By tf-lawyer.com Terry and Susan, along with their son Sonny, have made a name for themselves on the beautiful Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. This region, renowned for its ideal climate, elevation, and fertile soil, is famous for producing Kona coffee, one of the world’s most expensive coffee beans.
In the charming town of Holualoa within Kona, Susan (Wang Xiuhong) and her husband, Terry Fitzgerald, run two coffee farms. For the past two decades, this devoted couple has tended to their coffee trees, handling everything from pruning and fertilizing to harvesting—all with their own hands. They fell in love in Yunnan, China, and decided to settle in Hawaii, crafting a love story as rich and robust as the coffee they cultivate.
As we spoke in early September, the beginning of coffee harvest season, I learned that the maturation of coffee cherries is staggered, making the harvesting process span several months. They typically require four to six picks to gather the full yield by year’s end. Since picking must be done by hand, they hire seasonal workers, many of whom are Spanish-speaking. Beyond harvesting, they personally oversee every step of the process—from processing the freshly picked cherries and drying the beans to pruning, weeding, and fertilizing the coffee trees. At 85 years old, Terry still works on the farm every day.
In recent years, the couple has faced challenges, particularly from pests that have affected their coffee yield—possibly a result of climate change. Susan’s farm, which used to produce around 300 bags (each weighing about 100 pounds) of coffee cherries annually, saw a drastic drop in output due to issues like the Coffee Berry Borer and leaf rust. One year, their yield plummeted to less than a third of what it once was.
While the impacts of climate change on farming are inevitable, the Kona region’s outstanding geographic and climatic conditions still allow Kona coffee to maintain its reputation as one of the world’s highest-quality coffees, drawing coffee enthusiasts from around the globe. Susan shared that most of their coffee beans are sold wholesale to Japan, with a smaller amount going to local and retail customers. Some of their coffee trees are quite old; many are 70 to 80 years old, and the oldest ones are over a century. Looking ahead, Susan hopes to improve yields and pest resistance through gradual replanting while expanding the reach of their high-quality coffee to more retail coffee lovers.
Susan hails from the beautiful and bountiful Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, China, and moved to Kona, Hawaii, 21 years ago with her husband. She chuckled, mentioning that many people from Yunnan prefer to stay close to home. So, what inspired her to leave everything behind and relocate to the other side of the world? It all traces back to her romantic story with Terry.
Before meeting Susan, Terry was already a coffee farmer in Hawaii and would travel Southeast Asia during the off-season post-harvest. In the year 2000, he decided to explore Yunnan, where Susan had just obtained her tour guide certification. Introduced by a mutual friend, she guided him through the local villages, helping him purchase crafts, enjoy local cuisine, and celebrate the Water Splashing Festival over three joyful weeks. As their time together neared its end, something unexpected happened—Terry proposed to her during a car ride.
“He asked me, ‘Susan, do you have the courage to be my wife and live abroad with me?’”
Taken aback, Susan initially didn’t know how to respond. With a 23-year age difference and never having considered him as a potential partner, she ultimately turned him down.
After Terry’s visa expired and he had to return home, it was a conversation with Susan’s mother that shifted her perspective. Her mother, despite her limited education and inability to speak Mandarin, offered her the most valuable advice regarding marriage. She asked Susan what she wanted from marriage. Noting that Terry appeared healthy and although older, love shouldn’t be measured by age, she suggested that if they loved each other, even five years together would be worthwhile.
This insight reminded Susan of Terry’s many admirable qualities: his respect for the villagers and their culture, the kindness he showed when offered food and drink, with never a hint of disdain. Susan decided to give him another chance; if he returned the following year, they could date and see how things went.
Over the next three years, Terry visited Susan after each coffee harvest, and they traveled together. Throughout their long-distance relationship, he consistently sent love letters expressing his feelings. Susan translated these letters for her family, humorously noting, “Even though I was in love alone, it felt like my whole family was falling in love with him too. He loved me and all of us.” Eventually, they decided to be together for life. On the day she left her home, Susan felt excitement about starting her new life with Terry, but Terry was emotionally moved, saying, “You are a wonderful daughter to your mother, and now I’m taking you to such a faraway place.”
Interestingly, aside from some differences in dietary habits, Susan adapted quickly to her new life. Both Kona and Xishuangbanna share a tropical climate with warm weather and similar fruit varieties. Plus, she quickly made friends with Terry’s local connections, creating a harmonious social circle. Sometimes, it felt like “home was only five kilometers away.”
Now, more than 20 years have passed since Susan first left her home. She and Terry lead a happy life together, and their son, Sonny, is now 19 years old, having grown up on the coffee farm. Reflecting on her childhood when she helped with farm work, Susan recalls thinking she would distance herself from agriculture as an adult, yet here she is, a coffee farmer. Despite modest earnings and reinvesting profits back into the farm, her love for nature has made it hard to imagine any other lifestyle.
“When I worked a nine-to-five job, it felt like the outer world had nothing to do with me. But now, working in the field, I can feel the rain on my clothes or the heat from the sun; I enjoy the changes in nature and find time to watch the sunset. The farm is where I truly belong.”
Susan and Terry’s farm is called Da Kine Coffee Bean, and you can reach them at (808) 800-0878 or (808) 328-8716; for more details, visit their website at https://dakinecoffeebean.com.
