Monday, May 22, 2023

T Stands for a Tea Plantation-Part 1

 Hi everyone. I hope everyone has had a great past week. Last week mine was almost too busy: my husband didn't even have to empty the trash by my art table as I never even made it in there even once.  😏 This week I have a few things in the garden I want to finish up. All I have left to do is my actual summer planting- the best part!

Since it's the start of a new week, let me wish you a happy T day. Feel free to join us with your drink related post at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.

As some of you have read, Mother's Day weekend I went down to visit my friend who lives in North Carolina, and we took a 2 night trip down to Charleston, South Carolina. I decided that Mother's Day weekend would be a good time to go  since  I might as well  actually celebrate the day doing something for myself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being home with my family, but my husband had his Mom to visit, and this is my first Mother's Day without my Mom. My daughter was already planning to be  home  this past Friday so I celebrated just a few days later with her. It all worked out great.

Besides visiting a wonderful garden,  another thing my friend and I did while in Charleston was visit the Bigelow Tea Plantation. I thought my photos from that visit would make a great T day post. (Actually 2 posts as I have more to share than 1 normal length post.)


Let me tell you a little about this tea plantation.

The Bigelow Tea Plantation is the only large scale tea plantation in the US. This and the next photo are 2 fields of tea plants (Camellia sinensis). Most of Bigelow's brand of tea comes from other countries, and the only tea that is produced here in the US comes from this farm. You have to buy Charleston Tea Garden teas for tea grown  in the US.


We took the trolley tour of the plantation. And during that tour, I learned a lot about growing tea plants. 

Tea plants are evergreen long living shrubs. They (at least here in the US) have no predators so at the plantation  they don't need to use pesticides, fungicides or other sprays to protect them. They do need a fair amount of water, about an inch a month, and draining soil (they don't like wet feet). They also need a lot of warm sunshine. This area of Charleston is great for that as the soil is sandy and drains; it gets warm and humid, and they get about an inch of rain a month. 

In much of the world tea leaves are plucked by hand, but at this tea plantation they have a machine that cuts off the new growth and keeps the plants at about 4-5 feet tall. Those cut off leaves are the ones that will become tea. They can become any type of tea depending on how they are processed.

I sat on the wrong side of the trolley for the best photo of the machine, but here is that tea tree cutting machine. This is the only tea cutting machine like this in the world.


On our tour we stopped at their greenhouse. Our guide told us that this is the first time since Covid began in 2020 that they are actually growing new tea plants.


You have to grow tea from cuttings, not seeds. Seeds are produced from sexual reproduction in plants, which means that every seed has a variety of genes. One seed would most likely have a different variety of genes from any other seed, which means there would be no consistency in plants that grew from the seeds. (If you planted tea plant seeds, the resulting plants would be similar to how no 2 people, except for identical twins, triplets, etc., are exactly genetically the same.) Cuttings, on the other hand, contain the genes of the original plant. Therefore, they use cuttings to make new plants because that way you can control the resulting plants and get lots of identical tea plants.



These little tea trees won't be ready to plant for another year at least.

And here's another tea field.  These are ready for the first of anywhere from 4-6 cuttings a year.


I didn't take this next photo (I found it online) but here's what the trolley on the tour we took looks like.


I'll share the rest of my tea plantation photos next week for T since this post is getting long, and I still have more photos. Next week I'll share about processing the tea leaves.

And if you wonder if I had any tea from the plantation, they did have iced tea samples. I tried the peach and the unsweetened black tea. I did buy a few packages of loose tea too. I still need to try the mint tea, but the American Classic and peachy tea are really smooth. I'm guessing that's because it hasn't been sitting in the bag quite as long as tea produced in other countries where the tea  has to be shipped to and then  distributed within  the US.


This is my ticket to  this week's  T day post. 

And speaking of flavored tea, because the leaves are so dry, we learned it was easy to add flavorings to it. The leaves absorbed it easily and quickly. 

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have not only a great T day, but the rest of this week also.




27 comments:

kathyinozarks said...

Very interesting post and I love Bigelow teas too. that would have been a very interesting tour-thanks for sharing with us.
Happy T and new week Hugs Kathy

Kate Yetter said...

I loved reading about your adventure to the tea plantation. I am so glad that you were able to do something fun despite everyone else having other plans.
I enjoyed seeing the photos and hearing about the process. I had no idea we had a tea plantation here in the USA. I will have to check out their teas online.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate

Mae Travels said...

Amazing to learn of even one tea plantation in the US!

best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Tom said...

...enjoy your cup of tea!

Angie's Recipes said...

I have never been to a tea plantation...wouldn't even recognise that those little plants are actually tea. I can't wait to learn more about the tea processing.

Iris Flavia said...

Now that is some Mother´s Day treat :-)
Very interesting tour!
I don´t think we have a tea plantation here in Germany... Have a happy T-Day, hugs

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

How fascinating, Erika. I was mesmerized as I read your story and saw the photos you took. It is fascinating about the cuttings and the DNA of the seeds. I was also in awe of that "harvester." I also enjoyed a peek into the greenhouse. Thanks for sharing this incredible trip and your lovely tea purchases you shared with us for T this Tuesday, dear friend.

Valerie-Jael said...

Hi Erika, loved this post. I'm not a tea drinker but it must have been great to visit a tea plantation. I had no idea that tea is grown in the States, how fascinating. And I am glad you got away for a weekend and was able to do what you wanted! Happy T Day, hugs, Valerie πŸ€—

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Your husband empties the trash in your art room? I must be sure not to let Miriam see this post! Like Valerie, I had no idea that tea was grown in the United States, and when I think of the hillside plantations I have seen in Asia, South Carolina seems like the least likely spot. I am not a huge fan of tea, but we generally have a cup after lunch and another mid afternoon. A get away seems like best kind of Mother's Day of all. Hugs - David

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hey, I resemble that tea, lol. We are huge Bigelow drinkers every day in this house. English Tea Time, Chai, Peppermint, Lemon & Ginger with Probiotics, and lately Matcha Green Tea. Sounds and looks like a tour that Honey and I would enjoy. Glad you got to go! XOX

nwilliams6 said...

Wow, that is so interesting, Erika. So glad you shared all that with us/me. I didn't know there were any plantations like that in the U.S. I may have to plan a visit! Adding it to the bucket list along with a lobster roll from Pops. Happy T-day and hugz

J said...

I enjoyed your post about your visit to the Tea Plantation, I didn’t realise it was grown in the USA. An interesting trip.
Happy T Day. Jan S

Rostrose said...

Dear Erika,
I didn't know that there is only one tea plantation in the USA. We visited a tea plantation in Thailand a few years ago, but there was no trolley ride (it looks fun!) and they don't have any glass houses either. The Asian climate is probably better suited for tea cultivation than in other parts of the world (?)...
All the best 🌱🌿🌱, thanks for visiting my blog and happy T-Day, Traude

CJ Kennedy said...

Fun post enjoyed while sipping a cup of tea! Your visit with your friend was a great day to do something for yourself on Mother's Day or any day. Enjoy the sun and warmer weather today

jinxxxygirl said...

So very interestion Erika! I would think your whole post about T would be a ticket to the party :) But then i'm not the ticket checker...lol When i was on my vacation to multiple states i saw Bigelow Tea everywhere at the hotels we stayed in... I drink hot tea occasionally... mostly a coffee drinker... But i can appreciate a good tea especially on cold Winter nights... Happy T day! Hugs! deb

R's Rue said...

What a great day.

Carola Bartz said...

I had no idea that there was a tea plantation in the US - I always thought it's grown in the Southeast and East Asia. Your tour sounds fascinating and all the facts about growing the tea leaves are interesting. I'm not particularly surprised that it is the US who has the only tea cutting machine in the world. I wonder whether they would even work in the tea plantation in all the other locations. They don't seem to be that flat as this one. Thank you for this interesting post, Erika. Happy T day and have a lovely week.

Christine said...

That is so interesting growing tea from cuttings vs leaves.

Darla said...

A very interesting tea post. I will be hunting down those Bigelow teas that are grown in America.

Divers and Sundry said...

Fascinating! I had no idea! That would make a wonderful tour.

Happy T Tuesday

Gillena Cox said...

Fantastic to be there on a tea plantation.

MuchπŸ’–love

pearshapedcrafting said...

Even though I don't drink tea I found this really interesting! What a great place to visit! Happy T Day, hugs, Chrisx

Jeanie said...

I learn so much on blogs -- like growing tea from cuttings. Though when I think about it, I've never seen "tea seeds" at the garden center!

DVArtist said...

Wow! What a cool place. I love all of the buckets they are growing. You sure had a ncie trip there.

Caty said...

Thank you very much Erika for this so interesting post about tea cultivation. I liked seeing the whole cultivation process, and I really appreciated your beautiful photos. I'm sure you enjoyed your T-day very much.
I wish you a great Friday and weekend
Big hugs, Caty

Amila said...

Thanks Erika for this really interesting T-day post. I enjoyed reading about your tour to tea plantation. I never knew that US has tea cultivation because other countries are famous for tea. It sounds like an interesting fun tour...
Have a great week!

Empire of the Cat said...

That was really enjoyable Erika, I didn't get to post a comment at the time as blogger was acting up and I couldn't comment, but I wanted to come back and comment. I love tea, I have quite a few books about tea and I probably have a tea plantation's worth of tea in my kitchen haha. It is fascinating. I would like to try growing tea here but I'm not sure the weather is what it needs. I remember seeing some tea experiments somewhere here, or in England. It was the only tea plantation in the country and very small. Happy very belated t day!