This weekend we went to the Charleston Tea Plantation---we love this tea!! In the background you can see their old harvester which is from the 60's and is still working.
Of course the best thing about visiting the plantation is that Kim got to get a new teapot--one that is just perfect for her morning tea! However , she usually uses one of Rosanna's tea cups from Seattle.
Here we are sitting in the weeds next to a tea bush. The bushes in this particular plot had lots of old varieties which they were not using at this time.
A festival is coming soon. They will have the first cuttings of the season and it is exceptionally good tea.
This is a picture of some of the older bushes. Tea bushes can produce for hundreds of years. One of the oldest ones (not here) is around 1400 years old!! YIKES.
After the tea is cut it goes onto the withering bed to dry it out (but green teas are not put here)
The
Rotovane crushes it up .
Then it goes to the oxidation bed. (the whole process from cutting until ready for bagging only takes 20 hours. They send the tea to Kentucky to be made into bags .....or sometimes to
Fairfield ,CT..)
The trees were beautiful.
Here is Skipper and Dad---it was a nice time together!
And here is the ole lady with her prized tea pot!! VERY Happy.
On
Sunday we attended the services at St. Phillip's (started in the 1600's).
Of course the best thing about visiting the plantation is that Kim got to get a new teapot--one that is just perfect for her morning tea! However , she usually uses one of Rosanna's tea cups from Seattle.
Here we are sitting in the weeds next to a tea bush. The bushes in this particular plot had lots of old varieties which they were not using at this time.
A festival is coming soon. They will have the first cuttings of the season and it is exceptionally good tea.
This is a picture of some of the older bushes. Tea bushes can produce for hundreds of years. One of the oldest ones (not here) is around 1400 years old!! YIKES.
After the tea is cut it goes onto the withering bed to dry it out (but green teas are not put here)
The Rotovane crushes it up .
Then it goes to the oxidation bed. (the whole process from cutting until ready for bagging only takes 20 hours. They send the tea to Kentucky to be made into bags .....or sometimes to Fairfield ,CT..)
The trees were beautiful.
Here is Skipper and Dad---it was a nice time together!
And here is the ole lady with her prized tea pot!! VERY Happy.
On Sunday we attended the services at St. Phillip's (started in the 1600's).
