Charleston Tea Garden

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Coordinates: 32°37′11″N 80°11′08″W / 32.61972°N 80.1856°W / 32.61972; -80.1856
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Charleston Tea Garden is located about twenty miles south of Charleston, South Carolina on Wadmalaw Island. Owned by the Bigelow Tea Company, it grows the tea sold under the brand name American Classic Tea and Charleston Tea Garden from the Camellia sinensis plant. Every year they used to host the First Flush Festival celebrating the beginning of the harvest season.

A sign at the Charleston Tea Garden

History

In the late 1700s, French botanist,

American Classic Tea brand. This tea is still grown at the garden as of 2012 and the brand continued even though the Fleming-Hall partnership did not last past 2003.[1] They had some differences in opinion on how to run the garden and ran into trouble when profit margins began to drop.[4] The garden was put up for auction at this point, where the R.C. Bigelow Company in Connecticut bought it for $1.28 million.[1][4] Bill Hall joined Bigelow at the garden and keeps it running and growing the tea to sell across the United States.[1][5] The Charleston Tea Garden was opened to locals and tourists to visit and tour the grounds and the factory.[3] The Garden changed its name from Charleston Tea Plantation in June 2020 owing to negative historical connotations of "plantation" in the United States and to clarify its lack of connection to antebellum slavery; "tea plantation" is otherwise used as a neutral term worldwide.[6]

Tea

American Classic Tea Bag. Grown at the Charleston Tea Garden

The garden uses the

oxidation process for a little under an hour, and finally they are baked to remove the rest of the moisture. The excess sticks and fibers are removed and the tea is packaged. The tea is harvested from May to October.[7]

The garden packages American Classic Tea and Charleston Tea Garden tea. It sells nine different flavors in tea bags or the loose tea form and 5 flavors in ready to drink bottle teas. These flavors include the regular American Classic Tea, Charleston Breakfast, Governor Grey, Plantation Peach, Rockville Raspberry, Carolina Mint, Cinnamon Spice, Island Green Tea, Island Green Tea with Mint.

American Choice label,[5] which has helped the local farm get word out to more consumers. As a small farm, they needed a way to spread their name and make sure the people in the United States knew about their locally grown tea and they hoped consumers would jump on the bandwagon of buying local products.[8] It helped when the White House discovered the locally grown tea and since 1987, the American Classic Tea brand of the Charleston Tea Garden has been the official tea of the White House.[9]

The Garden

The Charleston Tea Garden is located on Wadmalaw Island, outside of Charleston, South Carolina and is open to visitors every day of the week. Admission is free and they offer tours, tea tastings, and other amenities.[7] The factory tour takes visitors inside the factory and covers history, harvesting, and production. The Trolley Tour covers the grounds and the growing of the Camellia sinensis plant to produce the tea. The garden also offers a tour guided by Bill Hall, called the Bill Hall Exclusive, which covers every aspect of the garden in more detail. Group tours and school field trips frequent the garden and private events are often held on the grounds. There are multiple spaces for weddings, receptions, and corporate events offered by the garden.[3]

Fields at the Garden

Since Bigelow bought the Charleston Tea Garden, they have been working on updating the machinery, the process, and expanding the grounds as well as production. They planned to have an increase Camellia sinensis plants to help increase production. Drawing on his many years in South America Bill Hall brought in more modern tea manufacturing equipment to update the factory. Another improvement made after Bigelow bought the farm was to upgrade the old irrigation system and install a newer, more-efficient system to help cover all of the 127 acres of tea plants. One of Bigelow’s main goals is to increase production through expansion and efficiency while retaining the charming atmosphere that so many people love to visit.[9]

First Flush Festival

The First Flush Tea Festival was an annual festival hosted by the Charleston Tea Garden marking the start of the tea harvesting season. The name, First Flush, means the new leaves that are beginning to grow on the tea plant bushes that are ready to be harvested for production. The garden served the visitors the first tea produced in the new season for free by allowing them the chance to taste it in hopes of pulling in new customers. The garden also brought in local food vendors to set up booths and local musicians to entertain the crowds. There was always an area for kids as well, including a playground or jump castle. The festival began in 2006 and ended after the ninth annual First Flush Festival.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "South Carolina - History of South Carolina Tea Farms". SCIWAY. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina - Charleston Tea Garden & American Classic Tea". SCIWAY. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e "About Us". Charleston Tea Plantation. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Money". USA Today. 11 April 2003. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  5. ^ a b Charleston Tea Garden (July 25, 2013). "Few factual corrections". We no longer make tea for Walmart. They stopped buying our tea when they discontinued the Sam's Choice line of products. Mr. Fleming is no longer Mr. Hall's Partner, they split up in 2003 and Bigelow Tea became our partner.
  6. ^ https://www.postandcourier.com/business/charleston-tea-attraction-no-longer-called-plantation-after-name-change/article_2ef40624-f2bf-11ea-9f89-e7384d1ba2a3.html#newsletter-popup
  7. ^ a b c d Axelrod, Karen (2006). Watch It Made in the USA: A Visitor's Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums. Emeryville, CA: Avalon Travel Publishing.
  8. ^ a b Bowes, Martha. "Brewing Up American Pride: Charleston Tea". TeaMuse. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  9. ^ a b Bernstein, Sally. "American Classic Tea: Deep in the Heart of Tea". Sally's Place. Retrieved 21 February 2012.

External links

32°37′11″N 80°11′08″W / 32.61972°N 80.1856°W / 32.61972; -80.1856

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