UCC Hawaii

3 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 5 “Kona” is the market name for coffee exclusively grown on the slopes of two Hawaiian volcanoes – the Hualalai and Mauna Loa Mountains. This zone, approximately 30 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, has the unique advantage of mineral-rich volcanic soil at a high elevation in the area’s characteristically wet and dry tropical climate. More than 900 farms are clustered around the Kona District of Hawaii, producing around 20 million pounds of coffee cherries each year. With such a limited supply, Hawaiian Kona coffee is one of the most expensive (upwards of $60/pound) and sought after coffees in the world. You’re much likelier to see Kona blends, with some containing just 10% certified Kona beans, than true Kona coffee. Coffee isn’t native to Hawaii – the missionary Samuel Ruggles brought the coffee plant to the rugged “Gold Coast” in 1828 to see how well it would take. It came from Brazilian arabica cuttings and, to the Reverend’s delight, thrived in Kona’s daily cycle of morning sunshine and afternoon cloud cover. Consequently, coffee established itself as a major crop in Hawaii by the end of the 1800s. Fast forward two centuries and some 6,900 acres of land across the State are now dedicated to coffee cultivation. Flipping back the pages of history, in 1989, across the Pacific Ocean in Japan, a company called UCC Ueshima Coffee (est. 1933) expanded its coffee business into Polynesia by building the specialty farm now known as the UCC Hawaii Kona Coffee Estate. It became their second directly-managed coffee estate this side of the meridian, the first being the Craighton Estate – a 200-year-old coffee plantation in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains – purchased eight years prior. With this latest acquisition, UCC, which had started the AT A GLANCE UCC HAWAII WHAT: A subsidiary of one of the largest coffee companies in Japan WHERE: Kona, Hawaii WEBSITE: www.ucc-hawaii.com waii d to cup