I’ve mentioned that we like to do the tourist thing every now and then, and that includes stopping for some Lappert’s ice cream in Koloa when we come back from the beach in Poipu. The last few times we’ve gone, our 2-year old daughter wanted to wander around the shops nearby—they have so many colorful things to look at and some she can touch.
I forgot the name of the first shop, the one with clothes and world crafts, but the second shop to the left is Island Soap and Candleworks. While we made a few frivolous purchases there, at least the products are made on Kauai (I’ll give them a link because I like their solar electricity initiative, too). My wife is a green tea conaisseur, so one of the items we bought was a sachet of Kauai Garden Tea, a product we had never seen before.
At first glance, we thought it was tea grown on Kauai and were eager to try this new agricultural venture. But then I had a doubt because I’ve never heard of anyone growing tea, at least nobody credible. Upon rereading, the wording on the package only implies that the herbs blended with the tea were grown on Kauai. So then we were a bit skeptical and feeling misled.
But it turns out that the tea is quite good. The green tea that they use is not quite consistent with the price (about $20 if I remember right), but it was very drinkable. The blend of lemongrass and lavender gave this particular blend a hint of Earl Grey, which also has a citrus flavor from the bergamot. I liked the tea more than my wife, both because I like herb teas and she is more of green tea purist, but she admitted it had a pleasant, natural taste and the flavors went well with the green tea.
In the end, only the price is a bit steep (could not resist that pun), but maybe because we bought it in a tourist shop. There was a pineapple shaped tea ball that came with it, so that little gift made it seem worthwhile in the end. Unless we can find it retail somewhere else, we probably won’t buy it again for ourselves (how many tea balls can one use). However, we’ll definitely buy more as gifts for our tea-loving friends and family (if you’re reading and would prefer chocolate covered macademias again, just let me know :-).
They don’t have a website or any contact information, so if anyone knows how to reach the producers, let me know in the comments.