Chá Gorreana: Exploring Europe’s Oldest Tea Plantation

The Azores are located almost halfway between mainland Europe and the American continent. For 140 years Chá Gorreana has been producing green and black tea on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Tea production first began here some 200 years ago. It was Portuguese merchants that began shipping the tannic brew from China to Europe in the 1700s, turning tea into the world’s first truly global commodity. At one point during the 19th century a Chinese tea master and his assistant came to the islands to pass on their knowledge.