Lavaloha Chocolate - Farm Tours

Lacy took us on the Tree-to-Chocolate tour on Saturday, and it was entertaining and educational. We rode through the orchard on a golf-cart type shuttle that seats 9, so the tour group was a good size and Lacy interacted with each person. She explained how the farm got started and the different experiments they've made over the years as they learned more about how to produce the best harvests and most flavorful types of chocolate. Then we saw the drying room and understood the hand-labor-intensive work that goes into artisanal chocolate production. The final steps of the process were explained via short videos as we were given a chance to taste a number of the varieties Lavaloha makes. The gift shop has all of the varieties plus many other nice gift options, including cocoa butter products and coffees. There were plenty of photo ops and a nice little botanic garden right on the property.

Very enjoyable and magnificent views. Tour may be a bit pricey but worth it. The guide was excellent and very entertaining. You will understand why good chocolate is so expensive by the end. The chocolate is some of the best I've had, even the white. BTW, when the guide recommends quickly chewing and swallowing, trust in the advise, it's far more enjoyable :)

One of the best farm tours we've taken on any of the islands! Jess was a wonderful tour guide and so knowledgeable. The length and design of the tour (1 hour with transport on a covered cart, and a few stops including chocolate tasting in the lounge) was perfect. Tasting the beans right out of the pod was a highlight--even our 7 year old daughter loved it! Don't skip the opportunity to take this tour, and say hi to Louie the Duck. Mahalo for the aloha!

Amazing, beautiful farm with a very hands on informative tour. I loved cutting open a fresh cacao pod and eating the beans. Thank you Izzy for the tour! Your passion for your job is obvious. Good luck training the cows to cuddle! My only complaint would be the samples sizes are very small. I get it though based on how much effort goes into making each bar.

Wonderful tour! So cool to taste cacao straight from the tree! You really learn and see how chocolate is made from start to finish! It was nice getting the samples though they were a little smaller than I thought they would be! You can purchase their candy bars in their store. They are priced between $12 and $15 each so definitely on the high end! I did purchase several to bring home with me. Thanks to the tour, at least I can appreciate why they are so expensive! Everyone who works here is very sweet (no pun intended! :), especially our tour guide! I highly recommend this tour if you are visiting the big island. FYI, they only sell their candy in their store and through the mail. I look forward to seeing what they have to offer around the holidays! I can definitely see myself purchasing some at that time. We really enjoyed eating the candy bars we brought home. They taste so much more special when you can can really appreciate what went behind them and saw the trees they come from!

Highly recommend this chocolate tour. The farm itself practices environmental sustainability and operates solely on solar power, composts, and dries their cacao in the sun. Our tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. I loved and appreciated that we were able to sample from the beginning to the end which was not a part of a different farm tour we took. She opened the cacao pod before our eyes in the field of the farm. It was incredible!

Jess was a great tour guide. Very friendly and knowledgeable. Tour was interesting to see the chocolate from start to finish. If you are in Hilo this is definitely worth checking out.

Such a great and informative tour. Perfect timing on everything and really got to appreciate the love and labor that goes into the process. Appropriate for all ages. I see most complaints are d/t the road being unpaved - just follow the google directions and it’ll take you paved majority of the way. Our little car did just fine. If you’re confused as to why the chocolate is a little more expensive than most - if you took the tour you’d understand why :) Definitely worth your time, it was a lovely morning!

On time, price is right. The driver was nice and knowledgeable, the view was beautiful. Very interesting. I wish I saw pigs but didn't. It's ok.

Tour was very good Jess did an amazing job explaining how chocolate is made. Chocolate is definitely delicious. Enjoyed it. Only thing it's difficult to get a return Uber or Lyft.

Leigh was very animated for our tour. She was very informative as well. Enjoyed being there and would go back again

Great tour. Tour guide, Jess, was excellent, well informed, friendly. Had a great time, scenery is fantastic and whole experience was fun.-

Enjoyed the Lavaloha Tour in Hilo! Thanks Jess for taking us on a fun and informational adventure. Enjoyed the chocolate sampling and the assortment was delicious! Will surely recommend this tour to our Ohana and friends. Simply worth taking seeing the beautiful and bountiful Chocolate trees of Hilo. Mahalo nui loa, until we meet again.

Jessica took us around the farm and she was an extra fast talker so make a point to keep your ears open!! Plenty of sampling along the tour.

For my birthday, my husband and I island jumped to Hilo. We arrived to a very beautiful view overlooking the mountains and the ocean below. Parking and navigating to the location was pretty simple and we got here in time to check in for a quick glimpse of the gift shop. Our tour guide, Nick, was such a source of knowledge and patient with all of our questions. We got started on the tour in time and there was enough room for us to sit comfortably in the cart- no over crowding at all. We shared the tour with a family and he was able to make it entertaining for both adults and the kids. We learnt more about chocolate than we expected and embarrassingly thought about white chocolate for the rest of the day more than we would like to admit. I ended with buying the white chocolate with ube and chocolate and should have bought two bags. We ended the tour bonding with the duck in the center garden walking by the stream and adoring the hydrangeas. Thank you for making my birthday a one to remember!

I'm a chocolate lover and realized that I've never taken a chocolate farm tour yet! So when my mom planned a last-minute trip to Hilo, I googled "Hilo chocolate farm tour" and Lavaloha popped up first in the search feed. After reading many glowing reviews, I decided to book an afternoon tour for the next day-and thankfully they still had openings! Our tour guide, Jess, was a vibrant personality with so much information to share from start to finish. While also being very knowledgeable, she also took really good care of the guests, as our tour cart was stocked with fresh towels and umbrellas. It started raining right after we arrived, so the umbrellas were very helpful. I loved learning about the process of chocolate, seeing the many cocoa trees, and sampling a cocoa pod bean (slimy sweet on the outside, nutty and bitter on the inside), along with its final forms (liquid 70% was delicious). I'm usually a dark chocolate fan because mass produced milk chocolate (like Hershey's) tastes overly sweet and plastic-y-but sampling Lavaloha's milk chocolate changed my mind! It just goes to show how Lavaloha's process (and probably higher content of cacao/cocoa butter) makes it taste so much better. I'm usually not one to buy tons at the gift shop, but knowing how delicious and high quality their chocolate was encouraged me to go on a mini chocolate shopping spree-to also share how delicious their chocolate is with my fellow chocolate loving friends back at home in Oahu. My mom and I had a wonderful time on their tour and highly recommend it! :)

This was a super great tour, super nice employees, the chocolate tasted great, the cacao farm and pods where beautiful. What an incredible farm and experience. Jess, our tour guide, did a great job! (Our kids wrote this review and we whole heartedly agree with it).

Leigh was great-funny and informative. The farm is beautiful, the chocolate is amazing, and you can even get a. very reasonably priced insulated bag and ice packto protect your precious bars.

Leigh was a fantastic guide, giving us her undivided attention and energy for an hour. This was a true value at the price, and we learned, experienced, and tasted so much. Very much worth the price of admission, probably the best tour we had during our 2-week vacation!

Jess was an awesome tour guide! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had lots of samples. Highly recommended and will definitely bring out of state guests. 12 year olds comment..."best chocolate ever"

A great tour to get a sense of the life cycle of cacao. They tour you around the farm in an open air vehicle (that has a roof as well as side panels, umbrellas and towels should the rain make an appearance) so you have an unencumbered view of the farm around you. Nick gave a fantastic tour and has a deep knowledge of the trees, facility and processing- plus he has a great sense of humor! The 3 varieties of cacao are blended masterfully to create delicious chocolates that are available in the gift shop at the end of the tour. We have been here twice so far, and while we certainly come for the chocolate, it's the incredible views from the hills above Hilo. Come visit and drink it ALL in! Finally, be sure to visit their little sunken garden off the parking area and enjoy the peace, the green and the duck!

We did the morning Tour on a saturday. We were the only ones. We essentially had a private tour and it was amazing. Nick was our guide. He was very patient with us all asking questions before he could get to the info himself (mostly dad was asking too many queation.. Hahaha). The chocolate tasting was the highlight as well as the view from the top! Don't miss out. We were deemed chocolate snobs when we left by Nick. Not sure I can ever eat Hersheys again after that tour. Just a suggestion.....milk chocolate orange (wink, wink).

What a fun tour! We were just passing through Hilo and joined a tour somewhat last minute, and I'm glad that we did LOVED learning about cacao from tree to chocolate bar and having the opportunity to taste it every step of the way Their chocolate really is delicious! We bought a couple of bags to take home as gifts, & for us, the hubby liked the white chocolate the best and I loved their orange dark chocolate

Here's what you need to know: terrific experience doing a farm tour and tasting at Lavaloha. Great tour guide who was charming and knowledgeable. The tasting of the cacao fruit was such an awesome eye opener to chocolate. The gorgeous views, the weather, the quality of chocolate and the tour all make for a paradise like experience. Reasonably priced tour experience and while the chocolate is expensive, it's certainly worth a visit to this farm atop the mountain. Oh, and it's a beautiful drive into the mountains...

Their chocolate is amazing, and this tour was definitely the best I've ever been on. It was very thorough, interesting, and fun! I would 100% recommend it. P.S. Phil is amazing

What an amazing chocolate and coffee farm, Nick was an outstanding guide. His knowledge and the passion this farm pours into making the best chocolate I have ever tasted.....and I have had some really really expensive chocolate shows!!! They are definitely by far the best. Couple personal favorites were the orange, and sea salt milk chocolate. We have also done other chocolate farm tours and this is by far the best one!!

Chocolate was delicious, view spectacular, the tour amazing! A must for all who love chocolate and coffee!

Tour guide Lacy was amazing! She answered all our questions, was very good at pointing out all the different plants grown on the farm and introducing us to the process of chocolate from tree to edible product!. We were able to try raw cacao fresh from the tree. We then went to the drying area and saw the beans that were dried and drying. After we tasted the chocolate from liquid to 70% dark chocolate to 50% milk chocolate and finally a latte bar. The entire tour and tasting was well worth the time and money and something that I would do again when on the Big Island! We lived all the flavors and would love to see a mint or peppermint chocolate as well as an orange milk chocolate bar. Loved all the flavors that we tasted!

my family had a wonderful tour at Lavaloha on Thursday July 20,2023!! Leigh was our very informative tour guide!! Leigh spoke clearly, answered questions quickly and was a delightful guide!! we love her enthusiasm of chocolate!! We loved ALL flavors of Lavaloha chocolates!! A wonderful tour and tour guide!!

Their chocolate farm is amazing! Jess, our tour guide, has a great bubbly personality and was very knowledgable in all areas of the farm and process it takes to produce chocolate from the cacao. We got to sample various types of their chocolate to taste the differences in each percentage of cacao. We even got to pick the fruit and taste the beans right out of it! Their milk chocolate with vanilla is the best! We had a great time and will definitely be back in the future.

AMAZING! All local operated, and the quality of chocolate is PHENOMENAL! Nick was an amazing tour guide, very knowledgeable and humorous.

We found this place on Yelp and it sounded like a good way to explore what Hilo has to offer, so off we went. It never occurred to us (me) that we needed to make a reservation for the tour, so when we arrived we found that the day was already booked. We just did not connect the dots between a tour and needing a reservation for some reason. The tour costs $39 per adult and $7 for a kid which seems expensive so maybe it is for the best. We instead walked around the grounds a bit and explored the gift shop, buying some dark chocolate, which was very good. You get 2 oz for $12.99. The owners were very friendly. The drive itself is not far from Hilo but much of the road is unpaved once you depart from the highway.

Jess was an awesome tour guide! She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable- it was awesome to see how chocolate is made! The samples were delicious too

We LOVED Lavaloha! Nick was our tour guide and he was funny, friendly and knowledgeable! The chocolate was surprisingly smooth and sweet; who would guess 70% Cocoa chocolate would be so delicious? We learned it's because of the type of beans they use. We had a wonderful time! The farm was beautiful and even the drive up was delightful. We HIGHLY recommend Lavaloha!!

We heard great things about this place So it's our last day visiting and decided to stop by to pickup some chocolate. To our surprise they have so much different stuff from chocolate, coffee, tea, hot sauce, shortbread and etc. from what I seen. We were Greeted by Cole and kylee that provided great customer service and had a wealth of knowledge about the various products and how it's made. They were so sweet by allowing us to sample some of their chocolates. We got some of of there coffee that they grow 100% Hilo coffee bean, extra dark chocolate 90%, dark chocolate orange zest, sea salt, white & matcha chocolate cacao nib We had a blast and most definitely be back to pickup more of you foolks great snacks Next time we'll schedule an appointment for your folks tour Thank again

My husband and I went on a chocolate tour today with guide Jess. We had a great time learning about the history of the farm and how chocolate is made. We also got to taste the delicious chocolate (they were all really yummy). If you're looking for a fun activity in Hilo, this should be on your list!

From my ten year old: "It was an amazing amazing tour. Samples were great, chocolate was great! PS Note to Lexi: you're an amazing tour guide!"

Aloha ! We visited the farm, on our stay here on the island, and it was a very sweet and memorable experience! Lexi, our tour guide, was such a lovely, knowledgeable person! She definitely knew her way around the farm , with a twist of humor ! Their chocolate is so tasty, from the white to the very dark ones ! We definitely loved the raw cacao beans we were offered to taste ( my boyfriend finished the whole thing after haha) Definitely recommended, and we ll be back to visit P.S they also have all their delicious chocolates for purchase, in their gift shop, which is a plus . Also, a cacao scented candle, that you just want a bite of because it smells so good !!

We're on a quick weekend trip from O'ahu and just randomly found this place. We were able to get same day tour reservations (thank goodness-but don't recommend banking on that). We were not disappointed at all. The farm is beautiful, and the tour guides were so knowledgeable, funny and engaging. As other reviewers mentioned, you get to stop the tour in the middle of the farm where they will open a cacao pod, showing you all the cacao seeds inside. You then get to test taste them! This is later followed by seeing how these seeds are processed, a visit to the "chocolate lounge" for more learning and taste testing (yum!), finally ending back at the visitor center/gift shop. This is a small, locally-owned farm. All off the grid. You can tell these are down-to-earth, humble and hard working folks, and I was so happy to support their business. I'll definitely be back to visit again. Mahalo!

Really fun tree-to-chocolate tour! Our tour guide, Leigh, loved sharing her knowledge and had such infectious personality that made the experience so enjoyable. Love that they are a completely vertically integrated cacao farm. The chocolate is so smooth and creamy. Purchased some for ourselves and to share with friends back home!

My husband and I got a tour of the cocoa orchard and the processing areas. The tour was engaging and fun for all ages (props to tour guide Phil). They do a really good job of giving you an understanding of how chocolate is made, from planting to packaging and everything in between! And it included tasting fresh cocoa right off the tree as well as yummy chocolate. It was exceptional! Highly recommend!!

This place is magnificent!! We took the tour with Jess and it was incredible.We got to see the cocoa fields and plants.We got to try the freshly picked fruit where chocolate comes from!! It was quite the experience... Jess was so full of knowledge and has an infectious enthusiasm, just great!!! We got to try the chocolate products and see how they are harvested and dried out... the whole process..... There is a sunken lava tube that they have a beautiful botanical garden with three ducks living inside!! Don't miss this portion ........ All that was missing was a guy with a Tophat and a cane ....Willy Wonka got nothing on them..... Best accidental find ever..... Hilos super super mega secret !!!!

Highly recommend this. Very informative, beautiful surroundings, chocolate tastings were not only some of the best chocolate I've had but also so interesting to understand the subtleties that I'm tasting. Phil was a super guide, putting the whole chocolate process in layman terms and an entertainer to boot. Would definitely do this again.

Amazing chocolate tour with Jess! She was energetic and had a ton of personality. She took the time to answer our questions and taught us so much about the process of making chocolate. We had a great time and will definitely be back! Well worth the time, effort and money!

This unique chocolate farm has a beautiful view worth at least one star on its own. We were going to go on a tour but when we got there the next tour wasn't for another 45 minutes. We did not want to wait around so we bought several bags of assorted chocolates and left. The chocolate was alright. The white chocolate with the regular chocolate pieces in it was my favorite. The salted chocolate was also okay. It is pretty expensive. Worth at least one visit.

Great tour. Phil was a very entertaining and knowledgeable guide. Chocolate was some of the best I've ever had. Would do again! -D

Loved our tour! Leigh was great with her light hearted and comedic tour. It was also her bday when she gave the tour so extra special day! And I love how simple and local the feel of the tour was. Didn't feel like I'm being sold a Hershey brand. Also I've been lied to my whole life regarding how white chocolate taste like, just saying... lavaloha INFORMED me in the right path haha. And they mold the chocolate in these cute heart shaped chocolate samples! Imagine the effort! Highly suggest! Support! Also, would love to see a coffee bar in the future, since coffee is being grown there. Coffee plus own chocolate to make the perfect mochas from lavaloha! Chef kiss ‍

This is a bit of a drive but the view is worth it. I had to buy chocolate cuz they are known for it. I probably won't be back. When we arrived we were greeted and given small samples of chocolate.

This was such a fun tour! Lexi was a great tour guide and "white chocolate" was a great welcoming host and salesman in the store helping us with recommendations. We learned so much and tasted the delicious chocolate. The farm is beautiful and the chickens like to ride on the cart for the tour as well so ensure you invite them aboard!

So glad we decided to do the tour ! Amazingly beautiful location , will remember this for a long time . My boys ages 11 and 9 were engaged and excited . Our tour guide, White Chocolate, was extremely knowledgeable and fun . I would highly recommend this to anyone !

A gem, worth the long drive up to Lavaloha. We enjoyed the chocolate tour, our guide was well informed, funny, and provided an interactive tour, learned about the chocolate-making process from tree to bar! The chocolate sampling and enjoying the beautiful property were the high notes. The chocolate is rich, pure, and smooth, even the milk chocolate is delicious.

Cool choco farm outside of Hilo. Did the tour - a bit pricey at 40 bucks but worth it. Our guide Phil was awesome. Got to try fresh cacao off the tree and learn about the chocolate making process. Oh and the samples. Sooooo goood

Wonderful tour of the farm guided by Lexi. Very informative and multiple chocolate samples. Great store with plenty to buy: dark, milk, coffee, vanilla, orange, white chocolates and much more. A little out of the way to get to but well worth it.

We have lived here for a little over a year and take all of our guests on the Tree to Chocolate your. The tour guides are great fun and informative and you get to sample lovely chocolates. What's not to like?

I enjoyed the tour and learned much about cocoa and the process of making chocolate. Thanks to our tour guide Phil. Mahalo Leilani

We loved seeing cocoa trees growing and learn more about the complex process of making chocolate. The favorite part of the tour was cutting open a cocoa fruit right from the tree and tasting it. The chocolate they make at the farm is truly exceptional - high quality and sophisticated flavors. Thanks to our amazing guide Leigh for the wonderful tour!

I tried booking a chocolate tour online , but it did not allow to book for one person . I decided to go in person and take my chances. All the staff there are super friendly , I got greeted right away and booked onto the next tour. ( I waited about 25 min) It's 41$ and worth every penny . Our tour guide PJ was just incredible and so knowledgeable, he showed us and explain the process of chocolate making from tree , fruit to end product . And we got to try all the different types of chocolate, dark chocolate , white chocolate, milk chocolate , seasonal chocolate , sea salt chocolate and raw cacao fruit. This chocolate is like none you've ever tried before , this tour is a must !