On September 5, 2014 my wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by going to Maui with the entire clan including my three children, my parents, my sisters, my wife's parents, and my soon-to-be brother-in-law. It was a great way to celebrate our life together and share it with the ones we love.
We spent our time going to the beach, hanging around the pool, attending a luau, and of course visiting the MauiGrown Coffee Farm.
MauGrown Coffee Farm is located 4 miles north of Lahaina. The farm was originally part of a sugar plantation that dates back to the 1860s. In 1988 they converted the area to coffee, and planted four different varieties of coffee beans; Yellow Caturra, Red Cataui, Typica, and Moka. The area is around 500 acres and gets irrigated by a 100-year-old ditch system formerly used by the sugar planation. As you can imagine the views were stunning. Below is a photo essay of our trip.
A view of the coffee farm with the island of Lanai in the background. Notice the red-colored soil. The rich, volcano-like material is a perfect source of nutrients for the coffee trees.
Another view of the farm with the family. Of course we wore House Of Coffee shirts!
Our first stop was the Moka varietal a very rare bean because of it's smaller size, low yield, and manual harvesting method. That's me with my father and my two sons, Daron and Vaun; future coffee roasters.
It's never too early to get your children involved in the family business.
A close-up view of the Moka varietal. They tasted sweet at first but had a tart, tangy aftertaste. Only the ripe, red cherries will be harvested by hand, the rest are recycled.
The Kalebjian Family at a lookout on the farm. My father, mother, and sisters.
Close-up of the Yellow Caturra and a classic example of their tight formation at the tip of the branch.
The Yellow Caturra cherry. Their taste reminded me of a watered-down Kumquat. More acidic than the Moka and lacking sweetness.
The two varietals side-by-side. You can see how the Moka is a lot smaller in size than the Yellow Caturra.
Standing in the middle of a row of coffee trees. Each tree is planted 36 inches apart to allow for abundant growth.
This is how we do vacation. While others are riding the pineapple train, our family is tasting coffee cherries, from youngest to oldest.
Cheers
Hrag
