10-18-2014, 09:24 AM
quote:Yes well, they tried that a long time ago and hasn't worked. Tourists don't understand when they see a Kona coffee label that they should pass it by until they see a 100% label. They take the label at face value and don't read the fine print either.
It would be simpler if the "real" producers simply labeled their product "100% Kona", and much cheaper than yet another court battle.
For a long time there have brokers buying up the low quality beans and adding them to Latin American coffee and calling it Kona blend, but the Colombian beans overwhelm the delicate island bean flavor, so it's really a marketing scam.
Tourists are the consumer for a lot of our coffee, as they can afford the prices while on a vacation budget. No doubt internet marketing is also important. A lot of that is also to tourists who want to recreate a memory of their trip.
It's not that complicated what is wanted, but there is lobbying going on from the coffee brokers and I guess they have more money than the small independent producers who have pride in their product.
Kathy