Visit an Authentic Tea Farm Right in the Upstate

Did you know that you can check out Table Rock Tea Business to discover about tea proper in Upstate, SC? This genuine tea farm is only a 45-moment push from Greenville, SC, grows, procedures, and sells tea. We went for a tour to learn about all that is brewing at Table Rock Tea. 

Very literally within just the very first 5 minutes of our amazing tour at Desk Rock Tea Business, my mind was blown. I cannot tell you what it was precisely that did it because it’s a exciting simple fact that Jennifer, the proprietor, enjoys to tell guests, but it’s only the beginning of finding out all about how tea is developed and processed suitable in this article in the Upstate of South Carolina.

Searching for a lot more? Discover far more astounding adventures and fantastic family members pleasurable in our comprehensive guideline to Items to Do in the Upstate.

Desk Rock Tea Organization

Desk Rock Tea sits directly less than the shadow of the large Desk Rock Mountain in Pickens County, just a quick 45-minute push from Greenville. I truly missed the convert to the tea business simply because I was ogling the residences on the street and their sights of the mountain.

The owners of the farm, Jennifer and Steve Lorch, have lived in the Upstate for far more than 20 several years but have only been tea farmers for the very last 7 yrs. They began tea farming right after finding out about it though in Kenya performing do the job with their non-revenue, Hydromissions Intercontinental, which aids to dig wells and deliver clear h2o sources. 

Steve and Jennifer have a number of acres of land they have been cultivating and are incorporating much more and more minor tea plants each yr. Tea vegetation, named Camellia Sinensis, get a few a long time to increase and generate the expansion wanted to make green, oolong, black, and white teas. 

Jasmine, their sweet canine who goes by the identify Jazzy, greets website visitors and is the mascot for all the labels on the tea bags and packing containers. My kids are a little scared of pet dogs but they beloved her and we savored possessing her comply with us about.

You can order the teas on-line or in individual. 

Tours at Table Rock Tea Company

Heading on a tour of a authentic tea farm ideal in this article in the Upstate was a ton of exciting. I genuinely did not know what to count on since 1) I understood very little about tea actually,  2) I had no notion tea is developed so close to exactly where I live, and 3) I had by no means been to a tea farm. 

Jennifer has a wealth of expertise about tea farming and it was intriguing to discover about the origins of the farm, about how the distinctive varieties of tea are processed (get all set to master about oxidation, yay, science!), how enormous the seeds of the tea plant are, and how the farm germinates the seeds. 

“I want the Upstate to be acknowledged for its tea,” Jennifer advised me. 

You wander close to areas of the farm wherever the plants are developed, inside of the big greenhouse to study about seed germination and then into the processing region where the tea magic takes place. One bit of magic is their Winter Leaf green tea, which is the only chilly harvested inexperienced tea in the world. Unreal, correct? South Carolina has some awesome farmers.

Excursions previous about an hour but can be a very little shorter based on the notice span of your children. I was shocked at how my little ones (ages 11 and 7) obtained into it following their preliminary hesitation about discovering about tea, some thing they really don’t even consume.  It was a pleasurable and instructional homeschool area excursion for us. 

Excursions come about Thursday – Saturday at 10 am and Thursday – Sunday at 2 pm. You have to reserve your tour place by calling the farm at 864.915.0571. 

Industry Visits at the Tea Farm In the vicinity of Greenville

Speaking of industry trips, Table Rock Tea Organization presents them for all forms of groups – homeschool, retirement properties, scouts, anybody truly. Tours are free of charge apart from for much larger homeschool teams, where by it’s just $1/kid. 

Excursions previous about an hour but can be shortened depending on how prolonged youngsters will pay out notice. Young ones will learn about botany, science, and math – probably extra if you’re the resourceful homeschooling father or mother form! 

Volunteering

Final yr, the farm surpassed additional than 1,000 hours of volunteering, which is really an accomplishment. They count on their volunteers for packing and planting the tea and are grateful for any assistance. 

If you want to volunteer, simply call Jennifer and request to be place on her group text message. She sends them out every single Monday telling volunteers what they will be doing on Tuesday. People today who want to volunteer come Tuesdays from 9 am – Midday and enable out on the farm. Any age is welcome!

Table Rock Tea Consortium 

In Jennifer and Steve’s quest to make the Upstate regarded for its tea, they present a consortium of tea growers. If you want to join, you purchase the tea crops and improve them at your very own house or farm or what ever you have and then select the leaves (essentially termed a flush when it is prepared to be picked – see, I learned some thing) and deliver them to Desk Rock Tea Enterprise. The farmer/hobbyist will be paid out for the leaves so they get paid to develop tea!

Desk Rock Tea Corporation offers customers of the consortium with the know-how and information to mature and retain the tea vegetation. The tea crops are fairly straightforward to mature and retain considering that they have no predators since animals don’t like to consume the leaves, which contain caffeine. The plants from Desk Rock Tea that are sold are already one and a 50 percent several years outdated and will be prepared to harvest at all around a few or 4 years old. And they are really vegetation, with flowers in the slide! You can learn more about the Desk Rock Tea Consortium at the web page.

Make it a working day vacation

The Table Rock Tea Corporation is minutes from Table Rock State Park, which has miles of climbing trails, a lakeside beach front and swimming, and a playground. Jones Gap and Caesars Head Point out Parks are close by, as is Wildcat Wayside, the roadside waterfall preferred for wading in the summer. 

Tourists Relaxation and Easley are equally nearby, which have loads of fantastic destinations to eat and playgrounds. And Flat Rock, NC is about 45 minutes absent, wherever you can hike and engage in with goats at the Carl Sandburg Household. 

Table Rock Tea Organization
118 Substantial Hills Lane, Pickens
864.915.0571 

Infant Goats = Pure Contentment at Break up Creek Farm