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Tea partners brewing specialty niche
By Lindsay Street
Staff Writer
Gray wisps of hair broke free from his ponytail as Bill Hall rolled a cigarette – careful not to lose any of the loose tobacco to the wind.
“It’s American-grown tobacco,” he said, not looking up.
He stood under the oaks near the blooming camellias in between the recently built factory and 40 acres of tea plants.
“The only way to make sure we won the American Revolution was to buy American tea. After all, the revolution started because of tea,” said Hall, who along with one of the few U.S.-based tea companies R.C. Bigelow Inc. owns Charleston Tea Plantation, the only active tea plantation in North America.
As of spring, the operation at the plantation was just breaking even, with 50% of the revenue coming from tea sales and 50% coming from tourists visiting the plantation, Hall said.
In the coming years, Hall expects the plantation to reach profit status. Eventually, he predicted, the farm will generate more than 80% of its revenue from tea sales and only 20% from tourism, although both will continue to grow, he added.
But Hall’s partners see growth in tourism as the key to the plantation’s success.
“This tea farm is tiny by comparison,” said David Bigelow, president of R.C. Bigelow Inc. Since American Classic Tea cannot produce enough tea to compete with other tea producers, profits for the plantation rest with fostering tourism.
Most tea farms span 400 acres or more, nearly four times the size of the Charleston Tea Plantation, Bigelow said.
Tea is the cheapest beverage in the world next to water. And, yet, the tea industry has international tea-trading companies that sell tea like stock to other companies, and, when a tsunami or earthquake strikes a tea-producing country, an entire economy can be disturbed by low production.
Tea purchased in the United States, for the most part, is imported from China, Sri Lanka and India.
But the small 127-acre Wadmalaw farm, more seeped in history than tea leaves, is attempting to emerge onto the scene. For more than the last century, the tea plantation’s future has been hot and cold, and it has yet to turn a profit.
The partners predict increased visitors to the farm and increased brand awareness will nudge Charleston Tea Plantation into the marketing niche of American-grown products.
Since 2003, Hall and the Bigelow family have worked in unison to spur the plantation’s marketability, starting with a new factory that debuted early last year.
“Our role is basically to let this facility grow and be the financial backer,” Bigelow said. The Bigelows are long-time friends of Hall and have expressed interest in keeping alive the history of tea-making in the United States, which included partnering on the Charleston Tea Plantation.
To make the farm “economically solvent,” the Bigelow family and Hall struck out to grow the number of visitors to raise awareness about America’s only tea plantation.
Last year, the plantation welcomed more than 19,000 visitors and this year Bigelow expects more than 30,000 visitors with the addition of the new plantation bus tour.
Weddings and corporate events have started being booked, and that business unit will come to fruition by next year.
“We’ve got it pretty well in place now,” Hall said.
Tea production is scheduled to increase also, Hall said. He plans to plant 15 new acres of tea plants. As awareness grows about the farm, Hall predicts the market will increase for purchasing American Classic Tea.
Hall would not comment on the amount of tea produced or gross profit for this story.
“The income from the tea is still very limited,” Bigelow said.
Specialty tea, however, is virtually unlimited, said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the United States of America. Most teas in the grocery stores are blended with tea leaves from a variety of locations to create a uniform, branded flavor. Specialty teas come from a single region or estate.
Charleston Tea Plantation’s American Classic Tea has a unique selling proposition because of its specialty status and its freshness, Simrany said. Even though the size is small, the plantation should find U.S. consumers receptive to the tea due to those factors, he added.
“It’s an upscale tea,” Simrany said. If Hall can convince the public that it’s special and unique to America, he will no longer compete in the traditional tea market, he added.
American Classic Tea is fresh from the fields, while other tea brands may sit on the shelf for months, Hall said. Tea is the opposite of wine and does not get better with time, he added.
And it’s American grown like the tobacco he smokes. Names like Earl Gray and English Breakfast, however, don’t make the labels for American Classic Tea, the brand produced by the tea leaves of Charleston Tea Plantation. Hall has renamed the tea favorites Governor Gray and American Breakfast. Governor because Senator was too “big government” and because he just didn’t like the sound of “Councilman Gray,” he said.
Only a select few South Carolina grocery stores carry American Classic Tea, and Publix is coming on board soon, Bigelow said.
The tea also can be purchased on the plantation’s Web site, www.charlestonteaplantation.com.
“It’s going to be more a business decision on where the farm goes down the road. If it happens to be tourism, I have no problem with that,” Hall said. He added that tourism will promote tea around the country, providing a niche market for an American-grown product.
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