from somewhere else. Even careful consumers who take the time to fully read the labels are confused by the small print at the bottom of the label. Are all Kona coffees are ‘10% blends’? Or is this an indication of a special type of coffee roast? Or does it indicate moisture content? Or is it a blend from 10 different Kona estate farms?”
