Tea in the USA

Abstract

Tea (Camellia sinensis) has been grown in the United States since colonial times, and continues to flourish in many coastal parts of the country as well as on the islands of Hawai'i. Cultivars include imported material from China, Japan, Taiwan and India, as well as wind-propagated cross-fertilized cultivars and locally adapted varieties to suit soil and climatic conditions. Longevity of tea ventures, however, has proved short, chiefly due to the relative cost of American labour compared to Asian. Current efforts to grow tea around the country are few, ranging from a relatively large machine-harvested estate in South Carolina to experimental boutique fields on the East and West Coasts and in Alabama and Hawaii which employ handplucking and various operations by machine to produce fresh, terroir specific American teas. Despite renewed interest in green tea, iced black tea continues to dominate the U.S. tea market. America's few tea planters, with a growing consciousness of geographic variations and sustainable organic production methods, now produce tiny but steadily increasing amounts of tea. They have demonstrated the diligence, devotion and attention to detail that successful tea cultivation requires. Overall, however, North American conditions have proved quite challenging for the production of tea.