Wednesday, May 1 Kona

May 1, Kona

Today we are on the other side of the big island, Hawaii.  The western side of the island is dry so no rainforests or jungles on this side. 

Our tour today is Kona Mocha, coffee and chocolate farms.  Our tour guide today was Mike.  He was not a native, in fact, had only been living on the island for 5 weeks.  Welcome to American and Gray Line tours.  This was our first Gray Line so if we were to do again we would be careful that we were on an island tour instead.

Our first stop was at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory.  The owner and his wife moved to Hawaii in 1995 without a plan of what they would do.  Bob was a golf course superintendent in North Carolina.  They had traveled many times to HI and loved it and wanted to live there.  The land that they bought had cacao trees and their story started. 

Great tour through the orchard where the cacao (ca-cow) trees grow through the harvest and ending with the production of chocolate. 

Cacao Fruit

Cacao Nibs Drying In Sunlight - No Dryer Needed in HI

We were then on to Kona Joe’s coffee plantation.  We were greeted with fresh brewed Kona coffee and homemade banana muffins made from bananas that grow on the plantation, of course.  Kona Joe has a patent on the growing process of the coffee trees.  He came from the Napa Valley wine growers so patented the growing of coffee trees similar to grape vines.  Coffee is a “cash crop” on Kona so almost everyone has coffee trees for a yard either in front of or in back of their houses.  They sell the beans to the coffee buyers so defer some of their living expenses.  Kona is not a poor island – more wealth here than at the other islands.

Coffee Tree Orchard

Coffee Beans Drying

After dinner we went to a Jersey Boy type of show and then to the piano bar to listen to some classics.  Both were very good.

Kauai tomorrow.