Spend Saturday out in Kakaako, where two important products in local agriculture take center stage — and visitors can enjoy tasty bites and drinks.

First, the FarmLovers’ Third Annual Hawaii Coffee Fest takes center stage at the Kaka‘ako Farmers’ Market. Coffee fans can rub shoulders with farmers, roasters, brewers, scholars and even chefs using coffee in special dishes, plus shop for their local favorites. All this commences alongside the regular farmers market, with more than 50 vendors and its regular shoppers. All products sold at the FarmLovers market are locally grown and produced.

After the market closes, head on out to the Sixth Annual Hawai‘i Chocolate Festival, just a couple of blocks away. This festival is particularly pertinent because Hawaii is the only U.S. state currently growing cacao, the plant from which chocolate is made. So as you indulge your sweet tooth, with artisan chocolate tastings and luscious desserts, indulge your noggin as well. Among the experts will be the Hawaii Chocolate & Cacao Association, and HC Bittenbender from the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, who will run a class on how chocolate is made.

When meatmeister chef Bob McGee approaches the making of a dish, his immediate thoughts go to ingredients.

“That’s the No. 1 thing,” he said, noting that good ingredients are the foundations for a great dish.

So when McGee was tasked with cooking with coffee for FarmLovers’ Third Annual Hawaii Coffee Fest, he knew he could deliver something tasty.

“We’ve got tons of great varieties of local coffee, great big robust flavors,” he said.

Add to the equation top-quality local pork, plus porter, a dark-style beer, and he was on his way to an amazing fall offering.

McGee’s dish features pork shanks from Waianae, where David Wong employs Korean-style natural farming to raise his hogs. The shanks are slow-cooked in a dark, murky braise of bone broth, porter and Kona coffee beans — specifically, maragogype beans, an Arabica varietal that’s also known as elephant beans for its size. The chef will toast and smash the beans before they hit the pot. Smashed beans deliver the flavor of the bean without the bitterness ground coffee would impose.

“The big beans lend themselves well to braising,” he said.

Porter’s maltiness, smokiness and high sugar content give off maple and honey notes, and when the braising liquid is reduced, “you arrive at something sticky-sweet,” he said.

“The shank has so much unctuousness and funk, that makes it more comfortable for people.”

As for accompaniments, McGee is thinking hearty fall vegetables such as pumpkin, plus a starch that he hasn’t yet decided on. “But it can be done different ways: with mashed potatoes, a scoop of rice, risotto, pasta. Maybe I’ll just do a nice bread,” he said.

McGee’s braised shanks share the spotlight with other prepared dishes: coffee mole and coffee tortilla from chef Kent Wong of Grondin: French-Latin Kitchen; coffee panna cotta from chef Arnaud Jager of Waikiki Yacht Club; and red-eye gravy (made with coffee) over collard greens, pork shanks and grits from chef Sean Priester.

The festival gives McGee an opportunity to stretch his culinary muscles a bit. The good chef, formerly of the Whole Ox and Meatball, is currently turning his focus to distributing Wong’s pork to restaurants. He says the farm will provide 98 percent of the pork for the upcoming Hawaii Food and Wine Festival.

If the pairing of chocolate and lemonade seems, well, “interesting,” keep an open mind.

“In general, they don’t go together,” admits Kawika Drummond, owner of Wow Wow Hawaiian Lemonades stands on Oahu.

But that didn’t stop Drummond from creating a concoction that deliciously blends the two seemingly disparate ingredients. Wow Wow’s Coco Cacao Nib Crunch Lemonade is so good, in fact, that the drink will be one of the offerings at the Sixth Annual Hawai‘i Chocolate Festival. It is served exclusively for special events.

The key to success: coconut cream, boosted with organic cane sugar. Both are added to fresh-pressed lemons, and the drink is topped with cacao powder and cacao nibs. “For sure, coconut and chocolate are good together,” Drummond said.

“The drink gives layers of flavors, with creaminess, tartness and chocolate,” he said. “I’d say the most dominant flavor is lemonade, then creamy coconut, then chocolate. The chocolate flavor is subtle.

“It’s pretty nice — it’s refreshing but dessertlike.”

Drummond’s stands are in Wahiawa and Haleiwa, and he operates booths at various farmers markets and at Eat the Street’s monthly food truck event.

The company has a stand on Maui as well, and the business is expanding. In addition to stands in Washington state, California and Arizona, Wow Wow has gone international with stands in Japan.

Visit wowwow hawaiianlemon ade.com.

FarmLovers’ Third Annual Hawaii Coffee Fest

>> Where: Kaka‘ako Farmers’ Market, Ward Warehouse

>> When: 8 a.m. to noon Saturday (during market hours)

>> Info: farmloversmarkets.com or call 388-9696

Other festival highlights:

>> Brewing Methodology 101 demonstration

>> Book signing by coffee expert, author and Daylight Mind Coffee Company owner Shawn Steiman (“The Hawaii Coffee Book,” “The Little Coffee Know-It-All”)

>> Displays by Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, the Hawaii Coffee Association and others

>> Nitro brew from Kakaako Kitchen

>> Free slices of Mocha Java cake from Honolulu French Connection, while supply lasts

>> Sale of local coffees

>> Regular farmers market vendors, who will be selling their products throughout the festival

Sixth Annual Hawai‘i Chocolate Festival

>> Where: Ward Village Courtyard (former IBM Building)

>> When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday

>> Admission: $20 advance, $25 at the door

>> Tickets and info: hawaiichocolatefestival.com or call 234-0404

Other festival highlights:

>> Admission ticket is passport for 10 chocolate samplings.

>> EAT Honolulu’s thick-cut chocolate bacon, made with Waialua Estate Chocolate

>> Hawaiian Style S’mores from Tiki’s Grill and Bar

>> Chocolate crepes by Crepes No Ka Oi

>> Brewed chocolate drink from Choffy

>> Chocolate-making class

>> Educational displays

>> Cacao plants

>> Local artisan chocolates

>> Chocolate soaps and lip balms