The Charleston Tea Plantation
Only 20 miles away from downtown Charleston is America’s only working tea plantation, the Charleston Tea Plantation.
It officially started in 1987 when the present day co-owner and farmer, Bill Hall, bought the 127 acres of land that Lipton Tea had used for research. The Camellia Sinensis tea plants date back to 1888 when Dr. Charles Shepard carefully moved the tea plants from nearby Summerville to Wadmalaw Island, which proved to have ideal tea growing conditions: a subtropical climate with 52 inches of rain each year. Since tea cuttings are the same age as the mother plant, you’re getting the same great flavor as when it all began! In 2003 the Bigelow family purchased the tea plantation and became partners with Hall. The Bigelows also brought the American Classic Brand Tea exclusively with them.
Hall works with a full time staff of 10 people and 6 part-time employees who harvest every 15-18 days, “trimming the hedges” as Hall jokes. This happens right after the first flush of the season, which begins in May. The harvesting goes through early fall when the plants bloom then go dormant. Hall proclaims, “there is nothing fresher than the tea harvested by us here at the plantation. We don’t use any chemicals.” Open seven days a week, visitors can learn how the black and green tea is made in their factory and take a trolley ride through the tea fields.
The biggest event of the year at the Charleston Tea Plantation is the First Flush Festival, celebrating the beginning of the season. “Since First Flush Tea is produced from the leaf that is the plant’s ‘first flush’ of new growth for the season, it tends to have a unique and more defined taste that encompasses a smooth and mellow flavor,” says Hall.
This year, the 6th Annual First Flush is on Sunday, May 20 and the public is invited to come out to the plantation, drink free iced tea all day, listen to live music and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
The drive to the Charleston Tea Plantation is almost as good as the tea itself!
On the way there from downtown, you’ll drive past the 1500-year-old treasure known as Angel Oak, cross over the only bridge to Wadmalaw Island at Church Creek, and follow the undisturbed portion of Maybank Highway, dripping with picturesque Spanish Moss most of the way to the Charleston Tea Plantation.
VISIT THE CHARLESTON TEA PLANTATION:
6617 Maybank Highway
Wadmalaw Island, SC 29487
843.559.0383
charlestonteaplantation.com
words: Colleen Deihl
images: Karson Photography
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