Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that can grow cacao commercially due to our tropical climate. Chocolate is made from the seeds of this tropical fruit tree and Manoa chocolate is socially responsible through direct trade of fine cacao beans from around the world. Whenever there is available Hawaiian cacao supply, they source as much as possible from local farms. 

The story of Manoa Chocolate's business began in the labs at the University of Hawaii in 2010 with a group of friends studying cacao as a crop for the state. At this time, the global sourcing and consumption of cacao was beginning to shift in the sense that people are now paying attention to where chocolate is grown -- not only where it is made. For example, "Swiss" and "Belgian Chocolate" does not grow in Switzerland or Belgium! 

As more and more cacao farms and research trials were starting to pop-up around the state, they realized that there was a need for local chocolate manufacturing - someone to buy the cacao beans and/or help farmers turn their crop into chocolate. 

They started as college students with no money and bootstrapped their business with ingenuity and determination. Some of their original pieces of equipment involved a barbeque to roast and a tricycle-powered winnower to operate the cacao shells from the nibs. Today, they are one of the largest craft chocolate makers in the U.S. - still striving to make the best chocolate possible and help grow the craft chocolate industry as a whole.