Pitcairn - One of the Rarest Coffees on Earth
At Sea Island Coffee, we are passionate about discovering and sharing the world’s rarest and most exceptional coffees. Our mission goes far beyond sourcing extraordinary beans – it’s about building meaningful, long-term relationships with the people that grow them, helping those communities to thrive, and investing in their future. We’re extremely proud and honoured to introduce one of the rarest coffees on Earth: Pitcairn Island Coffee, a remarkable cup from one of the most remote inhabited places in the world.
A Coffee from the Edge of the World
Pitcairn Island, a dramatically beautiful British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific, is home to fewer than 50 residents. Isolated by thousands of miles of ocean, and despite its small population, it is a place of extraordinary history and rich culture. The wreck of HMS Bounty, set ablaze by its mutineers in the 18th century, still lies visible beneath the waters of Bounty Bay – a reminder of the island’s storied past.
Pitcairn is accessible only once a month via a supply boat from the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia, underscoring just how isolated the island is. With many young people leaving for education and opportunities abroad, especially in New Zealand, the population is ageing, and the community faces an uncertain future. That’s what makes the story of Jayden and Kimiora, two Pitcairn-born brothers and entrepreneurs, so special. They returned to Pitcairn with a vision: to turn the island’s wild-growing Arabica coffee into a sustainable, world-class export that could benefit the island.
Kimi and Tama in their coffee plant nursery on Pitcairn.
From Wild Arabica to World-Class Coffee
Coffee has grown wild on Pitcairn for generations, thriving in its fertile volcanic soil and shaded groves. Recognising the potential of these wild Arabica plants, Jayden and Kimiora carefully began cultivating the same wild beans on their own land. When they reached out to Sea Island Coffee, having heard of our reputation as specialists in rare origins, their annual harvest was so small that it could fit into a single suitcase; we were astonished by its quality.
We immediately recognised the potential of the coffee and the people behind it. This was a chance to help build something extraordinary – an exceptional coffee, yes, but also a partnership that could support the island, enhance quality, and introduce connoisseurs around the world to this incredibly rare origin.
Tama sorting coffee cherries at Coffea Diversa Estate in Costa Rica.
A Partnership with Purpose
Sea Island Coffee’s partnership with Pitcairn is part of our broader mission: to support coffee farmers in remote regions by helping them grow, innovate, and succeed. Processing the coffee on Pitcairn used to take weeks. As an investment in the island’s future and our belief in Pitcairn’s coffee, Sea Island purchased and shipped a coffee huller to Pitcairn, a small but transformative step that made hulling more precise, preserving the beans’ true quality and revealing their full flavour with far greater consistency. Earlier this year, our CEO brought the brothers to the mountains of Puntarenas in Costa Rica, where they trained hands-on with world-leading speciality coffee expert Gonzalo Hernández and his team.
This is the essence of what we are building with Pitcairn: not just buying their coffee but investing in each stage of its journey. From cultivation on the island, through the delicate stages of fermentation, drying, and hulling, to quality control, marketing, and distribution - to create an international market for this coffee and build an export industry for the island. By doing so, we ensure that the value created by this exceptional coffee flows back to the people who grow it. It’s a model that empowers growers, strengthens local economies, and delivers a coffee of unmatched provenance.
Our investment in Pitcairn is about more than coffee. It’s about delivering growth for the entire Pitcairn community. It’s about creating a sustainable economic lifeline for an island with few export opportunities and helping to preserve a way of life that is increasingly under threat.
Learning about coffee growing and processing in Costa Rica with Kimi and Tama.
A Taste of the Pacific, Shaped by Isolation
Pitcairn Island coffee offers a flavour profile as unique as its origin. Surrounded by the Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve, one of the largest protected marine reserves in the world, the island is untouched by modern pollution and industrial influence. It is here, in this unspoilt environment, that Pitcairn Island coffee has managed to thrive naturally.
Grown in the dappled shade of banana trees and cooled by Pacific breezes, which provide a slower growth cycle that prolongs the beans’ development, the coffee produces a refined and elegant cup. Expect delicate notes of almond, honey, and ripe yellow plum, with a smooth body and lingering sweetness. It is a coffee untamed and untouched by industrial farming – wild, authentic, and deeply connected to place.
But what makes this coffee truly special, beyond the taste, is the story behind it. Every bean represents the extraordinary journey from a wild crop, flourishing in Pitcairn's volcanic soil, untouched for generations, to a world-class export - thanks to the vision of two local brothers and their partnership with Sea Island.
Harvesting coffee cherries during picking season on Pitcairn.
Creating a Market, Building a Future
One of the most powerful aspects of our work with Pitcairn Island coffee is the ability to create a market for it in the UK and around the world. By working so closely with the island residents, we can ensure that Pitcairn coffee reaches discerning connoisseurs who appreciate its rarity, taste, and story, while helping to ensure that the economic benefits return to the island.
This is more than trade — it’s a partnership. A connection between a remote Pacific island and coffee lovers in the UK and beyond, built on the belief that rarity, quality, and responsible sourcing belong together. It captures the very essence of Sea Island Coffee’s founding purpose: discovering new origins, forging lasting partnerships, and bringing extraordinary coffees from the most unexpected places to market.
Tama and Kimi with their certificates, after finishing the coffee training course in Costa Rica.
A Truly Limited Origin
Because of the island’s size and limited production capacity, Pitcairn Island coffee is available only in the smallest batches. It is one of the rarest coffees in the world: a true collector’s item for discerning coffee lovers. Each cup reflects not only artisanal roasting, but the heritage of coffee that has endured in isolation for hundreds of years. At Sea Island Coffee, we believe coffee is more than a drink – it is a story. With Pitcairn Island coffee, that story is one of rarity, beauty, and human connection at the furthest edge of the map.
We are proud to be a part of this journey, from bean to cup, from vision to reality. This is the success story of two brothers who turned Pitcairn’s wild coffee cherries into one of the rarest drinks on Earth. We’re honoured to share in that journey.
