Local Tea Grower! Has anyone tried the tea? (Charleston, Pickens: home, plantation)

[Shooting Stars]

A very long time ago, I remember reading an article about a tea company in the Charleston area. At the time, they were touted as the only tea grower in the U.S. I think I tried their tea once, and wasn't impressed.

On a whim, I went online to see if there are any others out there. There are now quite a few independent tea growers growing tea in all sorts of climates!

Lo and behold, there is a new tea grower in Pickens called Table Rock Tea Company, Ltd. http://www.tablerocktea.com/home.html

Looks like they've only been around a couple of years. Has anyone ever tried it?

[HailVictory]

From their site: "On target for release in 2018, our rare, mountain-grown tea will be produced using the best of traditional and modern methods."

Looking forward to it!

[russwd]

Charleston Tea Plantation still produces tea. Their "American Classic Tea" used to be widely available in this area. I thought it was pretty good... better than Lipton tea bags anyway. It was eventually dropped from stores... as I remember the company had some financial problems. Read more.

[Eldemila]

I went to the Charleston Tea Plantation while I had some time to kill and it was quite interesting to go on their little tour and see the farm. Stopping to see Angel Oak made it an even better trip!

Would be cool to have a tea plantation close by. Hope they do well with their crops!

[Psychoma]

Table Rock Tea is a husband and wife run company. Tea plants takes several years to grow before it can actually be used as tea. They have several thousand young plants growing currently. I believe they are on track to become the (third)? Official 'tea plantation' in the US but you're correct in that home grown tea is starting to pop up more around the country. They currently sell some tea on their website but it's not what they've produced yet, while theirs grows. I occasionally order black tea brown sugar mix from their website, but again it's not their tea yet.

[Shooting Stars]

I'll wait for 2018 then!