Yes, it is the "dead of winter" here even though it is 70 degrees outside. We are not picking tea now but are involved in many tea field activities, almost every day. It is like a Christmas tree farm that is active all year and not just at Christmas time. We are doing lots of [...]
We plant our tea plants in the fall after the first cold snap. I only planted about twenty feet in a row this year where the lawn mower got too close. I have so many tea bushes I really do not need any more. We have lots and lots of two year old seedlings which [...]
We have installed a scarecrow here at Fairhope Tea Plantation to keep the crows out of the tea. So far, it has done well as we have not seen any crows. He kinda looks like me, doesn't he?
Mr Weijin (Tom) He, pronounced Hay, visited the Fairhope Tea Plantation for a couple days this week and helped make a batch of green tea. Tom's family are tea makers along with several of his friends. He has moved to the Washington DC area. Donnie and Tom discussed intently the processes of making green tea. [...]
Yes, I have bought a tea rolling machine in hopes it will help our arthritic hands while processing tea. It had gotten where we just stopped hand rolling our teas. It is a Chinese machine but I bought it from Table Rock Tea Company in South Carolina who specializes in food processing machinery. We do [...]
For the first time we are selling the Fairhope tea at a local grocery store: Fairhope Market. We have not done this before even though we have been ask repeatedly to allow shops and stores to sell it. Our driveway sells are going very nicely but our production is up so we just might see [...]
We have been making some great black tea here at the Fairhope Tea Plantation this summer. When the new growth comes on in the 90 degree heat it quickly waxes over into the most beautiful tea leaves that have a special, polished look. The heavy leaf wax makes an especially good flavor. This flavor [...]
I just found out that I started producing tea plants seven years before the Charleston Tea Plantation was founded. I wish I knew that before I had printed 1000 rack cards advertising my farm. It would have looked good on a ribbon across the front. I also need to put it somewhere on this [...]
On July 8, 2019, the Copper Kettle Tea Bar with Robin Peters and Susan Adams came to the plantation for lessons on growing and producing tea. We bruised and fermented a batch of black tea then braved the heat to go out and pick, them pan fry in a wok a batch of green tea. They learned lots about tea craft and left with plenty of samples. They are located in the park in downtown Foley, Al and serve wonderful lunches and very clever soups and sandwiches. Go see them!
We have finished processing the first flush for this spring. We made 92 pounds of finished tea, including black, Oolong and green teas. We have already sold a good chunck of that with a drive up market going really well. We have had folks from states far away come here for tea, in fact I [...]
