Fairhope Tea Plantation

Thanks to skysamurai for visiting the Farihope plantation and sending the tea along. This one does need a long steep time, and its not a bold tea, but there is something comforting in the piney undertones and lack of bitterness. For an American grown tea I had low expectations and this earthy, mossy tea exceeded them. I would stop for a tour and I would get some of this tea if I were passing by.

Finally getting around to trying the teas that skysamurai kindly picked up during a visit to Fairhope!

I love seeing the little twiggy stems along with the leaves; it makes me smile. I followed the directions and steeped this cup for a whopping six minutes, yet it’s still pretty mild! I’m mostly getting wet metal in the scent and taste, followed by minerally fallen leaves. It’s quite light overall! Just a teensy bit drying toward the end, but overall very smooth. A pretty easy drinker and very fun to try. Thanks, skysamurai!

Look at those stems! So thick. This produces a nice clear liquor of orangish amber. With a yellow rim that reminds me of Indian and Nepalese teas. I frowned at the steep time of 6 minutes but realized after tasting it at 3 that it really does need at least 5. With all the tea bush (basically) in the cup, you need more time to draw everything out. The flavor these bushes produce are a bit creamy, fresh green wood, a bit citric, a bit of compost, and slightly bready. I like it much more than I do the green.

Plantation Tour Part 3: After showing you around the tea bushes he’ll take you back to sit at the front of his house where you started. Then you can shop at his store. Which consists of a 12-inch x 12-inch box that contains loose leaf, bagged tea, and pamphlets. Really wish I could have convinced him to part with some of the yellow tea he messed up. We said thank you and got in our car. But the engine wouldn’t turn over. I had to pee so badly but luckily his wife let me use their bathroom. He said if it took too long for the Roadside assistance to come that he would make us another cup of tea but then he realized it would be faster to just jump our car. I kinda wanted to extra cup of tea >.>

As far as green tea goes this is higher on the oxidation chart. Many of the leaves have oxidized to the point of looking like black tea. American-grown tea has always been a bit dull to me compared with other countries. Not to say that this tea is lifeless but I would say it is better for blending. The flavor reminds me of fall leaves, a bit of compost, green wood, and a bit grassy.

Fairhope Tea Plantation Part Two: After the educational sit down with a cup of his favorite blend Donnie will take you around his tea farm. It didn’t occur to me till later that we didn’t get to see the stuff he processes his tea with. I was too enamored with the tea bushes. His green tea reminds me more of Chinese green. As it is yellower in color. Which makes sense as he learned much of what he did from Chinese farmers. He’ll get on his golf cart and invite you on too. Telling you each time before he presses the gas pedal so that you don’t go flying off the back. To be honest, the golf cart isn’t needed. It’s all within walking distance. But it was amusing. Donnie keeps his height near his waist. It makes it easier for him to grab the leaves. The way he showed us how he plucks reminds me of an elephant grabbing leaves. Again, I won’t spoil much but the one thing I did find interesting was his wild leaves. They were clearly darker than the others because of the forest that surrounded them. I wanted so badly to tell him to make matcha out of them but that in it’s self is a process that is hard.

The leaf, the twigs, and the other things. If you are looking for a tea that is perfectly plucked and only contains certain leaves you’ll want to look elsewhere. This tea contains it all. To be honest, I find it rather fun to sift through and see what I discover. The cup brews up a coppery, slightly orangish amber. Clear. With a bit of sediment on the bottom. The flavor contains a bit of minerality. Clay, red clay notes. Like the clay you use to make pottery. I want to say metallic but I almost want to leave that off because it is a descriptor that is so overpowering. Once you taste it or read it it is hard to not taste it. Smooth mouthfeel with a bit of astringency and a tad bit of grittiness.

Fairhope Part one: We had a bit of a mix up with my parents watching the kids. Luckily we were the only tour for the day. We arrived about 10 minutes late. I felt terrible but Donnie said it was all good. I won’t go into too much detail because I want people to experience the tour for themselves. But what I will tell you is that you will enjoy it. Donnie is incredibly informative and the man doesn’t take crap. So don’t walk in their telling him he doesn’t do things right because he’ll tell you why he does and make you eat your words. XD. When he offers you tea he will ask if you want sugar. It’s fine to say yes. I did not but my husband did. By the way, he has peacocks on his farm! So cool!

Here is another US tea that was featured in the library presentation, and it was kindly donated by Derk! (Thank you so much, Derk!)

This tea has a strong hay-like aroma, and that is the main flavor note I get, as well. I also taste a grain note (oats, perhaps?), with a touch of honey sweetness and a dash of woodiness and autumn leaves. This is a light and smooth black tea, which I think is what surprised the attendees at the library presentation the most, who are used to black teas being strong and astringent breakfast fare. The taste somehow makes me think of a cross between a white tea and a darjeeling.

I plan to try this as a cold brew at some point during this unending 90F+ weather. I think it’ll be very sweet, clean, and refreshing!

Thanks again for sharing, Derk!

A Panda Express has just opened near us and we have never eaten there, so we took advantage of the BOGO coupon and gave it a try tonight. I made a huge pot of this tea to go with it.

This was a gift from derk. Many thanks, derk!

Dry leaf smelled much like the black version, and steeped tea aroma also revealed the close relationship between the two. The green version is super grassy, and that is Ashman’s exact description. I thought I detected mineral notes here but he did not.

It was great with food. We really downed that huge pot easily. It is one of those teas that you drink fast somehow, and I found myself asking Ashman to top me up constantly. Not astringent or sour, light body and very “wet”.

I didn’t tell Ashman until we finished it that it was grown in Alabama. He was impressed!

Thank you, derk!

I can’t believe I haven’t left a note for this yet. This was a gift from the delightful derk. Many thanks, derk!

I concur with gmathis and would have to say that this tea really does taste like a copper kettle in liquid form. It is sweet, thin bodied, not bitter, not astringent, a little woody, but I didn’t get malty as Martin did. Perhaps it was the way I steeped.

It reminds me a bit of an autumnal Darjeeling and I notice it has stems in like a Taiwanese tea.

I agree with gmathis that I don’t think this tea would be a candidate for milk, but sweet tea? I think it will be. I have a carafe chilling now.

If there is something specific for me regarding trying new teas, it is uncommon places where they are grown. It is not my first US-grown tea for me, but probably first one loose-leaf and pretty well done!

Finished the rest grandpa style, there were lots of crushed leaves and quite many stems. But it didn’t went bitter what was something I was afraid of, and it had a herb-like note I noticed in my previous note. A little astringency was there, a little of hay (well, it isn’t fresh batch), but mouthfeel was good. Definitely something I would gladly try again. Of course it’s not so refined as typical green tea growing countries, but fine enough for daily drinking.

I am in a bad state to write a tasting note. I have a cough, cold and I feel I lost sense of smell (stuck nose doesn’t help). I am drinking recently mostly homemade herbal blend, but for family I was asked to make a tea. Green, if possible. “Finally, they have been a bit specific.” So, it is family pot tea. Well accepted by all!

Thank you derk, for local tea. Very local.

And now some of my impressions. It tastes a bit herbal to me, but overall it is smoth and mouth-coating. It is even a bit grassy for me, but imagine a summer grass and not freshly cut. Rather, still growing one, rather meadow for you across the pond.

Can’t wait for better time for this tea. The tea quality is high and the tea is nicely fluffy.

This was in a little packet from derk and I’m overdue giving it a go. But green tea always makes me feel like spring and the thaw has begun—it’s a play-in-the-snow-in-your-shirtsleeves afternoon with full-on sunshine. I can feel the solar battery in the back of my neck recharging.

Ok, enough fluff. How’s the tea?

Delicious! The leaves were big and fat and had a “fresh from the farm” look to them; too long for my spoon, so I measured in pinches instead. Two of those in a large-ish mug and a three minute steep yielded a tawny gold, almost sugary cup with a personality more like citrus rind and pith than green beans or spinach.

High marks for this one—and from a bog-standard black tea barbarian, that’s saying something.

(Incidentally, they don’t normally sell online, but it looks like they may be making a temporary exception: https://fairhopeteaplantation.com/special-offer/)

A sipdown! (M: 3, Y: 31)
For two days (!) I want to log this sipdown of this beautiful tea that is produced in the US, but nada in thoughts. derk, thanks a lot for sending me some!

I still remember those last 5 grams in my 300 ml cup. It was just plain delicious, for first time sitting outside, enjoying the sun, seeing insects flying all around, including one of the biggest bugs Meloe proscarabaeus in my country.

And as I wrote, tea was great too. Very “black” tea like, but with complexity; as I have noticed tannic note closely followed by woody note. Tea was cooling down and new notes as rye bread and grains overall appeared.

This harvest was great. Maybe new ones aren’t so good? Maybe I overleafed it and it worked well?

TASTING NOTE 1200

Oh well. Feeling slightly better than during the weekend, but it is still not top-notch. And moreover today job tasks were hard, stressful and tiring.

So, decided for a proper and hopefully enjoyable cup of tea. In my Paper & Tea Advent Calendar I have Sweet Lullaby which I am keeping for the evening.

So, this, Alabama grown tea. I used 4 grams and steeped for more than 5 minutes, because 4 seemed too short for me.

I got a cup of nice and smooth tea, surprinsingly malty for me, with sweet wood flavours and as gmathis noticed, sweet note on the tip of the tongue.

Somehow, and I guess it is rather the “easyness” to brew, it reminds me Guria Likhauri. It’s simple, but highly enjoyable tea. Great daily drinker in my opinion. Thank you a lot derk.

Derk, was this one of your stops when you traveled east? I had no idea there was a plantation in Alabama. For those of you who are curious: https://fairhopeteaplantation.com/plantation-history/

I’ll try to do this initial review justice, then. Derk shared some 2021 leaves with me—the big, fresh, fluffy kind that are hard to balance on a spoon. At a four minute Monday-morning steep, it wasn’t especially strong, so I let it go past five minutes.

The result was very light and clean with just a little hint of sweetness on the tip of your tongue. Grandma Schubert had an old copper teakettle—the real thing that had developed patina and personality over the decades, and this is its liquid version. I think milk would overpower it; it was very drinkable on its own. I can envision this as a base for good ol’ Alabama sweettea (when I’m in Tennessee, I hear that said as one word) with simple syrup and lemon.