I’ve traveled to Maui twice in my life, and I’ve journeyed through the Road to Hana (Hana Highway) each of those times. In case you’ve never been, the Road to Hana is a stretch of coastal highway leading from Kahului (the main airport) to the small historic town of Hana. It’s one of the longest 60 mile drives you’ll ever take in your life. The 59 bridges (46 that are single lane only), 620 curves, and breathtaking scenery will require at least 2.5 hours one-way. If you want to stop and enjoy some of that scenery you’re looking at about 4 hours each way. Here’s a time-lapse I took of the drive back on my first trip. I recommend watching it in 1080p. Even then it’s pretty jerky due to all the turns.
If you pause the video at the 1:28 mark you’ll notice a small sign on the left of the screen. On my most recent trip I stopped at the fruit stand behind that sign.
The Hana Farms Banana Bread stand is certainly eye-catching after a long drive. You had me at carbs, right? The four words that actually led me to stop the minivan and spend my cash were “Farm-Brewed Fruit Sodas”.
The stand has an assortment of baked goods, frozen treats, and farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. Hana Farms is only about 7 acres, but they grow an incredible variety of produce. The fruit sodas are made fresh to order using a blend of simple syrup, seltzer water, fresh fruit juice/syrups. There were a couple of choices for me, but I ultimately settled on the starfruit ginger soda.
Starfruit is a fruit. That looks like a star. Can you guess why they call it a starfruit? It’s formal name is the carambola, but we all understand why starfruit is a bit more popular. The flavor is somewhere between an apple and a mellow peach. Combine that profile with some punchy fresh ginger and lemon juice and you end up with a refreshing treat on the side of a historic highway.
I don’t remember what it cost. Five or six dollars, probably. Maybe $200, I don’t know. Things always seem expensive on the island. You get hypnotized by the sun and the ocean breeze and your wallet just starts leaking. Whatever I paid, it was worth it and helped freshen me up for the last stretch of the ride back to the condo.
The farm stand is beautiful, the fresh soda was tasty, and I’ll give it an 8.2 out of 10 on my rating scale. To read other reviews of Hawaii products, click here. To see a picture of a nice waterfall along the Road to Hana, look below:
Catalog:
Visited May 2017
The Sodafry 