Starbucks in Hawaii has some unique offerings. A friend (Jocelyn) recently got back from a vacation to Hawaii and generously shared some photos she took.
In Hawaii, of course they have their own Starbucks card. Very pretty!
Starbucks stores in Hawaii are the only place you’ll find 100 percent Kona coffee offered year round. It’s easy to find cheaper Kona blends being sold, but 100 percent Kona is beautiful thing! Hawaii is the only coffee-growing region in the United States:
The danish shown in that picture is also exclusive to Starbucks locations in Hawaii. It’s a Guava Cream Cheese Danish.
One big thing in Hawaii is that along side standard Starbucks milk options (Whole milk, two-percent, soy milk, and coconut milk), Starbucks in Hawaii offers sweetened condensed milk. It’s very popular to give a beverage a new twist by ordering it with “Thai walls,” which is condensed milk drizzled on the inside of the cup:
Jocelyn also bought an exclusive Starbucks Hawaii coffee mug. One thing that’s special about this particular mug is that it’s part of a limited series of coffee mugs made in the USA: (If you scroll to the bottom of this article here, you can see a few other in the Starbucks made in the USA mug series.)
While visiting Maui, Jocelyn wanted to have her own mini “Origins” experience. She contacted several farms about tours and experiences actually on the farm itself. Maui Mokka coffee is grown exclusively in Maui and is an amazing single-origin offering that was a Starbucks Reserve coffee in the summer of 2014. As I think about this, what a passionate Starbucks partner! Lots of partners would love a Starbucks “Origins” experience coffee trip. For Jocelyn, she dived into coffee on her own: found a few coffee farms, arranged the tour and experiences, and had an amazing time. This is extraordinary! I think it shows a deep passionate commitment to learning about coffee and understanding its sourcing and processing. It makes me wish for a trip to Maui, just to experience a coffee farm!
(For those who don’t know, every year, Starbucks sends some of their partners on trips directly to coffee growing farms. This is an opportunity to experience coffee growing first hand. Partners pick coffee cherries, learn about coffee processing, and gain a whole new appreciation for the “first 10 feet.” Starbucks partners talk to the farmers directly about coffee farming, and learn about life on a coffee farm. This free trip, whether in Costa Rica, Tanzania, Sumatra,or somewhere else, is called a “Origins Experience” colloquially by Starbucks. It’s considered a high honor to be selected for a trip to a coffee growing location. Generally speaking, only store managers and above are eligible for the Origins Experience trip. One of these days, I’d love to sit down and interview someone who has had a recent “Origins Experience” and share photos.)
Please follow Jocelyn’s journey with coffee: On Instagram, she is TheModernBarista and her blog is here.
As always, please don’t lift or share photos without expression permission. All the photos in this article are copyright @TheModernBarista and were used by permission.
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Thanks for sharing Melody 🙂
The coffee “origins” experience reminded me of when I spoke to a Starbucks Store Mgr recently and he briefly explained to me about how only around 3% of the coffee beans are chosen as good enough to meet Starbucks quality standards, and that there are lots of folks & numerous steps involved before the coffee even arrives at the store.
Therefore if the Barista making your coffee doesn’t do it “right”, considering all the extra-care and critical steps taken for months or even years (like with aged Sumatra) just to get it there, it really is a shame.
This fascinated me and I have been reading many Starbucks blogs to try to learn more about what really goes on from beginning-to-end, from bean-to-bag if you will. And of course there is the coffee rust disease and Starbucks “million trees commitment” … there truly is so much more than meets the eye when opening up a bag and brewing a cup. Crazy as it sounds; every bag, each bean, has an untold story.
@Starbuxgal – that is a great comment. It would be so amazing to go on an origins trip. I’m always dumbfounded at the massive number of steps from bean to coffee. The farmer (some beans get sidetracked to Switzerland for a Starbucks quality office there), the quality checks at the SSC, roasting, and so many more. It’s amazing. Even something like this totally fascinates me: http://starbucksmelody.com/2015/10/11/coffee-education-the-green-coffee-loading-pit-at-the-roastery/
Sounds like an awesome trip to Maui and visiting the coffee farms. Back in 1984-85 I spent some college dorm time living right across from a coffee farm just above Kailua-Kona, HI. At that time, I didn’t think it to be that special, but do now and remember a couple tours some of us took. It was a small family run coffee farm, which I believe produced Kona coffee beans.
It is quite a very interesting process of growing and sustaining the growth to fruition- patiently, I might add.
There is no quick way to produce a fine coffee bean.
@ Melody: Great article – thanks so much for sharing the link!
@ Christine: I spent much of my childhood in a farming community; not coffee but small family owned & run, some by Amish. So many factors could make or break a crop; soil quality (dark “muck” being the best), crop rotation (dictated what was planted), weather (rain or lack of), insects/critters (so yes, pesticides), hard work (sunrise to sundown during the planting/growing/harvest season, 6 days a week).
Personally, I think we need more family-owned & run ORGANIC farms (@ least in USA) not owned by BIG businesses, as so many are today.
Hey! I am constantly inspired by Jocelyn and her passion for Starbucks coffee! I recently went to Costa Rica on a Starbucks origin experience trip. It was LIFE CHANGING! It was also my first visit to a coffee farm. So I feel extremely humbled to be working for a company as generous and passionate as Starbucks. I would love to share my experience with anyone and photos.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jocelyn’s adventure to Hawaii through the Starbucks Fan page on Facebook. I, too, love condensed milk. My children call it “sweet milk”. I am very interested to try “Thai walls” at home. I’ve got a feeling it will become a favorite in the Waller home. Nice article, Melody!
Two history nuggets about “Thai walls” and condensed milk:
•About 50 years ago, the US Military brought Eagle Brand® Milk with them to the bases in Thailand. It is still used today by the Thai people in their coffee.
•Eagle Brand® was introduced in 1856 by Gail Borden to combat food poisoning and other illnesses related to lack of refrigeration and preservation techniques. The Civil War brought Eagle Brand the recognition required to make it a household name. The military needed milk that would keep well and Borden’s product filled that need. Additionally, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk was credited with significantly lowering the infant mortality rate in North America.
@Starbuxgal one of the farms i visited was a small, family run farm in Kula. it was amazing. they only have about 400 coffee trees, and only get about 250lbs of coffee per year. Coffee is not what they are known for, they grow every tropical fruit you can think of, garlic, veggies. and everything is processed right there too! it was incredible to see how much work and love goes in to this operation. on the flip side, i visited a number of other farms, one of which is the maui mokka farm. i didn’t have the same feeling. the trees were lined up all in a row, and they were mechanically picked…… it actually made me sad, especially coming from the farm in kula. so yes, more small farms, please!
Wow, what an amazing experience to have…!
I think it would be a fabulous idea for starbucks to do a special drink with the sweetened condensed milk- thai iced coffee for summer would be perfect! Easily one of my favorite coffee and milk combos.
@ Jocelyn: That is a WONDERFUL firsthand comparison! And I bet given a choice most (if not all of us) would choose the produce from the 1st farm in Kula every single time.
Back in the mid-1800’s about 9 out of 10 Americans were farmers. Fifty years later nearly half of Americans were still farming mostly small, family-owned farms. Today only about 2% of Americans are in the farming industry, and farms tend to be much larger (some downright humongous), less diverse, and of course, “technology-advanced”.
As demand keeps rising for organic products, mega corporations continue to gobble up organic companies. While packaging may appear unchanged, the product quality may have. It can be quite the challenge to find produce and products like the “treasures” you saw @ the Kula farm.
Puerto Rico grows coffee and has their own blend! They are still apart of the United States, so Hawaii isn’t alone.
@Starbuxgal one thing i forgot to add…
the larger farms, when asked about a tour or any sort of engagement wanted nothing to do with me. many emails and phone calls went unreturned, and then when i just “showed up” i got brushed off “i don’t have time to deal with you” kind of attitude.
The farm in Kula, the owner spent over 3 hours with me, taking me all over their farm, showing me everything, how they process the coffee, the lilikoi, the jackfruits, letting me taste fruit right off the trees, introducing me to her husband, her brother, her daughter (who were all working there) her cats, her chickens. the amount of attention and kindness she shared with my husband and i was incredible. she was so happy to share her farm with us, and encouraged us to come back anytime. we felt like family.
the human connection is real.
@ Jocelyn: It sure is! Believe you can’t teach one love or passion. If one truly loves what they do their passion shines through. Unfortunately when one doesn’t, that comes through too. It’s tragic how the employees at the big farm responded (by not responding) to you. Perhaps the employees at the big farm are not permitted nor encouraged to “take ownership” of their positions? Is automation eliminating their positions? Just think there is a more than meets the eye here, for so many there to be so uninterested and unresponsive in caring and serving.
I had coffee with a gal at the largest farm. I told her I work for Starbucks, got the eye roll and that was about it. She was very rude and seemed annoyed that we were there. I bought coffee to take home, thanked her for taking the time, and she just walked away. I couldn’t believe it.
Another farm we went to in Hana…. Was even worse. The owner told me that we were early and he was busy and to wait in our car. I asked if we could walk around the farm and he said absolutely not. We just left. The guy was a total asshole.
Another farm we went to, no one said a word to us. It was strange.