Kauai Coffee Estate
Honeymoon, Day 2-Poipu
“The warm Pacific sun, rich volcanic earth, abundant mountain rain and cool trade winds of Kauai create ideal conditions for growing outstanding coffee.
On our second day, we had a tour at the Kauai Coffee Estate. This place was huge, it’s considered to be the largest coffee farm in the United States. The view from the main building was picturesque. You could see the plantation fields and the ocean.
Once we entered the gift shop, the smell of fresh coffee was everywhere. I absolutely love coffee. We grabbed a fresh cup of coffee and headed to the coffee presentation, which was outside on the patio.
A very nice and knowledgeable lady was showing us different methods of making coffee. Something new that I learned during the presentation was that light coffee is stronger than dark roast coffee. The reason is that the beans are denser than dark roast beans. Now, don’t judge me for not knowing this before. I’ve always ordered dark roast, thinking it’s stronger. But I was so wrong.
After the presentation, we took a tour through the coffee orchard. We learned how coffee is grown, harvested, and roasted on the island.
Afterwards, we went to the gift shop, and I bought a few different bags of Kauai coffee. We’re gifted the Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine, as a wedding gift. It makes such good espresso.
WAIMEA CANYON STATE PARK
Our next stop after Kauai Coffee Estate was Waimea Canyon. They call Waimea Canyon the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Not surprising at all, it’s breath taking. The State Park overlooks the deep, colorful gorge of Waimea Canyon. It’s located on the western side of Kaua’i.
We stopped and got some dry mango fruit on our way to the Canyon. A little snack never hurts, right? We made a few different stops to take photos and videos of the canyon. There’re a lot of stops you can make to see the majestic canyon. One in particular is the viewpoint of Ni’ihau Island.
There’re plenty of picnic tables if you want to have lunch. If you are a hiker next to forest reserves, you can find a lot of hiking trails. Get a brochure for visitors from your hotel or local gas station. The locals and tourists enjoy seasonal trout fishing, pig, and seasonal goat hunting.
Kalalau Lookout
My husband was pretty excited to show me Kalalau Lookout. Unfortunately, we didn’t get lucky with the weather. As soon as we parked the car, it got very cloudy and the whole lookout was covered in deep a dense fog. If it was sunny you could see the ocean and the canyon at the same time. I was disappointed because I looked at photos afterwards and saw what I missed out on. Well, on a positive note, that’s a perfect excuse to go back. Kalalau is a must see location if you are in Kaua’i.
One thing you should know about Kaua’i is that it’s full of rosters and chickens everywhere you go. There’re different theories of how these chickens ended up on the Island.
The most popular one is that in 1982 Hurricane Iwa hit the Kaua’ Island. The winds were so severe, that they blew chickens out of farms and scattered them across the island. Then, they started multiplying.
A local resident told us that there’re currently around 400,000 chickens and roasters on the island.
At this point, we’re quite tired and decided to head back to the Hotel. We packed our cooler and went to the beach for a few hours. It’s so crazy, how cloudy it was on one side of the island, and how sunny it was by the beach.
That night we decided to stay on property. We bought some fresh tuna steaks the day before, and we grilled.
If you ever go to Marriott Villas, you will notice a lot of grill stations. My husband and I were swinging on the nearby hamic while we’re grilling the tuna and some veggies. We’re on the phone talking to friends and we burned the veggies. Anyways, the tuna was to die for.