Although Ka'u coffee has been virtually undiscovered by the outside world until recently, coffee has been cultivated in Ka'u on a small scale since the 1800's. The closure of the sugar plantations in 1996, which had used most of the arable land in the district, created the motivation and the opportunity for more extensive coffee cultivation. Most of the coffee farms in Ka'u were planted in 1999 or early 2000's by ex-sugar plantation workers searching for a new way to make a living. 
Ka'u region coffee have a bitter taste from the volcanic soil that makes it unique from other coffees