The cocoa tree was introduced to Samoa in the late 1800s by German Industrialists looking for a cash crop to bring back to the German market place. These Pioneers also experimented with growing sisal, rubber trees and coffee but the cocoa tree is the one that thrived in the Samoan environment above all the others.

For 15 years the Germans ran an increasing cocoa industry in then called “Western Samoa”

Until WW1 because of political reasons the Germans where banished from Samoa in 1913 .

The Samoan people continued to run the cocoa industry as a going concern until a time in the early 1980s when a drop in market price put a screeching halt to cocoa exports.

In Samoa there is a popular beverage called “Koko Samoa” this is made from lightly fermented and sundried cocoa beans roasted over an open fire and then mashed into a paste

This is called Koko Samoa and it is sold on nearly every street corner , Market and small Family shop in Apia today. This hardened paste is mixed with sugar boiled and made into a pleasant beverage. There are other well known dishes made with the koko such as

“Koko alaisa” (cocoa rice), “Koko esi” ( a breakfast porridge made with cocoa and papaya).

The Samoan cocoa bean is a very high flavor bean because of the Trinatario trees planted in the late1800s and the Islands latitude near the equator being very hot and humid year round , this is the prime environment for cocoa trees . The rich volcanic soil is very fertile from the natural rapid composting of the tropical forests .The cocoa trees have many indigenous and non indigenous shade trees near by to ease up the midday sun intensity. Samoa is blessed with thousands of underground springs to provide fresh water and minerals to the farmers soil.

Wild Donkeys can still be seen today along side the main road from late evening through the night just past the airport . Domestic donkeys where once used for packing sacks of cocoa pods from the trees in the tropical orchards down the network of trails to a railway that lead to the processing plant, where the pods where opened and the cocoa beans where fermented and dried in the sun before being shipped to the chocolate factories around the world .

With the introduction of trucks and tractors to the islands the donkeys where no longer needed and were set free to roam around as they pleased and graze the fields of tall Samoan grass.

About The Savaii farms logo

   The logo was designed and created by  one of Samoa’s World renowned Traditional Tattoo Artists Petelo Suluape and sons .     Faifa’atoaga is the Samoan word for “A Samoan Farmer”