"Our Love of Coffee: The Product. The Industry. Developments and Trends To Watch."
A Zoom Conversation with Shawn Steiman ’00, PhD, Founder and Owner of Grok Coffee, Honolulu
Americans love coffee, maybe to the point of obsession. According to the National Coffee Association, an industry trade organization, two out of three American adults drink coffee daily and each American drinker consumes an average of three cups a day through rituals that include home brewing, snaking up to a drive-through window, or standing in line for a specialty brew.
What is your coffee IQ? Are you preparing coffee “the right way”? Is coffee healthy? What steps can you take to improve the quality of “the experience”? What’s the truth about products that embrace “fair market” practices? Where does coffee come from, how will tariffs affect consumers, and what are the challenges for small businesses? Join coffee expert Shawn Steiman ’00 for a conversation about America’s second favorite beverage after water.
Shawn Steiman ’00 is the founder and owner of Grok Coffee, a Honolulu-based company that brews, serves, and promotes coffee from roasters in Hawai’i. Shawn moved to Hawai’i to study coffee. He earned a PhD in Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and earlier earned a BA in Biology at Oberlin. Shawn has led business ventures in Hawai’i related to coffee, has appeared in Korean coffee commercials, and writes and lectures about coffee. He is the author of three books on the subject. His first book, The Hawai'i Coffee Book, includes a dedication to Oberlin Biology professor David Benzig. Shawn is originally from Kansas. He shares with those on the mainland that he hasn’t scraped ice off a car windshield in many years. Shawn also welcomes you to visit him on Saturdays in the Kaka’ako Farmers Market at the Grok Coffee stall near Ala Moana Blvd.
