Why Don't We Grow Tea in the US?

A question that we receive from time to time deals with why we grow our tea in China and not in the United States.

Just like with wine, terroir is very important to the taste of a tea. Different soil, growing conditions, elevation levels, air quality, and climate play a huge role in the taste of tea. Tea was originally found growing wild in China hundreds and hundreds years ago, and so the plants have developed and grown used to the unique Chinese terroir.

We produce mostly white tea, which we enjoy due to the clean feel and flavor, the health properties, and how easily it stores if grown properly. Traditional white tea is only produced from two varietals of the tea plant, Da Bai and Da Hao, which are notoriously difficult to transplant and grow elsewhere. Even within China, true white tea is only grown in a limited area within the Fujian Province. It would be nearly impossible for us to transplant and grow this tea in the United States due to the unique characteristics of the area in Fujian where the Da Bai and Da Hao cultivars thrive.

The climate in most of the United States would not allow the tea plants to survive. For example, if the temperature drops below 20 degrees for more than a week, then the plants will not survive. We could certainly use a greenhouse, but output would not be very high in a greenhouse. The bottom line is that we do not have the identical elevation, air quality, moisture level, soil, and climate that Fuding County in Fujian Province has, meaning that we would not be able to produce the same level of quality tea anywhere else but there.