This infusion of coffee and sugarcane create a tropical escape. Sourced from only sustainable cocoa farmers, the coffee and sugarcane toffee is slowly mixed with our signature dark chocolate for an exhilarating texture. The sensation of sweet tropical crunch helps make you feel you have found paradise.
Inspiring this bar’s name, the drive to the isolated paradise in Hana takes one past Maui’s countless waterfalls and tropical rainforest that nurture the abundant tropical plants -- including countless ono coffee trees. Hana remains one of the last truly undeveloped pieces of paradise on Maui on the rugged eastern shore. While traveling the infamous “Road to Hana” that is only 52 miles from the Maui airport can take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to drive where the narrow road has 620 curves and 59 one lane bridges. Driving through the tropical rainforests on this most famous drive in Maui, you experience pure beauty - pure pono.
Kona Coffee:
The weather of Kona (on the Big Island of Hawaii) produces one of the most sought after coffee beans in all the world! The weather of the sunny mornings, cloudy & rainy afternoons coupled with the mineral-rich volcanic soil and high elevation create ideal coffee growing conditions. The Kona coffee is known for its full-bodied island blend that makes for a truly unique Hawaiian experience. Often described as creamy, smooth, clean and sweet taste (with a hint of chocolate), Kona coffee has become famous for its coffee beans. The first coffee was brought to the Hawaiian islands in 1813 when Francisco de Paula y Marin (Spain) planted the first coffee trees on the island of Oahu. Marin was the personal physician, interpreter and accountant for the renowed King Kamehameha who was the reigning monarch of the Hawaiian islands. In 1825 John Wilkenson arrived in Oahu with some plants from Brazil and planted them in Manoa Valley (Oahu). Although the plants in Oahu never thrived, the first Kona coffee came from the plant cuttings from Oahu. Reverend Samuel Ruggles, an American missionary, planted these Oahu clippings on the Big Island in 1828 and eventually thrived. This marked the first of any attempt to grow coffee in Hawaii. Over the next few years, others brought clippings from other parts of the world including Ethopia known as Arabica (later known as “Kanaka Koppe” or Hawaiian coffee). During 1849-51, the Califiornia Gold Rush increased demand for all Hawaii’s agricultural products where the Hawaiian coffee increased in demand -- and price. While many of the coffee farms on Hawaii turned into sugarcane fields (the largest industry in Hawaii), many of the coffee growing disappeared. However, the Kona region on the southwest side of the Big Island was not ideal for the large, mechanized sugarcane production, the coffee growing industry in this area continued. After winning an award for excellented in the 1973 World’s Fair, Kona coffee continued to grow in demand as the highest quality coffee worldwide. The coffee continued to improve with the introduction in the late 1800s of the strain of Guatamalan Arabica where the strain was brought by Hermann Widermann. This strain became the most cultivated type in Kona and is the main variety grown today. An estimated 7,800 acres of coffee are planted throughout the state of Hawaii and Hawaii remains the only state that is a commercial producer of coffee.
Sugar Cane:
Sugar cane (known as Ko) grew wild in Maui in ancient times are still seen in the wild today. Perhaps brought to the islands by Polynesian immigrants around 450 AD, the plants were widespread by the 16th century. This original sugar cane can still be seen growing along the infamous Road to Hana today. Sugar cane grew into an industry in the 1800s with the California Gold Rush that brought demand for Maui’s exported crops. By the 1840s, the Hawaiian division of land (known as The Great Mahele) displaced Hawaiian people from their land and created the first time that foreigners to own Hawaii land, and this opened the path for the sugarcane economy. The new landowners included primarily American sugar planters who eventually overthrew the Hawaiian Monarchy that had been ruled by Queen Liliuokalani. The coup called several hundred US Marines to “protect” American lives. This unfortunate period of Hawaiian history marks a dark time in history and remains a contentious point today with native Hawaiians.
In the 1860s, the American Civil War disrupted the southern sugar production and created a boom in the Hawaii sugar economy where prices increased 525% in 1864. The sugarcane industry was tightly controlled by the “Big Five” corporations who gained control over many other aspects of the Hawaiian economy. Importing workers to work in the sugarcane fields, the Big Five dramatically changed the demography of Hawaii by bringing in over 300,000 immigrants over a century from China, the Phillipines, Japan, Portugal, Korea,Tonga, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Russia and Germany creating much of Hawaii’s multi-ethnic society today. Hawaii was ideal for sugarcane with the fertile volcanic soil and ideal climate.
Although sugar remained the leading crop until the 1990s, this marked the decline of this booming economy as the price of sugar began to drop. Eventually, the tourist industry replaced the sugar industry. Hawaii’s last working sugar mill in Puunene (Maui) produced the final shipment of sugar from Hawaii in December, 2016 and this marks the end of a sugarcane era.
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