A Cup of Aloha: The Kona Coffee Epic

by Gerald Kinro

Kona is one of the world's premium coffees. Given its small-scale cultivation on family farms, however, it has been especially susceptible to price swings and market gluts. A Cup of Aloha is a heartfelt portrait of the farmers, millers, landowners, merchants, and laborers who struggled to keep themselves and their industry alive. The author traces coffee's history in Hawaii--from its arrival in 1828 to Kona's position in today's highly competitive specialty coffee market. Through the author's use of oral history interviews, readers will experience day-to-day life on a coffee farm and the challenges, natural and man-made, that inspired innovations and adaptations to the agricultural, economic, and social life in the Kona Coffee Belt.

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

I was born and raised on a coffee farm on Hawaii’s Kona Coast. I was blessed with good experiences of growing up in rural Hawaii. Since then, my heart has been in nature and agriculture. I studied horticultural science at the University of Hawaii, worked in the landscape and nursery industry for over fifteen years and for the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture’s pesticides program for over twenty.

I also write. I believe my true voice is in non-fiction, especially short pieces for magazines. I left the Department of Agriculture at the end of 2006 to pursue my interests on my own. Yes, I am very fortunate to have had these experiences to reflect back and to draw on.

Reviews

[Buggiez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected of it. It had a lot to do with the birth and history of Kona Coffee. I was hoping for more about Kona Coffee from the last 10-20 years. It reads more as a research paper than a story. Kudos to the author for doing such a great job in that aspect though.