Last month I vacationed in South Carolina where I had the opportunity to visit Americas only Tea Plantation in Wadmalaw Island. It was a brilliant visit with my family joining and one of the highlights of our trip.

After leaving Charleston we approached the Charleston Tea Plantation, on tree lined roads dripping with Spanish moss feeling as though we were entering some bygone time and era. An unassuming plantation gateway leads to a welcome centre lined with rocking chairs, an abundance of butterflies and absolute quiet.

Breathtaking!

The entrance led us to the gift shop (of course) for some iced tea (delicious!) and to browse tea gifts before we walked through the factory area. TV screens explained how the machines process the tea taking only 20 hours from bush to finish!

A withering bed removes 12% moisture from the fresh leaves. A rotovane machine tears and ruptures the tea leaf exposing millions of cells to the air starting the enzymatic process. The oxidations process now begins.

Black tea is oxidized for only 50 minutes and oolong for 15 minutes. Green tea is lightly steamed and dried only, with no oxidation occuring. Each batch of tea leaves is dried for 25 minutes sealing in the properties of each type of tea.

Finally, all the teas are graded to remove any unwanted stalks or off bits. That completes the miracle process which is all done by one man!

Next the trolley bus took us out onto the plantation of 127 acres. All the 150,000 bushes are Camelia sinensis varietals which originated in China and India. The heat, humidity, well drained sandy soil and 75 days of rainfall here provide ideal growing conditions from April through September. Spring sees the first flush of leaves and harvest begins with 3-5 inches of new growth. Every bush will yield 7 to 10 cutting each season with new growth taking from 14-20 days depending on weather conditions.

The plantation has a custom designed harvester called the “Green Giant”. This machine and one man are able to harvest fields which would take 500 manual workers to pick.

Cuttings are taken from selected varieties which take 6-12 months to develop mature roots. After planting it will take up to 4 years to mature. No pesticides are ever used in the plantation and the plants all looked so healthy and well cared for!

After the trolley ride we sat on the porch and chatted with Bill Fernandez, founder of the plantation and a 3rd generation tea taster! He has 42 years of experience in the tea industry and is one of only 28 professionals in the USA.

We really started to connect when discovering his grandfather was from Yorkshire. His Canadian/American accent with hints of time spent in London soon reverted back to those roots and we had a blast! Needless to say he drinks only the freshest tea.

For me it was very special to see Camelia sinensis growing, to see and touch tea leaves. I may never get chance to visit China, India or Sri Lanka so this experience will always remain with me and add another special dimension to my personal tea journey.

I hope you enjoyed this whistle-stop tour through the Charleston Tea Plantation but most of all I hope you too will visit and celebrate this most amazing of local treasures.

Cheers,
the tealady