Ka`anapali Residents Reap Reward of Coffee Operation

Veteran farmers harvest MauiGrown’s popular coffee varieties in the Ka`anapali Coffee Farms community.

By Wendy Osher

Lot owners at Ka`anapali Coffee Farms received a check in the mail with a return of approximately 50% of their Lot Owner’s Association fees from last year.

The reimbursement to property owners is the result of a unique farm-residential concept that combines a working coffee farm with a master-planned residential community in West Maui.

Under the concept, Ka`anapali Coffee Farms’ lot owners have the opportunity to reduce the level of association fees if strong coffee revenues can be achieved.

This year, company officials say owners received a return of $5,000 per lot for fees paid during the past fiscal year, which ended August 2012.

Landowner Kaanapali Land Management Corp. launched the 300-acre Ka`anapali Coffee Farms project in 2006.

As part of the arrangement, buyers purchase and build a home on 4- to 7-acre estate lots of mature, coffee producing trees. Coffee managers oversee the farming operations, from the flowering through harvesting, and daily farm management.

The production resulted in a record coffee harvest of more than 200,000 pounds of green coffee in 2011-2012 under the MauiGrown Coffee brand, and an increase in sales revenue exceeding 40% over the previous year.

Their 100% MAUI Origin coffee is distributed and sold at boutique roasters across the US mainland, as well as Canada, Japan, and Korea.

“We are very optimistic over this year’s coming harvest and anticipate another high yield,” said Kimo Falconer, president of MauiGrown Coffee Distributors. “We’ve continued to grow our MauiGrown Coffee brand and are passionate about cultivating our four coffee varieties to produce an exceptional cup of coffee.”

Lyn Muegge, one of the lot owners at Ka`anapali Coffee Farms’ is among those who tout the unique farm-residential concept saying, “We were attracted to this coffee farm community because it gave us the space we desired for our lifestyle among the beauty of the coffee orchards and the green hillsides.”

She continued, saying, “The farming operation gave us the unique opportunity to own a beautiful place to live and to help keep the land under cultivation with a viable Maui crop. Receiving a refund of half our association fees was an added bonus and totally unexpected,” said Muegge.