My wife Lissette is adventuresome and is great at meeting very smart, talented and interesting people that live on our island.  She attends the North Hawaii Hospice “High Tea Fundraiser” almost every year and was the winning bid this year for “High Tea for 4” at the Martha Brahms’s tea farm in the hamlet of Volcano, directly across from the entrance to the Volcanoes National Park.

The Volcanoes National Park is located at 4000’ elevation on the caldera rim of the Kilauea volcano which has been continually erupting since 1986.  Who would have known there is tea being grown in the surrounding dense, forest amidst the tree fern, ginger and ohia trees?  What a beautiful and surreal setting to enjoy a great afternoon of incredible food prepared by our own private chef and surrounded by the tea we were drinking.

The small area known as simply “Volcano” is mainly comprised of the National Park, a small concentration of older historic homes housing the Volcano Lodge and Restaurant, a few Bed and Breakfast establishments and a series of accommodations offering cottages and houses for rent.  This area is also known for several large scale subdivisions developed in the 1960-1970’s that sold 1/2-1 acre lots, mostly “sight unseen” to mainland buyers.  The streets seem to lead endlessly through the ohia forest but only seldomly reveal a developed home site.

Click here for information on my Mauna Loa Acres listing in Volcano — just listed for $29,000!

We enjoyed the climb from our home on the west side of the island, over the top of the island via Saddle Road, passing the Pohakuloa Training Range and entrances to both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea Observatory entrances.  We passed through the clouds and descended the saddle area from 5500’ of elevation to sea level as we passed through Hilo town bay front almost 80 miles from home.  We proceeded another 25 miles to Volcano where we navigated through the dense Ohias to be greeted by Martha Brahms’s son Stephen at the entrance to their lush property and tea farm.  Thank goodness for GPS and my Land Rover LR3 :).

Martha Greeted us with a warm aloha and hug and I immediately heard a southern accent that my own southern upbringing identified as probably from Georgia where I am from originally.  I politely let Martha continue to greet our friends but I soon asked where she developed that great accent…she responded Lagrange, Georgia.  Wow-who would have known that two Georgia natives would meet in the middle at her tea farm in the most remote part of our island very near an active volcano?  Our island never ceases to amaze me with the possibilities of whom you may meet.

Martha went on to explain that she left Georgia to attend the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York in the 1970’s and had spent most of her life in multiple restaurant venues including Las Vegas and Memphis.  Martha’s career began as a Garde Manger at the Chase Park Plaza in St Louis.  Now, ten years later, Martha and her partner, Lynne Sharman, own Hawaii Tart Company, Mac Nut Grove Farm, and an exquisite tea garden, which we were standing in the midst of in Volcano.

Most Saturday mornings, you can visit with Chef Martha at either of their two farmer’s market booths at Waimea Town Market and Keauhou Farmer’s Market. Click here to view market locations and products available at each market.

She introduced us to her son Stephen that was helping her with our event and said her other son Matthew is the Executive Sous Chef at her Hawaii Tart Company.

Martha gave us a complete tour of the tea plantings as she explained the history of the property including that the tea had been planted by a previous owner and that they were discovering more tea plantings as they continued to develop pathways through the dense under growth.  She mentioned the property received 180” of rain a year which is perfect for tea production coupled with the volcanic soil which leads to a great tea product.  She described in detail how the different varieties of tea are actually from the same plant-Camellia sinensis- but are processed differently to achieve “White Tea”, Oolong Tea”, Green Tea and others.  I am familiar with Kona coffee horticulture, production and roasting to achieve various tastes but I did not know that most tea is all produced from the same plant or one of it’s varietals.

We enjoyed an incredible meal and desserts that she prepared and served filled with local ingredients some of which were from her other farm in Kealakekua near Kona. We enjoyed lilikoi cheesecake and macadamia tarts with both mac nuts and lilikoi from her farm.  We were served cold smoked, Alaskan salmon caught by a part time island resident and Alaskan fisherman with capers and stilton cheese plus too many other delicacies to mention.

We talked with Martha until late afternoon sharing about food and the wonderful island we are privileged to inhabit.  Great fun, great food and tea and great company!  Many thanks to Stephan also who was a great server and help to his mother.  We are fortunate to have met another talented and interesting friend that we hope to see soon and refer business in the future.

Thank you Martha for contributing to the North Hawaii Hospice so that we would be able to create a life long memory we will share forever with our friends Julia and Derrick.

-Click here for information on my Mauna Loa Acres listing in Volcano — just listed for $29,000!

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Martha Brahms’s many talents:
Martha Brahm-Big island Private Chef
Martha Brahm-Hawaii Tart Company

Written by Rick Oliver on July 20, 2017
Posted in: Hawaii Life | Tags: Chef Martha, Martha Brahms, Mauna Loa Acres, tea, tea farm, tea time, volcano