National Coffee Day falls on September 29, and International Coffee Day a couple of days later on October 1. A staple of American mornings, coffee, a caffeinated beverage cultivated from coffee beans, is brewed from a plant with early cultivation in Africa and the Middle East. Legends of early brews come from as early as 850 AD in Ethiopia. Today, the worldwide trade of coffee is regulated by multiple international treaties. The first International Coffee Agreement (ICA) was adopted by Congress in 1980 (Public Law 96-599) and codified at 19 U.S.C. §§ 1356k. On June 9, 2022, the latest International Coffee Agreement was renewed.
Federal Law
Before the International Coffee Agreement, how was the sale of coffee regulated in the United States? The Tariff Act of 1930, also known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, (46 Stat. 590) contains a mention of coffee. As of today, California, Hawai’i, and Puerto Rico are the only places in the greater United States where coffee may be commercially cultivated (though California does not have explicit regulations on the trade).
In the Code of Federal Regulations, 7 CFR Subpart O is exclusively dedicated to coffee as the “raw or unroasted seeds or beans of coffee intended for processing.”
Hawai’i
The 2002 Hawaiian Grown Coffee Law (§ 486-120.6) amended chapter 486 (now repealed) of the Hawai’i Revised Statutes to update the language on labels of Hawaiian coffee products. Specifications include the listing of coffees in a blend by weight and region of origin.
In May 2024, the Hawaiian legislature passed a law (H.B. 2298) that will require all types of coffee beverages containing Hawaiian-grown and processed coffee to contain “no less than fifty-one per cent coffee by weight from the Hawai’i geographic origin.” The law will enter into force July 1, 2027.
“the bush belonging to the Rubiaceae family, Coffea genus, with perennial, coriaceous, single leaves and [opposing] white, aromatic axillary flowers whose fruit is a berry, red, white and yellow in color, that generally contains two seeds from which the beverage known by the same name…” Puerto Rican official definition of coffee. (P.R. Laws tit. 5, § 320.)
In 1966, a “coffee zone” was developed as an agricultural and industrial project in Puerto Rico (P.R. Laws tit. 5, § 318). In 2019, the Coffee Office of Puerto Rico (la Oficina de Cafés de Puerto Rico) was established as a part of the Department of Agriculture by law (Ley Núm. 78 de 27 de julio de 2019.)
Section 319 of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff outlines the responsibility of the Puerto Rican legislature to administer tariffs and collect duties on any foreign coffee imported into the territory, and 19 USC § 1319 guarantees duties for any coffee products imported into the territory.
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