On Sept 16, 2020 we were directly hit with a major storm. It actually lasted three days and has left the tea farm in a complete mess. We are only a mile from Mobile Bay where the eyewall passed over at 4:00 AM. And yes, it goes from screaming hurricane force winds to still and [...]
This is what is bugging me now. This area of about 11,000 plants is nine years old and never tasted chemical fertilizer. I have always fertilized with a good bank of decaying oak leaves. As the farm has gotten larger that has become more of a challenge. A horticulturist told me my plants looked nutritionally [...]
I have not made a post here is a while. Things are moving along at a steady pace with our tea production with us isolated down on the farm. We bagged 17 pounds of black yesterday in five gallon Mylar bags that require them to be ironed closed. I also am having a steady stream [...]
We are having some really busy days on the tea farm. Even though it is getting hot and we have already had a near-hurricane, we are picking, processing and making batches of green, black or both teas every day. The tea rows are at staggered heights and by the time you make your rounds, its [...]
On June 1, 2020 we have opened the tea plantation for tours and tea sales. We are glad to announce this as it has been rather quite down on the farm except for picking, processing and packing many pounds of fresh tea. We are glad to again be open as we rather enjoy meeting people [...]
This is actually three leaves joined together in a tea freak-show. Leaves grow large in the shade, their natural environment. They get small when grown out in the sun, their unnatural state which they have to be trained to tolerate. The leaf cells lay down flat to absorb light in the shade areas and the [...]
This is the tea rolling machine that I use to process tea that I mentioned in my last post. This web site has been a bit troublesome to post or maybe its the 70 yr old who is having the tech trouble. We are putting miles on this machine with a full hopper at least [...]
Yesterday we had 173 hits on this web site. That is amazing because I don't even know 172 people but I am glad they are finding the Fairhope Tea Plantation interesting. Also, everyday I get phone calls, emails and text from all over the USA, and a bit from around the world. They are very [...]
Even though we are isolated on our farm now, it is not at all unpleasant. It is rather a pleasure picking the young growth off 25 year old sinensis bonsais'. We are not conducting tours or going to the gym but putting our focus on tea production. We pick, process, dry and pack about five [...]
This past October when Mr Weijin visited our farm he told me how to make yellow tea. So I ran a batch. Here you can see it compared to our black tea and there is quite a color difference as well as a taste difference. It taste like white tea to me, very light and [...]
