Just a handful of farms grow the camellia sinensis plants in Hawai‘i, most taking to the cooler temperatures and climate in the mountains of the Big Island and Maui. Maui Tea Farm started with seedlings in 2013 and just recently expanded to a 14-acre farm on the road to Haleakalā National Park. The new location […]
The first time I ever tried Shaka Tea, a line of ice teas brewed with māmaki, a Hawaiian plant endemic to the Islands, was back in 2016. I was in the O‘ahu home of owners Bella Hughes and Harrison Rice, at the time a young couple with two very young kids who had, two years
As avid tea drinkers, Bella Hughes and Harrison Rice were longtime fans of mamaki; while they were living in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, they frequently had the dried leaves shipped to them for a nostalgic taste of the islands. Their shared love of the native tea plant prompted the husband-and-wife team to
