Australians love a cuppa – popping the kettle on and sitting down with a nice cup of tea is a daily ritual for many, with over 16 million kilos of tea consumed in this country annually. But, despite such tea-rrific nationwide tea consumption, the bulk of the tea consumed in our cuppas is imported, with domestic production of this brilliant beverage relatively small. But just 20 minutes out of Hobart is a small family farm and a couple of horticultural scientists brewing up a brilliant local tea industry.
“This is the most southern tea farm in the world” says Dr Gordon Brown proudly, referring to his patch of land at Allen’s Rivulet. Gordon is a horticultural scientist, who, along with his wife Jane (a food scientist and educator), run a small but productive farm specialising in growing, preparing and selling the leaves we love. “As tea farms and plantations go, ours is miniscule – a small farm in Darjeeling can support a village of 6000 people with employment for 2000. We have just a half a hectare and it is just the two of us working about 4000 bushes” says Gordon.
The 4000 bushes growing in the Browns tea garden are a Japanese variety of Camellia (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis), which suits the cool, temperate climate and the style of tea they wanted to produce. “Having spent time in Japan, we were inspired to have a crack at growing and recreating Japanese green tea styles in Tasmania,” says Gordon. “The bulk of the black tea drunk in the world is from the Indian camellia (Camellia sinensis var. assamica), and grows well in warmer areas of Australia, like Queensland. Green tea is dominated by the Camellia sinensis var. sinensis we grow here, from which we produce both green and black teas” he said…
