Lokelani Rose Mamaki Tea - Loose Leaf - Naturally Non Caffeinated

The Story behind the Artwork…

The wa’a (canoe) drawing on our Mamaki Tea packaging has a special story.

Mamaki Skin founders Douglas and Mayu were about to move from Kaua’i to Big Island, and visited their friend Uncle Keala Kai and his wife Aunty Diane just a couple of days before their move.

They asked Uncle Keala if they could use one of his many beautiful canoe drawnings/paintings on their tea packaging, and Uncle Keala invited them into his hale: “pick anything!”

As they looked around the room that resembled a gallery, both of them were intuitively drawn to this pencil drawing entitled “Hahai Moe’uhane.”

“This is the one!”

Uncle Keala shared this was his first ever pencil drawing, and he had done it in 2007, immediately following his return from Japan, traveling on the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hōkūleʻa. Hōkūleʻa and her crew were welcomed by many Japanese boats in the Inland Sea in southern Japan, close to Hiroshima. There, they were presented with a flame that had been kept alive from the fires after Hiroshima was bombed. They told the Hōkūleʻa crew that the family wanted to keep this flame lit until they knew there would be peace in the world again… and that Hawaiians should be the one to put it out as the peacekeepers of the world.

The flame was extinguished ceremoniously by the Hōkūleʻa crew, using seawater scooped up by a coconut shell.

“Hahai moe’uhane” means to follow your dreams… and serendipitously, Douglas and Mayu were about to move to a street with the same name to start the new chapter of their lives.

Once on the Big Island, they redesigned their packaging to feature Hahai Moe’uhane, with Uncle Keala and the spirit of peace carried on by the Hōkūleʻa crew and their Japanese friends as their inspiration.

We hope you also feel the inspiration to follow your dreams wherever you are, as well as our intention for making products that are not only 100% natural and healthy, but carry on our cultural legacies and promote peace both within and with others… no matter what is going on in the outside world.