That Cheap Kona Coffee Wasn't Kona at All: Lawsuit

You're likely to see less coffee labeled as authentic Kona, which is a good thing, according to growers, who say much of the stuff on store shelves isn't the real deal. As the New York Times reports, Hawaiian growers of the rare beans who accused coffee distributors of selling counterfeit products to Amazon and Walmart have won more than $41 million in settlements that they hope will deter other bad actors. Kona beans grow on no more than 1,000 farms, most smaller than five acres each, per the Times. The relatively small supply of 2.7 million pounds per year and intensive harvesting practices push prices to around $50 a pound. Coffee grower and former lawyer Bruce Corker suspected counterfeits after seeing Kona-labeled coffee selling for far less at souvenir shops and grocery chains.

He was inspired to file what became a class-action lawsuit in 2019 following a 2014 US Supreme Court ruling that allowed pomegranate juice brand POM Wonderful to protest the marketing of Minute Maid's "Pomegranate Blueberry" juice, which contained only 0.3% and 0.2% of those juices, respectively. "The decision said, if you're harmed by false labeling, you can bring a case for damages," Corker tells the Times. He argued coffee distributers took advantage of Kona coffee's excellent reputation, using small percentages of Kona beans in blends sold to retailers with labels implying they were 100% Kona, per Inc.

A chemical analysis of more than 150 samples of Kona beans identified ratios of rare, inorganic minerals that provided "a fingerprint for Kona," which absorbs characteristics of the volcanic soil in which it grows, University of Utah biologist Dr. James Ehleringer tells the Times. Further tests, disputed by distributors, showed these signatures were missing from many beans sold as Kona. Without admitting wrongdoing, MNS, which operates ABC Stores in Hawaii, settled for $12 million, while Mulvadi, which sells to ABC, Amazon, and Walmart, settled for $7.8 million, per the Times. Settlements also brought injunctive relief, including strict rules for the marketing and sale of Kona coffee, thought to amount to $81.2 million over the next five years, per Daily Coffee News. (More coffee stories.)