Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491356
70 STiR tea & coffee industry international an acre of tea. He harvests by hand and makes a few kilos of lightly oxidized and darker oolongs each year. Kimberly and Takahiro Ino also grow tea organically on four acres at their Mau- na Kea tea farm at Honakaa. They have a small processing unit and machinery im- ported from Taiwan, pluck by hand (al- though they are researching the possibil- ity of some mechanical harvesting), and make 500-1000 pounds of green tea and 50-100 pounds of oolong tea each year using techniques developed by Taka. Sherri Miller also grows her tea or- ganically at her Moonrise Tea Garden above Hilo Bay on the Big Island. And Eliah Halpenny's Glenwood tea farm on the northeast slopes of Mauna Loa vol- cano has 6,000 tea plants on one and a half acres of land at an elevation of 3,000 feet. The tea seeds grown here came from India, China, Japan and Taiwan and the hand-plucked shoots are turned into black and green Big Island branded teas. Rob Nunally and Mike Longo have had their tea garden at Papaikou, overlook- ing Onomea Bay, since 2003. "We started with seeds, 40 of them, round and brown, similar in appearance to a hazelnut. They grew beautifully, thriving in our acidic well- draining soil and with our abundant rainfall. We now have 3,000 plants and are grow- ing, plucking, processing green, oolong and black teas and marketing certified organic teas from one of the most beautiful places on the island. We also make an aged roasted black, which we call KoKo Ki and which has wonderful qualities of roasted cocoa and dried fruit. One day we hope to have 4 to 5 acres of tea and part of our dream also in- cludes completing the tea house on the bluff which is a work in progress and ultimately will be a rest stop for tea farm tours." On Kaua'i Island, Michelle Rose grows tea at Cloudwater Farm, which has doubled in size over the past couple of years, and is now concentrating on increasing plant- ings of both sinensis and assamica cultivars. "The Assamica cuttings seem particularly happy with life on Kaua'i's north shore," said Rose, adding that "All available time and energy goes into clearing the property, propagating plants and creating new tea gardens." She makes white, green, oolong and black teas by hand. On the island of Maui, Liam Ball's Na Liko Tea Garden has more than 1,000 tea plants growing in an open sunny field. Musician, architect, real estate agent, and tea farmer, Ball bought his first 100 plants from Tea Hawaii's Eva Lee in 2008 and has gradually expanded his tea garden, battling against invasive weeds and running trials with different fertilisers and soil conditioners A propagation program is also underway in Hawaii, organized by Eva Lee in col- laboration with The Kohala Center, an independent, not-for-profit, community-based center for research, conservation, and education. A federal grant from USDA Coop Support has been used to fund the 'Grow Tea' program and already, around 145 new growers are raising seedling plants on family farms or new cooperatives. Lee explains, "The public was notified through local publications, agriculture groups, and internet, etc. and I arranged with locations supporting agriculture to spon- sor presentations on Hawaii's tea history of recent agriculture research, and on what those of us in tea farming are doing, what we have become, and where we hope to be in the future as statewide participants in tea as a specialty crop," she said. "Following those meetings, people signed up for hands-on workshops in propa- gation after they had fulfilled the required set-up propagation designs outlined in the presentations," said Lee. Since it began the program has conducted 36 training workshops and 40 informa- tion and consultation meetings have taken place, 34,300 seedlings have been potted New plants at Liam Ball's Na Liko Tea garden on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Mike Riley's Volcano Tea Garden, Hawaii Island. Forest tea growing at Eva Lee and Chiu Leong's home in Volcano Village, Hawaii Island.