Chocolate and Cacao Farm Tours on the Big Island

Thanks to its tropical climate Hawaii is the only state where chocolate can be made with locally produced ingredients. The cacao is grown and processed on the Big Island resulting in true, locally produced, American, chocolate!

If you would like to visit a chocolate orchard and learn more about making chocolate you can do so at a few places here on the Big Island. The following farms south of Kona (1) and on the Hilo side (Hilo, Puna, and on the Hamakua coast) (10 in total!) grow cacao and offer farm tours:

Tours near Hilo / the Hamakua coast

1: Honokaʻa Chocolate Co. (Honokaʻa)

Organizes farm tours + tastings Monday thru Saturday every hour on the hour starting at 11am to 1pm by reservation (more info and bookings here). The tour is led by Mike, the chocolate maker and farmer, and includes a view of their cacao orchard with over 400 trees, 1,600 white pineapple plants, turmeric, vanilla orchids, and lots of other cool stuff. Next to their own chocolate the tasting includes select chocolates from around the world, allowing you to experience how a particular region’s climate, soils and terrain affect the taste of the chocolate. They also share the history and roots of their century-old farm, and the history of the district of Hamakua.

You can also visit their on-site gift shop and a factory store located in downtown Honokaʻa at 45-3587 Mamane Street – both are open 7 days a week, 11am to 4pm. In their factory store you can get samples as well as a guided tasting and factory tour.

A Cacao farm tour at the Honokaʻa Chocolate Co. Next to a tour of the cacao orchard you also get to taste a variety of their own chocolate and other local products. Image credit: Sarah Anderson Photography.

2: Mānoa Chocolate at Honoliʻi Orchards (Hilo)

(13 minutes North of Hilo) Experience the most in-depth cacao tours on the island at the Honoliʻi Orchards. This 3.5 hour long tour is held 3 times a week and only available to adults and kids of age 9 and up.

The tour includes a visit to the orchards, a deep-dive into the fascinating science of cacao post processing (fermentation!), and a long visit to the tasting room that includes a discussion on the origins of chocolate, the key differences between craft chocolate and mass-produced commodity chocolate, and tasting of 10 single-origin craft chocolate bars, all sourced from various farms across the Hawaiian Archipelago. This tasting is our favorite, as it allows you to experience the diversity of flavors that Hawaiian cacao offers, and lets you try to taste for yourself how genetics, soil, and climate combine to create distinct flavor profiles.

In addition to the chocolate tasting, you’ll also get to try fresh cacao juice, roasted cacao beans, chocolate-covered macadamias, cacao tea, and other seasonal fruits and farm-fresh treats.

Bookings and more information can be found on the booking website.

In the orchards, you’ll explore the journey of the cacao tree—from cultivation to harvest—and discover how its precious fruits are transformed into the beloved treat we know as chocolate. Curiosity is encouraged, so feel free to ask any questions you may have! Image: Honoliʻi Orchards

3: Original Hawaiian Chocolate Farm

Offers tours on Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:00 and 11:00 in the morning. Admission fee for adults is $25 and $10 for children aged 6-12. Children of age 5 or below get to go for free (but do get to taste). The tour includes a one-hour walking tour of the orchard and factory full of information about every step in the chocolate making process.

Reservations are required so call before you visit: 888-447-2626

4: Mauna Kea Cacao

(Near Pepeekeo, 10 minutes north of Hilo):  Offers 90-minute farm tours most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm for $45 per adult and $20 per child.

During the tour you will: see a working cacao farm with 1,800 cacao trees; Learn how award-winning cacao is grown, harvested, fermented and dried; Open a cacao pod and taste fresh cacao; See do-it-yourself chocolate making equipment; and Compare chocolates made from their single-estate cacao by award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate makers to their home-made chocolate.

More information on their website.

5: Hilo Sharks Cacao farm

(in Papaikou, 10 minutes north of Hilo): offers personal walking tours of their farm where they plant cacao seedlings and from which they harvest and process cacao pods every month. Learn how they grow, harvest and process the cacao into chocolate, and enjoy free samples of our various chocolate products and 100% Hawaiian coffee.

The tour lasts about 3 hours and reservations are necessary. Costs are $75 for adults and kids 10+. Children of ages 3-9 are charged at $40. More information on their website.

6: Lavaloha / Mahilani estates cacao farm tour

(10 minutes west of Hilo) Lavaloha is a new (since 2012) cacao farm that grows, makes and sells their own chocolate. They organize tree-to-chocolate farm tours (1 hour, $42, with Kamaʻaina discounts available) and, upon request, a wine, cheese and chocolate tasting experience.

For more information and bookings see their booking website.

7: Ua Hānai Orchards (formerly known as Hawaiian Crown) farm + factory tour

Recently rebranded as Ua Hānai, this orchard is one of the older cacao farms on the Big Island with over 35 years of operation. Their 110 acre farm is home to 1,200+ cacao trees and is located just north of Hilo (2.5 miles) with spectacular views of Hilo Bay. At the farm tour you learn about cacao’s life cycle, harvest, fermentation, drying, and flavor creation. Tours end at their factory / shop in downtown Hilo where you can see how the cacao is made into delicious chocolate.

Tours run several days / week, more information on their website.

8: Puna Gold Estate

Located in Lelani Estates near the town of Pāhoa, the Puna Gold Estate farm organizes 1-hour tour of their 3-acre coffee & cacao estate, followed by a complementary chocolate tasting of their homegrown and made chocolate.

Tours are priced at $35/adult or $50 if you want to include a tasting. You can find out more about the farm tour and make your booking on the Puna Gold Estate website.

9: Hamakua chocolate farm tour

(8 minutes north of Hilo) The Hamakua Chocolate Farm is located in Papaikou- a small village just above Hilo on the tropical Hamakua coast.

During a 3 hour guided tour you get to see their farm, gardens and cacao processing facility, and enjoy a chocolate tasting experience.  The tour includes tasting the fruit of the cacao pod, an explanation about cacao growing, harvesting, fermentation, and drying, and the entire chocolate making process from tree to finished chocolate bar.

Tours are $79/person, last 3 hours, and are organized twice a week. Bookings and more information on their website

The 3 hour Hamakua Chocolate Farm tour takes you through their farm, gardens and cacao processing facilities. Image credit: the Hamakua Chocolate Farm.

10: Kulike Organic Cacao Farm Tour & Tasting

(near Hakalau, 20 minutes north of Hilo): Offers 1.5-hour farm tours twice a week  1 pm. This is an off-grid, organic permaculture farm with approximately 400 cacao trees and many other tropical fruits grown in several permaculture styles including mixed and conventional orchard, food forest, and hugelculture. You can add on a visit to their beautiful waterfall and even collect eggs from their Korean Natural Farming chicken coop. At the farm tour you learn all about growing cacao organically – from regenerating the soil, life of the tree and harvesting, fermentation and drying, to processing into two-ingredient chocolate. In-season fruits from the farm are sampled with chocolate.

Tours will be personalized based on interest and are $40/pp – but a minimum of 2 bookings are needed for a tour. Note that they are off the beaten path, 10 minutes up a winding, narrow paved road with some areas of limited visibility. It is a beautiful drive but you should be comfortable with pulling onto the grass as you drive uphill to let cars coming down the hill pass.

More information on their website.

A visit to the on-grounds waterfall is included in the tour.

Tours in South Kona

1: Kuaiwi Farm

While better known for their Kona Coffee farm tours, they also grow cacao on their certified organic farm. You can join them for a chocolate candy making class, combined with a farm tour and tasting. Classes include unlimited chocolate tasting and a goodie bag. Reservations are mandatory at least three days in advance.

See their website for details.

Where can you buy Hawaiian Chocolate?

There are several producers on the Big Island that make chocolate from locally produced cacao and sell it. You can find this chocolate at local farmers markets, in any of the “Island Naturals” food stores, in most other convenience shops and even in the local boutiques in the island resorts.

You can also order it online and/or ship it home through the websites of many chocolate producers mentioned on this page, see for example the websites of Honokaʻa Chocolate Co, Hakalau Chocolate, or the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Farm.

A gecko tastes cacao beans on a cacao farm on Hawaii’s Big Island. Photo credits: Jay Jones / For the LA Times

Bonus: Vanilla Farm Tour and Tasting

Because chocolate and vanilla go so well together we’d like to point out that you can also take a tour of a local vanilla farm!

Vanilla production is fascinating. The beans are the fruits of an orchid that only blooms for one day only, during which the flower must very carefully be hand pollinated. There is much more to learn about vanilla farming, and the Hawaiian Vanilla Co. organizes farm tours that can also include a lunch during which you can taste foods and drinks that include their vanilla.

The Hawaiian Vanilla Co is located close to Honokaʻa on the northern Hamakua coast, you can find more vanilla farm tours on our BIG overview list of Big Island farm tours.