When COVID-19 shut down the state’s tourism and restaurant industries, Tea Chest Hawaii lost much of its wholesale market, but gained hundreds of retail customers seeking health remedies that could be found in comforting cups of tea.
“It’s always been known that tea has got a healthy halo around it. When COVID hit, our customers thought: ‘We need to be more intentional about health,’” says company CEO Byron Goo, an artisanal teamaker with his wife, Satomi Goo. They had taken a survey last May of their community of 5,000 online followers.
In November they introduced ‘Olena and Mana, their first foray into teas meant to boost wellness.
They are not the first local tea company to market teas as healthful — several, for example, promote the benefits of their green teas, or incorporate ingredients such as ginseng, ginger and turmeric that are high in antioxidants and phytonutrients. Tea Chest, however, offers more extensive variety, blending mamaki and moringa, hibiscus, chamomile, peppermint, lemon grass and other ingredients.
Byron Goo brought on Makani Tabura, director of Ha Ola Village, a traditional Hawaiian medicine project under the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, to share his experience as a cultural practitioner.
“My grandmother taught me that if it tastes bad, it’s good for you,” Tabura said, but Goo’s teas incorporate a combination of ingredients to make them palatable, the way Hawaiians would add sugar cane to offset bitter medicinal herbs. They have an “amazing” taste, he said, compared to some therapeutic blends.
IN HIS practice, Tabura often recommends turmeric root tea to boost overall health and immunity as a preventive measure, or sometimes as a remedy for pain, inflammation and respiratory problems. Hawaiians, he said, believe strongly in prevention, rather than waiting until they get sick to treat disease. He makes tea from his homegrown mamaki — a traditional Hawaiian medicinal plant high in antioxidants — and drinks it every day as an immunity booster.
The Tea Chest’s Hawaiian Natural Tea line includes ‘Olena, based on turmeric (olena is the Hawaiian word for the root) meant to combat inflammation, soreness and swelling. Its earthy flavor is blended with ginger, black pepper and lemon grass. Mana, for boosting immunity, is a blend of cinnamon, black tea, hibiscus, peppermint and spearmint. Both organic teas contain moringa (high in B and C vitamins) and mamaki. ‘Olena is caffeine-free; Mana is low in caffeine.
The new teas are part of a “structural pivot” for the 25-year-old company. Once a wholesale business primarily serving hotels, restaurants, airlines and spas, Tea Chest now caters to individual customers who buy online, Goo said. This meant redoing packaging and pricing, and developing products geared to retail purchase.
Top sellers, however, remain a mango-peach tea and a passion fruit iced tea. At the end of 2019, a Cacao Tea line was introduced, made from cacao shells discarded by Manoa Chocolate Hawaii; Goo’s personal favorite is one that tastes like a lilikoi truffle. He said customers have told them that the chocolate teas provide a satisfying sugar-free hit to ward off an afternoon slump, joking, “It’s our new diet tea!”
LORI KIMATA, a naturopathic physician who founded Sacred Healing Arts almost 20 years ago, said herbal teas, if made of organic, pesticide-free ingredients, have many benefits, as well as providing relaxation and enjoyment. “I’m a big supporter of botanical medicine. Tea is a wonderful way to get herbs into people’s system that’s not like taking another pill.”
Turmeric is one of the best herbs, Kimata said. She also recommends chamomile for relaxation, ginger for nausea, peppermint for digestion, as well as other combinations depending on a patient’s needs. A drop of stevia or molasses for sweetness can be added to improve the taste, she suggested.
The Tea Chest has a small production crew that picks impurities from the tea leaves and botanical ingredients by hand, mixes them into various combinations, and packages the loose-leaf products. Tea sold in tea bags is processed more finely by a miller on the mainland.
Wellness teas, particularly green tea, may be the current trend, but Goo started researching the lesser- known mamaki tea over 15 years ago, and foraged for the red and green plants in the forest. Mamaki’s flavor is similar to green tea, but it has more earthy, nutty notes, he said. It’s found only in Hawaii and was not grown commercially back then.
Mamaki has been used for centuries by Hawaiians to relieve sore throats and coughing, and to improve wellness in general, as it is high in antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. Goo buys the product from three primary growers on Hawaii Island, Maui and Oahu.
While the company sources black and green teas directly from farmers in India, Taiwan and Japan, Goo said, “I have a big, fat, audacious dream that Hawaii can have a robust tea industry that complements our world-renowned coffee industry.”
He’s worked with the University of Hawaii’s agricultural college and made a pioneering effort to consult individually with almost 30 local farms for over 25 years. They’ve discussed how and which plants are grown, the drying and milling process and how to add value to their product.
“We’re trying to help the industry grow,” he said. “We’re trying to water and fertilize it.”
A CUP OF WELLNESS
A handful of other local tea companies offer green tea and other lines of the brew beneficial to health, though they may not be promoted as wellness teas. Here are a few:
>> Hawaiian Islands Tea Co., 1555 Kalani St., 338-8353 hawaiianislandstea.com
>> Tea Hawaii & Co., (808) 967-7637, Volcano Village, Hawaii Island, teahawaii.com
>> Mauna Kea Tea, 46-3870 Old Mamalahoa Highway, Honokaa, Hawaii Island, (808) 775-1171, maunakeatea.com
Packages of Mana and ‘Olena teas contain 20 tea bags each, for $7.95. Order online at teachest.com. Orders may be shipped or picked up at the Tea Chest showroom, 80 Sand Island Access Road. Call 591-9400.
