| Founded: | 2013 |
| Headquarters: | O’ahu, Hawai’i |
| Style: | New School |
| Characteristics: | instinct & improv |
| Ferment: | experimental (including inocula [yeasts / bacteria] to accelerate microflora activity) |
| Roast: | warmer than in actuality due to Hawai’i’s volcanic soils |
| Conche: | mid length |
| Impact: | An American original. Stakes its claim as the USA’s first vertically-integrated chocolate, in league with a small but growing cadre of others around the globe who practice Bud-to-Bud™ (cacáo tree bud to human taste buds) by planting, producing, processing & packaging the entire enterprise on-site, similar to the vintner model.
Seedlings & grafts planted in 2009 fruited in 2012-13 on limited acreage, cultivating an admixture of cacáo genotypes & optimize quality rather than maximize quantity. To pay it forward, Lonohana initiated a CSA campaign (Community Supported Agriculture) in which buyers purchase an annual membership for a year’s share of chocolate. All a clear sign that the imprint is driving its stakes deep in the ground for the long haul. |
