Yesterday I went to the Kauai Coffee Co. and was talking with a woman that works there, I think she might be one of the owners, when another woman interrupted us with (in a condescending tone) "Don't you have anything organic here?"
"No. There's really no such thing as organic coffee."
(Condescending laughter) "Really? Because I'm a coffee farmer from the Big Island and we grow organic."
"Oh. Where is your farm?"
"Holualoa" (she pronounced this hula-aloha)
"I love that area of Kona. We spray the berries once and the reason I said there's no such thing as organic is because it's common practice because any insecticide never reaches the actual bean. It gets shucked off and even then it would get burned off in the roasting."
"Well, what about the soil?" (Still condescending and in a "gotcha" sort of way)
"Our insecticide has a 10 day half life. (I have no idea if she was BSing her at this point but you could tell she knew this woman knew nothing about coffee) What type of coffee do you grow?"
"Arabica" (Air-uh-beak-uh)
"Oh yes. Arabica beans are great. (She corrected the pronounciation without any hint of snobbiness). Do you grow anything else like robusta?"
"Part of our farm is dedicated to robusta but only a small portion."
At this point a could see a little smirk on the Saleswomans face and the other woman's voice was definitely hesitant now. When she walked away the sales lady offhandedly said "I guess she meant Hulahula, Africa." And then let me in on the fact that robusta is only grown in a few places in the world and Hawaii wasn't one of them. She said she gets people like that all the time. I asked why she doesn't call them out and she said then they wouldn't buy anything
.
She also said talking to them and making them feel awkward when they get trapped in their lie is much more fun.
So basically, yesterday, I became a fan of Kauai Coffee. That lady was awesome!
