Hawaii Grown Tea Reconmendations
I’m cruising to Hawaii end of the week and my ship will be stopping in Maui, Hilo, Honolulu and Kauai.
From googling around, I see that there is Hawaiian grown tea with plenty of tea sellers and I am planning to go shop for some good teas.
I’d love to find some fun loose leaf blends, but also I would like to try unflavored Hawaii grown tea to see if it has a different sort of flavor.
Any recommendations on some good Hawaiian grown tea or tea companies?
tastybrew brought back something from her recent trip out there so she might be worth poking heh
Though I have not tried any of their teas yet, I have heard REALLY great things about Mauna Kea Tea.
My family used to live on Maui and my absolute favorite island to visit was always The Big Island, which is where Mauna Kea Tea is located. I cannot stress enough how wonderful it would be if you supported a local Big Island business! :)
If you would like any advice on places to visit while on Maui, I would be more than happy to suggest things!
I miss living on Maui, dearly, and love sharing my joy for the islands with other people!
…hmm… thinking about this is making me wish I hadn’t already bought so much tea during the holidays! :( Now, I really want to place yet another order!
I’m trying to book snorkeling on Maui so I only have a couple hours after to check out the area. I’m open to recommendations on food and shopping!
I didn’t book any tours in Honolulu, so I can wander around all day, yay!
I wish I got more time to explore – some of my husband’s family has lived in Hawaii and all said I should stay a week or two there for my first time, but this cruise was a super deal, cheaper than flying over!
For shopping in Maui:
Whalers Village in Lahaina is always fun!
The Shops at Wailea are beautiful and wonderful if you are looking for luxury items.
The town of Paia is a wonderful little town with cute boutiques.
The boardwalk of Lahaina is great for touristy shopping! You can get some really great pearls for great prices in the tiny shops by the Banyan tree.
For dining in Maui:
Sansei in Kihei was always a favorite of mine for sushi.
AK’s Cafe in Wailuku is a place that my parents always loved to go. I have only eaten there once. It was very good! They are super friendly and accommodating!
Ko in Wailea is absolutely AMAZING. If you or anyone that is traveling with you likes cappuccino, theirs is the best that I have ever had in my entire life.
For a lot of variety of restaurants, Wailea, Kihei and Lahaina are the best places to consider.
I would also recommend paddling with the Kihei Canoe Club on visitor day, if you will be there on a Tuesday or Thursday. It is so much fun! My parents and I used to be members! :)
Honolulu is massive! Have fun!! :) I haven’t been there in years.
If you have any questions about Maui or the Big Island, I’m all ears! (Or Hawaii in general) :)
Oh! I also wanted to suggest this website to you… just in case!
http://www.konaweb.com/vog/
I got a bad case of vog sickness a while back when I was visiting my parents. If anyone traveling with you has asthma, make sure they bring an inhaler! :)
I hope that you have a wonderful time, filled with lots of tea and aloha!!
I hear the volcanic soil makes for some pretty interesting oolongs
Rainy Hilo! Hopefully the weather will cooperate for your trip :)
If you go on a Wednesday or Saturday, there might be tea at the Downtown Hilo Farmer’s Market. For the Mauna Kea Tea, I got an email from the ‘Imiloa astronomy center that they are selling the sweet roasted green and the oolong in their gift shop now. Here’s the website just in case – http://www.imiloahawaii.org …not sure where else…
Back from Hawaii!
Here’s my tea haul http://oolongowl.com/hawaii-tea-haul/
I never made it to Maui (see my blog entry on what happened). I had even less time in Hilo as planned and the shop I wanted to go to was closed. Didn’t find any Mauna Kea Teas.
However, I got all of the Hawaii exclusive Lupicia teas, yay!
Next time, I’m going back to Hawaii not on a cruise so I have more time to run around on my own. Man, Honolulu was amazing!
So jealous about the Lupicia exclusive teas. I got a few specially from Lupicia recently and I love some of them.
I have never seen cookies and cream macadamia nuts before! How much were the Lupica gift sets? I have a friend who lives over there and might send her on a tea mission!
The gift sets were around $35 each I think. I bought the 2 sets and 1 bag of loose leaf for $81. They also sold the exclusive teas individually.
Gah. Found an annoyance with this Hawaii Lupicia gift set. It doesn’t say what each of the teas are (in terms of flavor) and steep times. The ingredients list is one jumble for the entire set. I googled what I could (yay steepsterites with tea descriptions, but booo some lacking details) and looks like I need to contact Lupicia to fill in the blanks.
If you are curious:
Hoku – T. Oolong, Pineapple guava
Loke Lani – Black. Bergamont and passionfruit
Lanikai – Black Pineapple, coconut and vanilla
Kilauea – Black. citrus.
Kuuipo – Black. Mango, papaya, hibiscus, guvava and rose.
Anuenue – Japanese green. 7 different coloured leaves for rainbow looking tea.
Malama – Black. Chocolate and Macadamia nut
Palekaiko – Black. Passionfruit, mango and spicy ginger. Gold and blue mallow flowers
Anela – Hawaiian Green, Jasmine, lychee and pink argent angels
Hanalei – Rooibos. Banana and coconut
Aloalo – Darjeeling and assam with hibiscus
Hua Ki – Black. Mango, papaya, pineapple.
I had the same issue. I picked up the Hawai’i teas in 2011 and was like … “what are in these… and how do I brew them”? I tried to be as helpful as possible in the Steepster pages, but the Lupicia website itself is pretty vague.
I’ve emailed them twice (lupicia support and the honolulu store) with no response. I’ve been meaning to call the Honolulu store sometime and see if I can find out that way.
Boom, and now Lupicia is offering the exclusive Hawaiian blends online, limited time! If any of you were still interested, here’s your chance to snag some.
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