Tithing
1.שו”ת ציץ אליעזר חלק ה סימן יט
Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (1915 – 2006) lived in Jerusalem. Known as the Tzitz Eliezer after his responsa collection, Tzitz Eliezer.
Question: Do imported cocoa beans (bought fresh, roasted and ground in Israel) need to be tithed?2
Answer: Imported cocoa beans do not need to be tithed. If one wants to tithe, it may be done without a blessing.
Reason: Just because the beans are not ready to be eaten does not mean that the melacha (prohibited forms of work on Shabbat) around the fruit (that would require its tithing) is not done. It also has to do with which halachic stage the beans are in when they enter Israel.
2.שו”ת ציץ אליעזר חלק ו סימן כט
Question: Do imported cocoa beans need to be tithed?
Answer: True, tithing is sometimes done even when the crop is not completely ripe, but since cocoa beans are like stones before they are roasted, they do not need to be tithed.