Just in time for the holidays – a little surprise!
Kaua’i produces some fantastic locally-produced products, from jams and sauces to coffee and baked goods among others. I’ve been wanting to do a holiday giveaway, and when Brett and I stopped by the Kauai Coffee store this past week for a tasting, I thought a sample of some of their coffee along with some locally produced cookies would be just the ticket!
Located on the south shore of Kaua’i, the 3,100-acre Kauai Coffee estate is not only the largest coffee producer in Hawaii, but in the United States. Taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil, the cooling tradewinds, and Kauai’s abundant mountain water, the Kauai Coffee Company uses sustainable, environmentally-sound practices to not only grow five different varieties of coffee beans, but to roast and package it as well. They offer over 20 coffee types and blends, including flavored coffees and special holiday blends.
Kauai Kookies have been produced on the island since 1965. Although their classic cookies are their most well-known product they also produce other cookie varieties as well as sauces and dressings using local ingredients.
This giveaway includes one Kauai Coffee Estate Reserve coffee sampler and two boxes of Kauai Kookies. To enter, please comment on this post only, with one entry per day per person allowed. Leave at least one comment telling me about your favorite local food find (can be from anywhere). Another one-time extra entry can be earned if you’re already a follower of The Occasional Nomads, or if you become a follower of the blog – leave a comment and let me know. One more one-time entry can be earned if you mention the giveaway in your own blog; again, let me know in a comment.
The giveaway will be open through midnight HST Friday, December 18, with the winner chosen by a random name selector and announced on Sunday, December 20. I will contact the winner to get your address and mail your package out a couple of days later – you should get it in time for Christmas. I can only accept entries from the U.S. as postage from here is prohibitive!
The Occasional Nomads 
What a lovely giveaway! I have followed your blog for some time, since before the Big Adventure began, but very rarely comment. I have always enjoyed reading about your adventures.
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My favorite local food is maple syrup (I live in Vermont). I’ve followed your blog for a while and enjoy hearing your thoughts.
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I have loved following your blog for the last few years, enjoy the frugal tips and looking forward to a trip to Hawaii next Nov. Love that you support local companies with your giveaway. Thanks for all your and Brett’s great post and happy holidays.
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I remember tasting the Kauai Coffee Company products the last time I was on Kauai (pre-Iniki), and was entranced with their history, conversion from sugar to coffee, and commitment to quality. Glad to hear they’re still flourishing today!
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Pineapple wine from Maui.
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I have been following your blog since Oregon! It is one of my favorites. I am subscribed and comment from time to time.
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My husband and I travel a good bit. (Not lately, we all know why) We usually fall in love with something on our trip and continue to order from them. We fell in love with Tucson Tamales and have been ordering from them for several years. Some of the others are: chocolate and honey from Lydgate Chocolate farm from your very own Kauai and Edinburgh Gin.
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We have a great local food discovery in the DFW area. We love excellent breakfast tacos and El Paiso in North Richland Hills, TX makes the best breakfast tacos in our area! Each taco cost $2 and they are loaded with scrambled eggs, great bacon and cheese. These tacos are our go to breakfast when we are out and about in the area.
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My favorite Kauai food find is the sugarloaf pineapple. Kauai Coffee Peaberry is a close second. What a great giveaway!
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I’ve been following along your travels and adventures for a couple of years! My favorite “local” food find has been Cousins Main Lobster food truck. I live on the West Coast and we don’t have the opportunity to enjoy fresh Main Lobster but this truck is just what I needed!! Visited Kauai twice and love it!!
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well I haven’t found anything spectacular in CO but when we lived in Chicago. NOTHING beat a “wet” italian beef with mozzarella and giardiniera pickled vegetables.
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I’ve been reading your blog for a long time – love hearing about your travels. And also about Kauai, where we spent two wonderful weeks 20 years ago!
Favorite local holiday foods by me are lefse and spritz. Both Scandinavian since we live in Minnesota.
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I am saddened that I cannot be in the draw, but I think it is a nice gesture and want to wish all your readers the best of luck.
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We visited the this coffee plantation about 10 years ago and bought a few pounds of coffee and it was awesome.
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I am a follower of your blog and enjoyed reading about all your travels and also your life now on Kauai. It is so generous of you to have this giveaway.
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In my part of western Massachusetts, I really love Shelburne Falls Coffee roasters. I find it hard to find coffee that I enjoy brewed by someone else and they never let me down when I buy coffee to go. They are also independently owned and I can remember their humble roots in a small, narrow shop with enough room for like 4 people to stand comfortably.
Anon in mass
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Kauai coffee plantation has always been a favorite of ours!
Locally, Pickity Place is a favorite New England destination. Tucked in the woods of Mason, NH., this quaint red cottage was the inspiration for the Little Red Riding Hood (Little Golden Book) illustrations. Five-course luncheons are served year-round using herbs grown on the premises. It’s a wonderful place to spend a day touring the lovely grounds, shops, and greenhouses. Pickity continues to thrive in spite of Covid, with the addition of take-out and space for picnics (in seasonable weather of course).
Laura, as others have mentioned, I’ve been following your blog since the Oregon days, and look forward to your ongoing adventures!
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I have followed your blog for years. I enjoy it so much and would love to read the book you were thinking of. Sounds like you are well equipped to write a book.
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I’m a little confused about the contest, but here I am, leaving a comment to tell you I’m a subscriber, for an extra entry. If I’m doing this wrong and annoyingly clogging up your comments, I’m sorry!
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And…here I am again, following instructions, I hope! Local food favorites? Not sure that we really have any iconic local foods in Northern Illinois, except of course the Italian beef mentioned above, and deep-dish pizza. I LOVE both of those! Also, I love coffee and cookies!
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For local foods, we discovered a great place on our trip to Kauai a few years back. The Right Slice has great pies. We heard about them before our visit, and stopped by right after we landed for a pie lunch. Not sure of the town, but pretty close to the airport in Lihue. Loved the lillikoi pie!
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I have been reading your blog via Feedly (and Google Reader before that) since your Oregon days. Love reading about how you overcame financial challenges, the posts about your family, and your travel adventures. There IS a book waiting to be written!
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Apples! I will miss the local apples when we move.
I’ve been following for years 🙂
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I still dream about the maple/nutella swirled ice cream I encountered in Quebec.
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OK, now, did you say to comment on this same post, each day? Here I am again! OK, another local food I like is vegetable soup made mostly with stuff from my own garden. That’s as local as it gets! Most homegrown stuff tastes great but might not be as pretty as grocery store or even farmers market produce, but it doesn’t matter in soup?
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Back again as well. Hope all the family is well. Thanks for all the recipes you have been sharing, I am looking them over for ideas.
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I love coffee but have never actually tried Hawaiian coffee – what a lovely giveaway! My favorite local food at home in Minnesota is chicken wild rice soup – wild rice is a must purchase when we head up to the north side of the state!
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I was recently given some local honey. I used it in my coffee & plan to use the remains to make some honey fudge closer to Christmas. Your give-away is exciting.
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I mentioned your give-a-way on my Gratitude & other November Happenings blog post.
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This is a great giveaway and I would have entered, but I wanted to support Kauai businesses and placed an order with Kauai Kookie last week! I’m getting the variety pack and will give some away for Christmas. Whoever wins this is in for a treat!
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State Street Fruit Store in Northampton, Ma is great too!
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My regional favorite food is Pearblossom pears from Pearblossom, CA. I follow your blog.
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I was reading your Sunday Morning post, so I popped here to comment to enter the drawing since I’m a follower of your blog.
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We love to look for local goodies when we travel (when we USED to travel!). Kauai Coffe was our favorite when we visited there and we still have one of their tote bags in the grocery bag rotation. WE also loved all the tropical fruits form the Farmer’s Markets!
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Another local NE recommendation, Kimball Farm in MA & NH. The Westford location Country Store/Cafe is open year-round. Other locations are seasonal, all with homemade ice cream, and grills at 3 of the 4 locations. Grill options include local seafood (think lobster roll and fried clams). Kimball Farm in Westford is truly a destination, with many seasonal outdoor activities such as mini-golf and bumper-cars.
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Following on Instagram and the blog via Feedly.
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In San Antonio the local favorite is breakfast tacos, real Tex-Mex style. Delicious. Love your blog and love coffee.
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While traveling France, we decided to stop at San Malo to eat lunch. We ordered mussels and crepes. The best ever mussels we’ve ever tasted. Second are the mussels from Prince Edward Islands. We ate at the beach with buckets of mussels.
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Back again! Thank you for the reminders. Favorite local treat from Morro Bay, CA is Morro Bay avocados.
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Back again, thanks for the reminder in today‘s post. Local food: I live in New Jersey and am putting in a plug for the fruits and vegetables grown in the Garden State. Hundreds of types of tomatoes are grown here and more are always being developed. I didn’t realize the extent of it until I began gardening in a community garden and met people involved in tomato festivals and the like. Our blueberries are also excellent. No comparison to Kauai, but not bad for the industrialized East Coast!
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We were recently gifted a box of Purdy’s chocolates by a friend in Vancouver, BC. We hadn’t heard about them before, but apparently it’s a famous Canadian brand. It may be sacrilege to say this here in Southern California, but we like these better than See’s Candy!
I’m a long time follower of your blog(s), going back to your Portland days. Love your writing!
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That is sacrilege! But, something better than See’s would be amazing.
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In Kauai I had the most wonderful mangoes – I think they might be called Golden Glow? Haven’t seen them on the mainland, they were so good!
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I’m originally from Northern Kentucky and they have a chili called Skyline. It’s a sweet chili without beans and is served over noodles and topped with cheese. Definitely an acquired taste but will always taste like home to me.
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I also follow you as a subscriber on the blog and on Instagram.
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My favorite local food find from the city of Matsuyama in Ehime-ken, Japan is Taruto. It’s a roll cake filled with azuki bean paste subtly flavored with citrus. (Ehime is famous for its mandarin oranges.) My grandparents were originally from Matsuyama and I discovered Taruto when I visited the area two years ago to explore my roots.
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I have never been to Shikoku, but now I have to go for no other reason than to try that cake and to get mikans there, or at least mikan-flavored things.
Your trip to Matsuyama must have been a wonderful experience for you. I recently learned about the village where some of my family came from in England, and now I want to go back and visit and explore that area and see what I can learn (hopefully in 2023).
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