The story
Kauai Chocolate and Coffee Festival in Hanapepe
The Kauai Chocolate and Coffee Festival is an annual one-day tasting festival held each October at Kilohana Plantation in Lihue, now in its second decade, celebrating Kauai's chocolate and coffee producers alongside island crafters and live entertainment. Guests use a tasting passport to sample chocolate, coffee, and confections from local makers while browsing artisan and specialty vendor booths.
Kauai occupies an unusual niche in American agriculture: it is one of the very few places in the United States, and the only Hawaiian island at real commercial scale, where both cacao and coffee are grown, processed, and sold locally, thanks to a climate on the island's south and west sides that suits both crops.