SFGate.com has a great article up about “Green Souvenirs” for travelers to the Hawaiian Islands. Here is a few they recommend for the Big Island:

Gift stop: A bag of 100 percent Kona coffee seems de rigueur for Big Island visitors who need to bring back a premium present, with no shortage of farms along the Caffeine Coast open for tours and tasting. But if you really want to go green, and can afford to spread some around, pick up a bag of award-wining organic Kona coffee ($45.50-$55) from one of Mountain Thunder’s two certified organic farms. For a thriftier approach, try a tin of Mountain Thunder’s organic Hawaiian green tea blend ($8) or its organic loose-leaf mamaki tea ($10), classified as a white tea. Free hourly tours, including a cup of freshly brewed joe, are offered daily at the family-owned farm in Kainaliu (near Kealakekua Bay) and every day except Saturday at the farm in Kaloko (upland from Kailua-Kona).

Take-away thoughts: The company’s pricey Cloud Forest Organic Estate Coffee comes from the Kaloko farm, which relies on geese, donkeys and sheep instead of pesticides to keep out the weeds and to return nitrogen to the soil. Like all true Kona coffee, it’s hand-picked, which adds to the cost but helps control the quality; the beans are also rigorously sorted by size and color to improve the flavor, The endemic mamaki plant, also grown at the upcountry site, is actually a nettle that lost its prickles as it evolved in the islands; it produces a caffeine-free tea that’s high in antioxidants. Hawaii is the only state to grow both coffee and tea commercially, and the Big Island may be the only place to see both crops side by side.

Bonus ops: The kids back home might not appreciate coffee or tea omiyage, but who can resist chocolate? The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory farm lies between the two Mountain Thunder locations, between Highways 11 and 180 above Keauhou. Taking a free tour reveals the similarity between growing coffee and cacao, plus the special steps required to turn cacao into chocolate; they’re offered Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. by appointment only (call 808-322-2626). Prices for the 100 percent Hawaii-grown chocolate starts at $6.50 for a 1-oz. plumeria-shaped bar in milk or dark chocolate. Grownups may get a kick out of the “donkey balls” — locally grown macadamia nuts covered in chocolate — sold at Keoki’s Surfin’ Ass Cafe and Chocolate Factory in Kainaliu; prices start at $6.99 for a 4-oz. bag.

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