Is Safeway Selling Real Kona Coffee?

Here is a number that should make you suspicious the next time you reach for a can of “Kona Blend” at the grocery store: 10 percent. Under Hawaii law, a coffee can legally call itself a Kona blend while containing just one part genuine Kona to nine parts whatever-was-cheap-that-week. The other 90 percent can come from Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, anywhere, and for years the label didn’t have to tell you which. I have bought that coffee. I have been annoyed by that coffee. Let me explain what is actually in the bag.

Why Kona is worth faking in the first place

Real Hawaiian Kona coffee is grown on the slopes of two volcanoes on the Big Island, in a narrow strip of land with the right altitude, the right volcanic soil, and an almost suspiciously perfect pattern of sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons. There is not much of it. It is hand-picked on small farms, and it is expensive, often $30 to $50 a pound (450 g) and up for the genuine 100 percent article. The flavor earns it: clean, smooth, bright but never harsh, with very little of the bitterness that makes you reach for sugar.

That reputation is the whole problem. When a name commands a premium, somebody will always figure out how to sell the name without the thing. And with Kona, the math is brutal. Blend 10 percent real Kona with 90 percent commodity coffee, slap “Kona Blend” on the front in a big friendly font, and you get to charge a Kona-ish price for a bag that is mostly not Kona at all.

The Safeway story, and how it actually ended

This article originally told the story of a Kona farmer who walked into a Safeway on the mainland, found a “Safeway Select Kona Blend” on the shelf, and noticed the label said nothing about how much Kona was actually in it. The bag just bragged about “savory beans from Hawaii’s Big Island” and “100% Arabica,” which, if you read it carefully, tells you nothing. Arabica is a species, not an origin. Beans from the Big Island could be a rounding error in the blend.

That fight didn’t stay a one-store complaint. It turned into one of the bigger food-fraud cases in recent memory. In 2019, a group of Kona farmers led by grower Bruce Corker filed a class action lawsuit against a long list of major retailers and roasters, including Costco, Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and yes, Safeway’s parent company, accusing them of selling ordinary commodity coffee dressed up as Kona. The farmers argued the counterfeit “Kona” flooding store shelves was dragging down prices and trust for the people actually growing it on the Big Island.

It worked. By 2021 the settlements topped $13 million, with Safeway and its owner Albertsons among the companies that settled. Beyond the money, the defendants agreed to change how their coffee is labeled so the origin claims actually mean something. So the reader who commented years ago asking whether Safeway had finally cleaned up its label was onto something real. A lot of those labels did change, under legal pressure.

The rules are tightening, and 2027 is the date to remember

Hawaii has been steadily closing the loopholes. For years the only requirement was that 10 percent minimum, and a blend hitting exactly 10 percent didn’t even have to disclose the number on the front. That changed. Under a 2023 law (Act 211), coffee using a Hawaii place name now has to state on the front label where the coffee was grown and what percentage is actually Hawaiian.

The big one is still coming. In 2024, Hawaii passed a new labeling law raising the bar dramatically: starting July 1, 2027, any blend using a regional Hawaiian name like Kona, Kau, or Maui will have to contain at least 51 percent coffee from that region, not 10. That is a real change. A “Kona Blend” will finally have to be mostly Kona. Until that date arrives, though, the old 10 percent floor is what is sitting on most shelves, so you still need to read labels like a skeptic.

How to actually buy real Kona

Here is what I tell people who want the genuine cup and not the marketing.

Look for the words “100% Kona,” not “Kona Blend.” This is the whole game. “100% Kona” is a protected, meaningful claim. “Kona Blend” or “Kona Style” or “Kona Roast” is marketing, and right now it can still be 90 percent something else. One reader pointed out that Trader Joe’s sells a 100 percent version that costs more than double their other coffees. That price gap is not a rip-off. That is roughly what real Kona costs. If a “Kona” coffee is cheap, that is your answer about what is in it.

Check the percentage on the front. Thanks to the newer labeling rules, a legitimate blend should now tell you its Kona percentage. If a bag is coy about the number, treat the silence as information.

Buy direct when you can. The most reliable route to real Kona is straight from a Kona farm or a roaster that names the farm and guarantees 100 percent. Plenty of Big Island growers ship to the mainland. You will pay more than grocery-store “Kona Blend,” but you will be drinking actual Kona, and the money goes to the people who fought a multi-year lawsuit to keep the name honest.

The short version: if the bag makes the word Kona big and the percentage small or invisible, put it back. Real Kona has never needed to hide its math.

Last reviewed June 2026. Reflects the 2021 Kona coffee class-action settlements and Hawaii’s labeling laws, including the 51% regional-blend requirement that takes effect July 1, 2027.