On the Farm Itʻs One Step Back, Three Steps Forward!
No year is ever quite the same when it comes to farming value added crops, and this year was certainly no exception! An unwanted visitor made its way onto our coffee farm, while our first ever cigar tobacco sprung from the ground on the west side of Kauai, and a growing supply of covid era chocolate plantings led us to discover some new flavors! We also bid a sad farewell to an old workhorse that harvested our very first bourbon whisky corn 7 years ago. We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season as we bring you the year’s happenings at LBD Coffee!
With great sadness we discovered our first coffee berry borer (CBB) on our farm in Kapaa. Having arrived on Kauai in 2020 we have been able to avoid the beetle pest up until now, but their presence will certainly lead us to make some changes on our farm. CBB was first found in Kona on the Big Island in 2010 and the pest has been responsible for around 30% crop loss statewide since that time. Perhaps working in our favor is the fact that our coffee farm is isolated from the larger coffee plantation on the southwestern side of the island, about 20 miles away. We are hopeful that a change in our pruning cycle will help mitigate future populations of CBB. Since 2001 we have always split the farm in half when pruning. In year one we would prune half the farm by stumping the trees. Stumping is a method by which all the verticals of the tree are removed and thus force 100% regrowth. In year two we would prune the other half of the farm and receive a modest harvest from the half that was pruned the year before. In the third year we would always welcome a large crop from both sides of the orchard. This cycle would allow us to never go without a coffee harvest in any year. Our theory is that if we prune (stump) the entire coffee farm this coming February we will essentially wipe out the food source for CBB for over a year while the entire orchard regrows itself. Since CBB cannot survive, or reproduce without coffee cherry, and there are few other hosts, the cycle of infestation should be broken on our farm. What remains to be seen is the potential impact of CBB residing on other properties, and whether they would migrate to our farm. Flights are short, and most times CBB travels by way of humans, unprocessed beans, bags, vehicles and clothing. Since we are the only commercially operating coffee farm on the east side of Kauai and stay relatively isolated from anyone growing coffee, we feel as if our chances are good for control and prevention, if not total eradication.
Fortunately, the coffee leaf rust disease that was discovered in October of 2020 on the Big Island of Hawaii has not made its way to our Kauai farm. We are hopeful that our new pruning cycle will also help to prevent this devastating fungal pathogen at Blair Estate.
The only pest at Blair Estate that does come with a benefit are the never ending wild pigs that provide endless amounts of pork!
Blair Estate Chocolate
Now for the good news! Chocolate is booming! Since our planting of cacao during COVID the trees are now entering full production stage of life. Yields have been massive, and we have transitioned from an induced fermentation to an all-natural one as the weight and mass of the cacao is now adequate for this process to play out on its own.
Along with the growing inventory of cacao beans we have embarked on a new journey to expand our chocolate offerings. For the last two years we have commercially produced only one 3-ounce bar of dark chocolate. This limited offering and increased supply of beans allowed us to try infusing various local fruits into our chocolate.
After several months of research and development we were able to create new and amazing flavors like coconut, mango, papaya, pineapple, coffee, red salt, and nutmeg. In addition, and while we were at it we decided to also make a delicately smooth and creamy milk chocolate bar, and also a 50% dark chocolate bar that features a touch of vanilla! To say the public tastings were a success would be an understatement. Everyone who had a chance to try the new chocolate raved about the offerings, and the amazing new packaging that will also be featured in 2025. Thanks to the artistic magic of Harumi Kobayashi I think the Blair Estate Chocolate, soon to be available in both 1.5- and 3-ounce bars, will be hard to pass when seen on store shelves! As with all our products we are excited to make this new chocolate available by mail order and straight from our farm.
Kauai Cigar
Since we are always looking to try new ideas and expand our value-added agricultural footprint, we decided to team up with our farmer friends on the west side of Kauai and give tobacco a go. The first round of two Havana varieties (Corojo and Criollo) were planted during the late summer of 2024, and harvested in the fall. While the leaf was small in both plants the desired outcome was met in glorious fashion. The tobacco burned and tasted great! This was probably the result of the high silicate in the west side soil. A second round of test tobacco will be put in the ground in February of 2025, but this time with amendments, and better cultivation practices in place.
Cigar tobacco does have a long-ago history growing in this area of Hawaii.
As reported on June 3d, 1854 in the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, Vol. 2, No. 1, Hon. Wm. L. Lee stated that “in the beginning of 1852 Mr. J.R. Opitz first determined to plant tobacco at Waiawa, a place about four miles to the westward of Waimea; but before all his preparations were made the season was so far advanced, that he could not raise his plants, but was obliged to purchase them from the natives. He did not get all his plants set out till the middle of March, a very late period for a place where rain seldom falls from the end of January till the middle of November. The year ’52 however, while very dry on other parts of the Island, proved very rainy on the western side, and he had a beautiful field of tobacco; from which however, he derived no advantage, having made it into cigars before it was properly cured.” Lee concluded by saying that he was convinced that Kauai tobacco would successfully compete with Havana!
If all continues to work in our favor, we should have a crop of west Kauai cigar tobacco in the ground in August of 2025. By the end of 2026 we anticipate that tobacco being favorably incorporated into our Kauai Cigars!
This past June we were excited to release our first barrel of 5-year aged Kapahi Bourbon Whisky and launch it directly to consumers (DTC) in 43 states! Entering the DTC market was far from easy as it required jumping through more than a few regulatory hoops, but since all our products are available by mail it didn’t seem right to not include the Kapahi Bourbon in our offerings! After all, and for nearly 30 years we’ve taken great pride in building relationships with those of you who first found our products on the shelves in Hawaii. The feedback from customers throughout the United States has been the real reward in the effort to get our whisky over state lines and into the hands of those who want it. We anticipate releasing more of this DTC aged whisky in 2025 as we hit the 7 year mark on our oldest barrels.
Whisky Corn Harvest
This summer and after a break in 2023 we planted another round of whisky corn on Kauai on the same farm that it was grown on in 2022.
Much of the season was the same with the same varietal of corn being used and in the same soil. The dry weather in west Kauai simply doesn’t vary much from season to season so water from the mountains above Waimea always provides a stable and reliable source of plant hydration.
What did change was that the old John Deere combine that has been used for years to harvest our corn failed. Rather than try and repair her the crew opted to use a much more modern sweet corn harvester. The only downside was having to take the dried cobs back to the facility where they would be shucked and kernelled! While this created a lot more labor (and dust) the final product was nearly 20 tons of super clean corn. Once at the distillery the extra effort paid huge dividends. From the same amount of corn that was harvested in 2022 we were able to make 71 barrels of whisky, an increase of 11 barrels from the 60 we made two years ago! Some of what contributed to the larger yield were improved milling and mashing techniques along with user knowledge as the still at Dry Fly was first operational in late 2021.
This year we also decided to make 68 barrels using oak from the Independent Stave Company (ISC), and 3 barrels using aged oak from Nadalie. As some may recall we made all our bourbon in 2022 using Nadalie wood as American oak staves were hard to come by after Covid! It will be interesting to taste and compare the two variations of oak as the years roll by and the whisky ages. As always you can follow and track the Kapahi Bourbon on our web site which records every bit of whisky we have produced, aged and released to market.
Our exclusive distributor for Kapahi bourbon in Hawaii is Johnson Brothers and this year we were happy to expand our spirit to the Pride of America cruise ship line that operates throughout the islands. Coming in 2025 is the expansion of our 375mL bourbon chain wide in Hawaii’s most popular Sundry Shops, the ABC Stores. This smaller size bottle of bourbon fits perfectly with the vacation experience for many and makes it a popular and unique gift when traveling back to the mainland. As with our cigars it’s this kind of introduction to our premium Kauai grown products that builds our busy mail order business as we love selling directly to our customers!
100% Kona coffee and chocolate macadamia nut, and peaberry coffee beans are the oldest and remain the most cherished part of our business. Having started in Kona on the Big Island in 1993 we continue to fresh roast daily our Kona coffee, much to the delight of those who have followed us all these years. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 32 years, but I don’t have to look further than my 20-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son to realize that it has been that long of a journey, and a journey that continues to bring as much joy to my life as our products do to many of your lives.
Thanks for being a part of it all and we wish everyone the very best in 2025!
Happy Holidays.
Les, Gigi, Jessica, Jorgen, Tai, Trevyn, Lei, Don, and Harumi
ps… I couldnʻt resist posting another few images of the amazing dragon fruit growing at Blair Estate. The sight of that plant is a spectacle when itʻs flowering and fruiting!
LBD COFFEE, LLC 