The State That Produces More Tea Than Any Other In The US

True tea lovers know a passionate tea industry quietly flourishes in the United States — and it's been around for a very long time. Tea cultivation in America dates back to the 18th century, with our earliest attempt in Savannah, Georgia. Then, in 1799, French botanist André Michaux planted the first black tea plant in Charleston, South Carolina, and tea-growing experiments took off. None of them worked, though, and by the time colonial tensions were brewing in South Carolina, Britain didn't even like shipping tea there.

That's because the South Carolina colonists were busy staging protests and commandeering an entire shipload of loose-leaf black tea leaves before their Boston fam did. This, combined with red soil like in China and India, put South Carolina on a very specific path toward becoming the largest tea producer in America.

The Charleston Tea Garden, located on Wadmalaw Island, covers 127 acres and is America's largest commercial tea operation. It produces several teas with charming names like Charleston Breakfast and Island Green Tea. All those early attempts at growing tea finally took off in 1888 at a plantation called Pinehurst, owned by Dr. Charles Shephard. When he died, his plants grew wild for 45 years before they were transferred to an old potato farm. Lipton Tea bought the farm in the '60s to research Shephard's wild tea plants which had been thriving on their own for all those years. In the 1980s, a third-generation tea tester converted it into the Charleston Tea Garden, teamed up with Bigelow, and the rest is history. 

Bigelow continues to operate the Charleston Tea Garden today, and the team will even show you how to brew the perfect cup on a tour. South Carolina is also home to Table Rock Tea Company, which manages a 30-acre tea farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Together, these tea farms produce somewhere between 500–1,000 pounds of tea per acre, with annual production ranging from 63,500 to 127,000 pounds. That's anywhere from 31.75 to 63.5 tons of American tea. Other states have followed suit, cultivating smaller but thriving tea operations. 

Hawaii was also an early pioneer in American tea farming, with cultivation dating back to the late 1800s. Although the total acreage has fluctuated over the years, the most recent surveys from the University of Hawaii estimate about 25–30 acres currently under cultivation, with yields from 40 to 120 pounds per acre. Hawaiian teas are largely artisanal, many are hand-processed, and most of them are produced in small batches. Its volcanic soil is perfect for growing tea, and Hawaiian farmers are using these types of tea as a way to recover from the sugar industry, which is a big part of Hawaii's history. Another notable American tea farm is Oregon's Minto Island Tea Company. It currently produces about 100 pounds annually, all on half an acre, with hopes to gain 15-20 acres as the business expands. Alabama's Fairhope Tea Plantation also deserves a shout-out; it's home to over 61,000 tea bushes.