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From: Chet Gardiner
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2021 8:04 AM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: Kona Coffee Farmers Association
Subject: Hawaii County Council Resolution No. 223-21
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I am a coffee farmer from the Kona region of the Big Island of Hawaii.
I am also Vlce President and Board member of our Kona Coffee Farmers Association.
Res. 223-21-Coffee Labeling Requirements is an issue of honesty and survival.
Kona, Ka'u and Hamakua Coffee is primarily grown on small, often family operations. It is often more of a lifestyle choice and passion
than a "business" -we mainly grow for love, not money. For us,the reputation of Kona Coffee, probably the best tasting coffee on
the planet is an issue of survival for hundreds of Coffee farms in our region as well as a matter of pride.
Nurturing, harvesting and processing coffee is a lot of work. Unless we can derive an income from our work that matches the
excellence of our product,we cannot survive.
The horrible taste of the"Blends" labeled as"Hawai'ian"and "Kona"
and are consumed by people who have never had the pleasure of drinking real 100%Kona Coffee,especially those people who love
coffee and are willing to pay a premium for fine tasting coffee, inevitably results in extremely negative feelings about the Entire
"Kona" Coffee experience.
In other words, blends water down our Brand with very bad tasting coffee.
These inferior"blends" are actually building a resistance in the market to the idea of spending enough to buy REAL 100%Kona and
keep our small farmers in operation.
We are asking for TRUTH in advertising. We are asking for honesty in Labeling. 10%"Kona" blends will NEVER taste good, are NOT
KONA and must be labeled as the inferior product they really are.
Let's be honest,to be labeled "Hawai'ian"the bag should contain 100%Kona, Ka'u, Hamakua, Maui,etc.
I applaud our County Council for taking up this matter and urge passage of Res. 223-21 as a start.
Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in on this matter.
Chet Gardiner
VP, Board Member Kona Coffee Farmers Association
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