Kimo Falconer helped bring a closed West Maui coffee farm back in 2003. Twenty years later, the Lahaina fire destroyed MauiGrown Coffee's store and processing facilities—but the fields survived.
This is the story of two comebacks on the same ground: a 4,500-pound first harvest that grew into a real coffee business, and the temporary Central Maui milling route that got the crop moving again after the fire.
The permanent Kaanapali mills are still not rebuilt. Drought, labor pressure, coffee berry borer, and leaf rust remain real. But the coffee is moving again.
Chapters:
00:00 The road was blocked
01:35 The fields survived
02:10 How the coffee experiment began
03:21 The old operation shuts down
04:03 Comeback number one: 4,500 to 500,000 pounds
05:44 The Lahaina fire changes everything
06:47 A temporary route through Central Maui
07:43 Coffee is available again
09:48 The rebuilding is not finished
Original background score: "Kimo: Trees Still Alive," created specifically for this video without external samples or loops.
Live Their Life tells real stories of American work, family, community, and resilience.