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 [...]
Today we toasted, screened and packed 40.8 pounds of black tea. We screen this tea as a more commercial product which I will sell to a local resort area. We have whole leaf black tea, as well as green and Oolong, which we sell in 5oz and 10 oz bags. Come and just enjoy the [...]
We have been picking tea for several weeks now and this is the best spring harvest we have ever had. It sure came early. We have been picking every few days and making smaller batches, 4 to 6 pounds each, so we do not get so overwhelmed. We seem to have much more tea to [...]
This is one of our shade grown areas which is covered with the first flush of the year ready to be picked. Some areas are even more developed than is shown in this photo. I have never picked tea in March , usually in April and in some years the first of May. I guess [...]
Call me old fashion, but I have always used leaves to mulch under the tea plants. This is not only the natural bed for tea plants but gives them the nutrition they need as the natural mulch turns to compost. I have now gotten too many rows and can not physically get enough leaves out [...]
We have been trying to stay ahead of the weeds this year, as it did not freeze here this year. I had been crawling along ripping them up by hand. That works if you only have a few rows but now we have too many. I had to modernize. I discovered a tool in my [...]
