Honoka'a Chocolate Farm

This farm and the store team are truly exceptional! A big thank you to the store team for helping us arrange our tour, and to Mike, the owner, for providing an unforgettable experience. We left with a deeper appreciation and understanding of chocolate today

Chocolate lovers rejoice! A truly ambrosial variety of cacaos and chocolates is being grown and formulated on a small, lush farm above Honoka’a Town. The farm’s proprietor and chocolatier, Mike Pollard, brings both his family’s farming history and scientific rigor (he has been an aerospace engineer) to the making of extraordinary chocolates. We urge you to sign up for a Cacao Farm Tour, led by Mike, and learn about the growing of cacao and the contributions of cacao varieties and terroir, the ingredients and what to look for in a premium chocolate, the chemistry of chocolate, its health benefits and, most important, how to taste chocolate (like a fine wine, premium chocolate’s flavors trigger different sensations an they make contact with different locations on your palate and tongue). You’ll compare and discuss samples before caravanning into town to visit the processing operation, where you’ll see where the cacao nibs are ground, cane sugar is added, and the chocolate is tempered and sealed. Two days after our tour, we are still afloat on a cloud of our new-found appreciation for premium-quality chocolate. We have Mike Pollard and his Honoka’a Chocolate VIP Cacao Farm Tour and Chocolate Tasting to thank for this enlightened state.

Loved the tour and tasting - very interesting to learn more about the production and see a cacao tree and pods up close. Tasting the raw bean, roasted nibs, cacao tea, and finished chocolate were a great way to experience the gamut of tastes of the cacao bean. The finished dark chocolates are varied and delicious. Mike is a wonderful tour guide and host.

We did the 2 hour chocolate farm and tasting tour and I think it just wasn't the tour for us. It felt too long and a bit all over the place. The presenter seemed knowledgeable, but information wasn't presented in a consise way so at times it was hard to follow. I did really enjoy tasting the Cacao seed.

The tour was a trip to the history of the place, the process of cacao grow and chocolate production, and its history and status in Hawaii. I learned so much in this tour, it was fantastic. Mike was very nice to listen and talk to. During the tasting, he also told us about the features to look for and what he was trying to achieve with each one of the chocolates. The chocolates are from their own beans and from imported beans. He also showed his chocolate "kitchen", and the multiple machines involved, plus his expansion plans. We appreciated the knowledge, ambition and approach to life of Mike. Plus he was very nice to digitally share afterwards the chocolate tasting documents she showed during the tour. It was a good experience overall.

Although the chocolate is delicious and Mike is well informed and dedicated to what he does, this tour is certainly not worth $80 per person ($91 with tax). The tour consists of walking into the cocoa field and learning about cocoa. It was very interesting, but please note that depending on the season you tour, you may not get to see ripe pods and have them opened for you (as I saw others experience in reviews). Of course this is not Mike’s fault but is something to note. You do not get to see any equipment, although Mike will tell you about some equipment he owns. He let us know that we were welcome to go into the shop to purchase more chocolate but did not invite us to see the equipment or outline that as part of the tour. For our tasting we received five small chocolates (I have a picture of them after sampled.). You also get to try cocoa tea, which is neat. We also each got 1 “complimentary” chocolate bar. Overall, a neat way to spend a few hours but I personally feel that $80 plus tax is WAY too expensive for the tour. I would maybe pay $40. Just 15 minutes away you can tour a vanilla farm for $75 and receive a full lunch. *Please see Bethany G’s review for an extremely accurate account of exactly what the tour involves (I didn’t want to just copy and paste).

Takes the chocolate seriously but in a relaxed setting. Informative, especially appreciated learning about cacao growing. Generous tasting. There's just a tiny bit of walking on the farm, but I'd contact them if you have any mobility concerns. Would absolutely recommend - we've taken an intro class on chocolate making, and still found this to be very informative (and delicious - we bought 7 bars to take home!).

What a delightful tour! We were late and the owner graciously let us join the tour in progress. I have been telling everyone about the chocolate and what I learned. Super delicious chocolate as well. Premium experience for us!!!