Coffee, chocolate, and the farms behind them
You’re in the heart of the world’s most celebrated coffee-growing region. The volcanic slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa produce beans with a smooth, low-acid character that can’t be replicated anywhere else. Several farms welcome visitors for guided tours, tastings, and a deeper understanding of what makes "100% Kona" so exceptional.
Hawaiʻi is the only U.S. state that grows cacao, and the Big Island’s tropical microclimates produce beans with complex, fruity notes prized by craft chocolatiers worldwide. Farm tours walk you from tree to bar — you’ll crack pods, taste fermenting nibs, and sample finished chocolate still warm.
The only seahorse farm in the United States, breeding and conserving these delicate creatures in the warm Kona sunshine. The guided tour reveals the full lifecycle — from courtship dances to live births — and you’ll hold a seahorse in your palm.
The Big Island produces the vast majority of Hawaiʻi’s macadamia nuts. At Hāmākua Macadamia Nut Company’s visitor center in Kawaihae, you can watch the nuts being processed on a self-guided factory viewing and sample the flavored varieties. For a walk through the orchards themselves, small diversified farms near Hilo and Honokaʻa run guided tours of their mac nut trees alongside lychee, cacao, coffee, and other tropical crops.