On Haleakalā’s south-east slope, husband-and-wife team Alex and Andrea grow Japanese cultivars of Camellia sinensis at 3 500 ft and companion-plant them with ʻuluhe fern and sweet Hawaiian lemongrass. “Pono”—doing what is right—guides everything: small-batch hand plucking, organic inputs, compost-tea fertiliser and farm-tour tastings that end with sunset views of Maui’s central valley. Every pack—whether a volcano-smoked black or the farm’s signature Mamaki-Lilikoi herbal—is coloured by island lava soils and aloha spirit.