Higher Grounds

Text by Lindsey Vandal
Images by Michelle Mishina

Just 25 miles southeast of the famed Kona Coffee Belt, growing alongside macadamia nuts, banana, avocado, and cacao, the former sugarcane lands of the rural Ka‘ū district rear some of the most coveted single-origin coffee in the world. At elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 feet, the coffee-growing pockets of Kaumaikaohu and Palehua, the areas of Hawai‘i Island commonly referred to as Cloud’s Rest, Pear Tree, and Wood Valley, feature microclimates blessed with generous amounts of sun, shade, rainfall, mist, and mountain breezes—the perfect, natural ingredients for which an outstanding cup of coffee originates. 

With fewer than 100 farms spanning 830 acres, Ka‘ū’s coffee real estate is a fraction of what its neighbor to the north grows. While Kona coffee traverses 4,000 acres of the island’s windward side, thriving on the western slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa volcanoes, Ka‘ū coffee is raised on the eastern slopes of Mauna Loa’s leeward side. Contrary to Kona coffee’s tendency to sell as a blend, Ka‘ū coffee is typically packaged as a single-origin product and boasts dozens of varietals, given a breadth of fitting and alluring names such as Mauna Loa, Red Caturra, Mokka, Geisha, Catuai, Pacamara, and Bourbon.

The higher pH (potential hydrogen) of Mauna Loa’s east-facing soil and the presence of Pāhala ash deposits from Kīlauea’s volcanic eruptions are said to yield a mellow, sweet-tasting brew. Ka‘ū coffee is readily described to embody “rich flavor, piquant acidity, and intriguing hints of sweetness and spice,” according to the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council, along with citric notes, jasmine aroma, and fresh butter undertones. It also doesn’t hurt that Ka‘ū’s coffee plants are nourished by terra firma that sustained sugarcane for more than a century.

In 1996, the shuttering of Ka‘ū Sugar Company, the last remaining sugar producer in Hawai‘i, left the town of Pāhala suddenly without an industry. Plantation workers were offered 5-acre slices of leased land in higher altitudes above Pāhala to farm coffee, along with government startup support, though only a handful of displaced workers adopted the new vocation and crop. Four years later, fledgling farms planted the first coffee trees in Ka‘ū in more than a century. Up against a volcano-sized learning curve and a nonexistent market for their product, many growers sold their coffee cherries to established Kona producers at bargain prices. As farmers got their bearings and independent growers joined the community, Ka‘ū coffee began to assume its own identity.

Then, in 2007, the boutique coffee farms of Ka‘ū hit a watershed moment. Fifteen samples from the underdog region were entered into the Roasters Guild Cupping Competition, hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. There, a 30-person panel sampled more than 100 entries from around the globe for fragrance, aroma, taste, flavor, aftertaste, and body. When the results were tallied, Hawai‘i’s Will and Grace Tabios of Rising Sun Farm and Marlon Biason of Aroma Coffee Farms, placed sixth and ninth, respectively, effectively putting Ka‘ū on the coffee map. Two years later, another Ka‘ū grower named Thomas “Bull” Kailiawa III, a veteran of the sugar industry and one of the Hawaiian pioneers of Ka‘ū coffee, ranked seventh best in the world with his brew. 

As long-abandoned plots were tilled and seeded, Ka‘ū’s coffee production ticked up, and aspiring coffee farmers moved in with hopes to plant themselves where proverbial lightning appeared to be striking. Growers studied up on everything from cupping practices to bean storage in service of quality and consistency. As a new niche market blossomed, the region added critical resources and infrastructure, and farmers were able to command higher rates for their harvests. In 2010, the 140-acre Ka‘ū Coffee Mill began offering processing, roasting, and packaging services to area growers. The Mill, as it’s known, became a hub of engagement and innovation, adding a visitor’s center, coffee classes and tours, and sustainability upgrades, including a hydroelectric plant for milling and pulping.

“I think of Ka‘ū coffee as the beautiful little sister of Kona coffee,” says Delvin Navarro, a third-generation coffee farmer and owner of Navarro Farms in the Cloud Rest area of Pāhala. “No matter who you drink it from, Ka‘ū coffee has a profile of being incredibly smooth, the product of hard work and rich, acidic soil.” In 2015, Delvin and his wife, Shawnette, took over the acreage run by Shawnette’s grandfather, Prasert Chantrakul, who was one of the original sugarcane-turned-coffee converts in Ka‘ū.

After three decades of tending coffee on borrowed land, the Navarros became fully invested in their family legacy once parcels in Ka‘ū were finally offered for sale to leaseholder farmers in 2022. Following the purchase, Delvin expanded the business to add online sales, in-house milling and roasting, and partnerships with specialty roasters and coffee shops. 

Around the time the region started winning awards, Ka‘ū Coffee Growers Cooperative created the annual Ka‘ū Coffee Festival to celebrate the sleeper brew coming into its own, and to elevate the Ka‘ū district into a travel destination. In June 2024, the co-op returned for the first time since the pandemic to host its 14th festival, complete with 10 days of farm and ranch tours, grower meet-and-greets, brewing demonstrations, a coffee cooking competition, stargazing, and a closing ho‘olaule‘a (celebration) with hula and Hawaiian music. 

While Ka‘ū’s extraordinary growing conditions offered a springboard for success, the rags-to-riches story of Ka‘ū coffee could not have been written without the tenacious collective of growers who chose collaboration over competition. “Coffee right across the street can taste different because everybody has that unique thing that they do, but we support each other like one big family,” Navarro says. “Whenever Ka‘ū coffee gets recognized, we all win.”