Abundance. Energy. Surprise.

Our Maui coffee grows on the moist foothills of Mauna Kahawai—which is the proper name for the "West Maui Mountains." The trees stand at the upper reaches of what was once the largest continuous area of wet-taro cultivation in Hawai'i. Na Wai Eha, they call it—the four streams. These streams are named Waihe'e, Waiehu, Īao, and (closest to us) Waikapū.

They issue from four deep valleys cut into West Maui, and they drain the eastern watershed of Pu'u Kukui, one of the wettest places on Earth. In old Hawai'i water was wealth. (It still is, for those who understand the life of the land.)

The wealth of Na Wai Eha enabled the people of Maui to live well, to enjoy the beauty of their natural environment, even to feel that they were "no ka oi"—the best of all the islands.

That Maui attitude prevails today, even though it's towns, not taro patches, that you find in Na Wai Eha. The landscape of this island is full of variety—two steep mountain masses very dissimilar, sun-baked shorelines, thick jungle, the alpine starkness at the summit of Haleakalā... The weather is constantly changing, depending on time of day and where you happen to be.

They call Maui a "magic isle." Not sure why. Could be this sense that the land is alive and moving. Good place to grow coffee. Good coffee to drink.