“We think its our biggest festival yet. People have been coming and going all day the parking has become a little bit of a problem.
Great crowd, great music, great food, great coffee. Couldn’t be more pleased. Everything seemed to run much smoother this year.
This is the first year that we extended it to a week long event. Started with the pageant last Friday, we’ve had a stargazing event, we’ve had a lacovore dinner, we’ve had a water system hike up the mountain and we’ve had a Coffee and Cattle Day where one of the growers highlights the synergies between the livestock operation and their coffee operation.
All events sold out, essentially, in advance. Obviously the festival is free, there’s donations we ask for the farm tours and for the indoor Ka’u Coffee Experience. Attendees can sample a variety of different Ka’u coffee side-by-side prepared and a whole host of different brewing methods from pour-overs to French press to all kinds of espresso drinks and even a cold brew… which is brewed three days in advance. Really a lot of variety, a lot of fun. It’s turned out to be a great event
It’s hard to gauge how far we can go. I think our brightest days are in front of us. I think we’ve built very solid foundation in establishing Ka’u as a premium coffee growing origin. Starting with all the international awards that we began winning in 2007. We’ve been winning awards internationally every year since. Last year, 2012, we had three coffee of the year awards. 10 of the best coffees grown anywhere in the world were from Ka’u. We’ve been named coffee of the year for the past three consecutive years. So, I think we’re definitely solidly on the map and it’s very encouraging and then rewarding to see it all unfold.
We entered into a contract agreement with Starbucks last year. It was released in 250 stores. They are marketing it as Ka’u in their Ultra-Premium Reserve line in their flagship stores in the U.S., Canada and Japan. This year they bumped it up to 500 stores. Starbucks has been a great partner, giving us name recognition. And the price as a result to the farmer has doubled in three years and tripled in eight years. So, it’s not only Starbucks, obviously, that has contributed to that, its everything coming together from the growers to the marketing, the awards, the branding of it all. It just really kind of comes together, just like the community comes together to put on an event like this, and face of challenges.
We’ve been challenged by wildfires, by drought, by vog, by coffee berry borrer. By sticking together and working together, it really is what defines Ka’u as a special place, and these people as very special people.”
Chris Manfredi 