Wednesday March 17, 2010 | 16 comments
I guess it was somewhat inevitable – my destiny so to speak. With the revelation that I possess a thoroughly green thumb and a lifelong love of the tea leaf in all its forms and manifestations, I now find myself on a land-buying quest for a dozen or so acres to attempt the cultivation of Camellia sinensis on Vancouver Island. After this bold statement, I suspect a lot of you are chuckling to yourselves. Growing tea in the frozen north of Canada? Is this guy completely off his rocker? However, I am not one to fuss over geographical semantics, and have yet to back away from any challenge. The ball has begun to roll and there is little else I can do but chase it.
After visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation this past September, the idea that I could potentially grow tea in Canada has moved from a distant fantasy to a burgeoning reality. Climate change, for all its negative repercussions, has moved the tea-growing belt further north as the planet heats up. This is great news for me up here in an area of western Canada known as the banana belt. And speaking of such, the University of Victoria recently announced that they successfully grew their first batch of real bananas on Vancouver Island. Who would have imagined?
I have also heard talk of an experimental tea farm in northern Washington. Personally, I have never been, and know little of it, other than what other tea people have told me, which is that a camellia sinensis cultivar has successfully taken root in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, T Ching featured a post about it several years ago.
Discovering this was simply the icing on the cake for me. So this past week, after combing the raw land listings for Vancouver Island, I jumped on the ferry and started the process of locating a suitable parcel of land. The prime growing region on the Island is the Cowichan Valley, about a 45-minute drive north of Victoria. It has the warmest annual climate in Canada and already supports a very successful wine industry. The other very cool aspect of the Cowichan is the abundance of south-facing mountain slopes, which we in the tea business know is highly prized for tea cultivation.
My search of more then a dozen properties yielded two potential parcels – one just over 10 acres and the other around 16 acres, both on sloping terrain. Just recently, a tea grower in the Nilgiri Hills in India informed me that he produces around 1,000 pounds of orthodox tea a month from his 45+ acres. This is a yield of 22 pounds per acre. At 10 acres, my little tea garden could potentially produce 220 pounds of orthodox tea a month. The downside, of course, is the painful wait as my little saplings take root and grow into mature tea bushes – a wait that I’m sure will pass with a surmountable collection of challenges.
I’m not getting any younger here, so I’d better get going. I’ll let you know when the first “first flush” is ready for harvest. However, don’t hold your breath – unless you can do so for at least seven years.
Go for it. I attended the Portland Oregon Home and Garden show last month and much to my delight they were selling Camellia sinensis plants. It was impossible not to purchase 2 of them which I did to the tune of $20.00. I now have 2 small pots on my south facing window with plants that are about a foot high. One pot has already developed 2 new shoots so I believe they’re loving their location. The big question is if they’ll thrive in doors. Obviously I’m not planning on harvesting tea for consumption – but I’d sure love to see a little white flower next year. I’ll eagerly await news of your progress.
Hooray for you! What a great idea. I wish you all the best and I do hop you keep us all up to date!
Ah, such a true entrepreneur. You are always on the cutting edge..love it! My cousin has lived on Whidbey Island for years, so this was a really exciting thing to read about. None of us is getting younger, so hopefully we will all be around to taste what will be the result of your
tender loving efforts!
Wow, I can’t wait to see how this goes. Keep us posted. I’m down in Seattle and would to get updates on this.
You’ll give a whole new meaning to IceTea! The German’s did it with icewine…
I can’t wait to hear of your adventure…
Wow, I for one would love to know WHERE you find the plants? I’d love to have a couple even though the climate in Ohio isn’t necessarily what tea plants would normally find tolerable in the winter, I’d like to try some large pots and move them indoors when needed. I definitely would be interested in purchasing a few but have not yet been ablet to find anybody willing to sell them.
I too visited the Charleston Plantation last summer in June as part of my South Carolina Myrtle Beach vacation and I found myself leaving the store with just over $100.00 in merchandise to come home with (as well as placing an internet order later for their new tea chest that fits their pyramid tea bag packets). It’s nice to see that they have updated their website for easier purchasing and it now seems as if most all of their tea products are represented. One note, I would recommned that if you can get some, try the first flush tea that they have usually in late April through early June. While it is only available in loose leaf and a bit more expensive than their normal wares (but not much more) it is worth waiting on to at least try it. This certainly isn’t the BEST tea that I’ve ever had but it is currently to be best of my knowledge the only COMMERCIALLY available tea that is home grown in the USA. I really do like their regular tea (especially as it came in the old packaging which while they were fannings in the standard old style teabag) as an iced style tea. The peach and the raspberry also make very good iced summer alternatives to just plain tea. If you enjoy something out of the ordinary and one that won’t break the checkbook, try it. The Kroger Grocery Store chain used to sell this in the Ohio area years ago before Bigelow purchased the packaging rights to the product. It’s still a fine product but has become much more difficult to find in stores but they seem to be trying to make a comeback as it is now available in 17 states at some stores for in store take home purchase. They are very nice people to speak with so if you get a chance to either take the tour (highly mechanized and not at all like any other plantation would do it but that’s what makes it available to the American consumer) or make an online purchase I think you’ll at least be in for something new and different.
Blessings to you all,
Fr. Patrick
Does anyone know where on Vancouver Island are tea plants growing. I would really like to arrange for a visit.
There is a tea farm on Richards trail, in the Cowichan Valley. They have just started harvesting the leaves, and plan to experiment with them before selling the tea. They already blend teas and have many varieties. They also are open Wednesday to Sunday for tea and goodies. When I say goodies, I mean it!! Handmade chocolates and home baking to die for, I can’t stay away, Helen
Hi Avner,
As of yet there are no tea farms on Vancouver Island. That is what I am attempting to start in the next year or so.
The nearest one in in the Skagit Valley in upstate Washington.
Check the link in the article I wrote.
Best of luck,
Brilliant idea! I hope to be one of your first customers. :)
Found this today – great minds??
Hi, Brendan,
It was very nice to know that you already did the pioneering work for growing tea in Victoria island. I had the same idea, I taught in University of Victoria last summer and I think Victoria island is the best place in Canada to grow tea. For the best quality of tea, it need be very hot in the day and very cold in the night, the bigger the temperature difference of day and night, the better tea will be produced.
I grew up in a tea field in the middle of China, my parents grow about 5 acres of tea. I love tea since I was a kid. When I did my research in Seattle, WA, the university of washington plant gardon has several tea tree grew there. I always take my children there to pick up tea and cook at home, it smells so good. If your guys around Seattle, go to the botany gardon and ask for the permission to pick up tea.
I would like to hear how your tea farming going. If you are interested, I would be very happy to collaborate with you.
All the best!
I firmly believe that the next wave of specialty tea will be from “new origins” and would encourage all newcomers to tea growing. Through my company Teacraft I have helped pioneer tea growing in many new countries and areas – Hawaii, Pakistan, UK, South Carolina, Australia – have had tea consultacy clients in 26 different countries, and have processed tea on 6 of the 7 world continents.
Notes for all new tea entrepreneurs:
1. The wheel has already been invented, don’t waste time and money trying to outguess 150 years of science and experiment. I find this trait particulatly prevalent in North America.
2. It costs less to get set onto the right track initially than to have to change paths later. Spend some time planning it out with an expert.
3. Most free advice comes from people with very narrow experience – a friend in Sri Lanka (or wherever) will only know his conditions and will try to advise you from his narrow perspective. Your new origin will undoubtedly be very different, and need a “cocktail” of advice – you need sound advice based on a very wider range of country experience.
4. Fortune may favor the brave – but ensuring you are in the right place with the right knowhow will certainly help your chances.
Nigel at Teacraft
Ive been growing the cultivar ‘sochi’ on northern vancouver island for about 5 years. It takes a beating in the winter, but recovers nicely in the summer.
wow…really amazed reading all this…its gr8 to see ppl trying to grow tea in so many places arnd the world…its been done in russia so why not any other plc in the world…my family has been growing tea in the region of assam since 1910…the area i live in is surrounded acres and acres of many different tea estates…we r still in the business and hopefully in the future i cld also be a gutsy entrepreneur and expand the business like some others r doing…fortune favours the brave..Go for it!
The newly founded US League of Tea Growers should be your first point of call for all matters concerning growing tea on N American mainland and islands. Contact @usgrowntea on Twitter