A delightful "up country" experience! Highly recommended - even if you aren't a tea aficionado!
This was a fantastic experience! My wife loves tea, but I'm not a big tea drinker. Therefore, I figured this would be mostly of interest to her and I was kind of "along for the ride". However, I found the entire experience, absolutely fascinating and I am so glad that I didn't miss it.
The grounds are stunningly beautiful. The land used to belong to a lavender farm and now has been converted to growing primarily tea. However, they have preserved myriad plantings from the lavender farm days, and there are beautiful specimens of all kinds of different plants scattered throughout the grounds. In addition to the beauty of the tea farm itself, it is situated high up on the slopes of Haleakala and has gorgeous views.
Our guide, Mason, was fantastic. He is very friendly and amazingly knowledgeable about the various plants, the grounds, and tea. He related all kinds of interesting facts about growing and preparing tea, as well as about all of the plants and the horticulture. He's one of the best tour guides that we have had in our various explorations and excursions throughout the world.
They include a tea tasting in which we got to sample a number of really interesting and different teas. As I mentioned, I'm not a big tea drinker, but it was interesting to sample them with a knowledgeable guide (Mason) guiding us through the tasting process.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a delightful "up country" excursion while staying on Maui. read more