Charleston Tea Plantation - Summerville roots

Beautiful drive into our Charleston Tea Plantation

     Wow, if you have not taken a drive to Wadmalaw Island and taken the tour of the Charleston Tea Plantation you are really missing out.  I took the wife and mother-in-law down there yesterday and we had a great time. I had no idea there was so much information about Tea!  What's really cool is that the tea plantation literally has it's roots in Summerville (pun intended).
     In 1888 Dr. Charles Shepard started the Pinehurst Tea Plantation in Summerville.  After his death in 1915 the tea plants grew wild until 1963 and then relocated to Wadmalaw Island onto a 127 acre potato farm.  Between 1963 and 1987 some experimentation and research took place, by Lipton, on the farm and in 1987 Mr. William Barclay Hall, a 3rd generation tea taster, took it over.  In 2003, he formed a partnership with Bigelow but there is no Bigelow tea in our local tea and vice versa.  To this day the Charleston Tea Plantation is the only tea farm in North America.  I found out during the tour the Bigelow imports all it's tea from overseas but our own local American Classic Tea is 100% grown and is all natural here in Charleston.

Charleston Tea Plantation history

     As a former educator I'm about to go back to my roots and teach you a little about tea.  Did you know that there are only 3 types of tea and they all come from the exact same leaf: Oolong, Green and Black.  Also, the only part of the tea leaf that our plantation extracts are the young sprouting leaves (which are "flushing" up) which taste the best and are less bitter.  The first cutting of the season is the called the "first flush" hence our local, traditional first flush festival. This tea is truly unique and tastes different than the rest of the tea harvested during the rest of the season.  I tried some and it was really good.  I prefer Black Tea because of it's bolder taste and color which I found out is due to it having the longest oxidation process. Oolong, which we usually drink with Chinese food, has the shortest oxidation is therefore a light colored tea and Green Tea has zero oxidation. It's leaves are extracted and taken right to the drier and then cut up into small pieces.

     Since we are the only tea plantation in N. America and Summerville is the Birthplace of sweet tea we have a unique relationship to our tea plants. They came directly from Summerville and because tea plants live hundreds of years I know my next cup of American Classic Tea is right from my own town.  It does not get more local than that and it's really good tea! 

The Island Mentality:  "Start your day off slow and taper down from there."

Our Trolley Tour around the 127 acre farm...I learned a lot!

   

Antique Mecca

Have you noticed all the Antique stores popping up all over Summerville?  It seems every time I drive around town I see a new Antique Mall somewhere and I like it.  As a person that loves history antiques are a tangible way to see what life was like back then.  It allows me the opportunity to place myself back in "those days" and wonder if I would survive or if I have become so accustomed to current every day living and our conveniences that I would not make it a day back then.  I'm also trying to pass my love of history and antiques on to my 15 year old daughter...this is not an easy task.
This past weekend we had an antique show in Hutchinson Square and my family and I took a walk through it in the scorching heat and then went to Newk's for lunch.  The show was pretty cool with some great antiques and very knowledgeable vendors. Although I did not buy anything we enjoyed our time and my next step is to go out and tour all our little shops and see what treasures they have.

For more information about our Summerville's antique stores click HERE!

One of Summerville's antique stores/vendors

Antique show in Summerville, SC at Hutchinson Square (sorry about the finger in the shot)

Love this antique bike found at the show

Live music and great tunes were found at the antique show

Our little town - One big Record

Summerville, SC Sweet Tea Record

If you missed our Sweet Tea Record you missed a heck of a party. It looked as if the weather was going to be a little un-sweet in our venture of the Sweet Tea Record but it ended up to be heck on an evening.  When my family arrived around 6:00 the line to buy the sweet tea glasses was around the block and had hundreds of people in line.  There was live music, stores were open, stuff for kids to do and loads of people. My daughter and I were in town earlier yesterday and ended up having lunch at Zest right downtown and watched them make the 1,425 gallons of tea.  By the way, if you have not had the Shrimp tacos at Zest you are missing out on something great.  Regarding the World record here is one piece of an article from Channel 4 that describes what went into the huge tea glass.  "Organizers say 198 pounds of tea from the nearby Charleston Tea Plantation is being brewed in a 10-foot-tall fiberglass container that contains 1,400 gallons. It is being sweetened with 2,100 pounds of sugar and cooled with 2,800 pounds of ice."  

Check out the video HERE!

Summerville - it's about Time

      Sorry it's been a while since my last blog but working two jobs and having 4 deals going on at once is keeping me busy.  Tomorrow is my final day at a middle school Guidance Director to become a full time Realtor. Right now I'm working both and it's keeping me hopping.
      I recently ran across a video I thought I'd share here to help promote our great town.  Also, I'm working on getting a booth for a Saturday at the Summerville Farmer's Market sometime in August so I'll keep you "in the loop."  If you have not been to our market you are missing out on a great time.  We often load up on fruits and veggies when we go because I'd rather support our local farmers than Harris Teeter or Publix (I have nothing against grocery stores).  Also, how about the pace that Earth Fare and Petco is going up . How can they build an entire block that that fast but Heritage Square still looks like the apocalypse hit it after 10+ years?  My next blog will be my last experience at Third Thursday so stay tuned!

Check out the town promo video and let me know what you think.

Click here - Summerville Promo Video

Oh yeah - Happy Summer everyone. School is officially out in Dorchester and Berkeley.