Coffee Leaf Rust Hawaii Coffee Association Annual Meeting to Address Coffee Leaf Rust Issue

Hawaii Coffee Association to Host 2021 Online Conference and Cupping Competition

After enduring a year of dual challenges from human and plant diseases alike, the Hawaii Coffee Association is preparing to host its 2021 online conference and cupping competition.

The online conference will run concurrently with the 12th Annual Hawaii Coffee Cupping Competition Finals, taking place over two days from June 24th to June 25th, including an awards ceremony scheduled for 5:00 PM on June 25th.

This online conference is free of charge for both Hawaii Coffee Association members and non-members. The deadline for cupping competition registration is May 21st.

Battling Dual Health Crises

Over the past year, Hawaii has maintained a vocal stance on global pandemic issues, contributing to efforts to slow both the spread of COVID-19 among humans and the progression of coffee leaf rust in plants.

One of the best-known pathogens behind coffee leaf rust, Hemileia vastatrix, first came to human attention in the 1860s in East Africa and Sri Lanka. Since then the disease has spread to coffee-growing regions worldwide. Coffee leaf rust is highly transmissible, and its destructive nature can devastate coffee crops.

Around 2012, smallholder farmers in parts of South America, Central America, and Mexico began noticing coffee leaf rust, and those regions continue to suffer from its rapid spread today. The disease was first detected in Hawaii in October 2020 in the Haiku area of Maui. Two weeks later, the coffee-crop killer - the strain causing leaf rust - was discovered on the Big Island.

"2020 was a year when both the novel coronavirus and coffee leaf rust ran rampant, and we are confident in our ability to resolve these multiple crises in 2021," said Chris Manfredi, president of the Hawaii Coffee Association, at a recent press conference for the 2021 online event.

Conference Highlights

During this 2021 event, Emilio Lopez Diaz, a pioneer of the specialty coffee industry, will deliver a keynote presentation titled "Living with Coffee Leaf Rust."

The following is the agenda for the online conference hosted by the Hawaii Coffee Association:

Thursday, June 24th

• 8:00-8:30 AM: Welcome address by Chris Manfredi, President of Hawaii Coffee Association
• 8:45-10:15 AM: Keynote Presentation: Living with Coffee Leaf Rust
• 10:45-11:30 AM: Updates from Hawaii Department of Agriculture
• 11:45 AM-12:30 PM: Updates from University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

Friday, June 25th

• 9:00-10:00 AM: Updates from USDA/Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center
• 10:15-11:15 AM: Updates from Hawaii Agriculture Research Center and Hawaii Coffee Growers Association
• 11:30 AM-12:15 PM: Social Media Marketing Tips - Selected Marketing Group
• 12:45-1:30 PM: Learn More: Hawaii Coffee Association Selection
• 1:45 PM: Hawaii Coffee Association Board Election Results
• 5:00 PM: Hawaii Coffee Association Cupping Competition Awards Ceremony

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Stories like Hawaii's battle with leaf rust are a reminder of how much effort goes into every good harvest. If you are just getting into specialty coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's entry-level single origins are an easy place to start. From Ethiopia - Africa's largest coffee producer and coffee's birthplace - try the natural Sidamo Huakui (berries, florals, jackfruit, melon, honey) or the washed Yirgacheffe Idido cooperative lot (jasmine florals, lemon acidity, berry notes), a legacy of the washing method the government introduced in the 1970s.

For softer, balanced cups, FrontStreet's Brazil beans fit the bill: the everyday Cerrado Red Bourbon from the famous Cerrado region (cream, peanut, and cocoa, "tasty but affordable") and the higher-growing Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon with its compound nut aromas of butter, melon seeds, macadamia, and almond plus a sugarcane sweetness that works neat or with milk. From Indonesia, the wet-hulled Linong Mandheling suits drinkers who dislike acidity, while the PWN Golden Mandheling - triple hand-sorted and machine-sorted for the lowest defect rate - is cleaner and smoother with clearer woody and caramel notes.

Rounding out the lineup are FrontStreet's Costa Rican honeys - the black-honey Blackberry and the raisin-honey Mozart, with raisin and blueberry sweetness plus osmanthus and rose fragrance, delicious as pour-over, cold brew, Americano, or latte - and the entry-level Boquete washed Geisha from Panama, a pure-genetic washed Geisha that delivers the variety's classic orange-blossom honeyed character at a very friendly price.