NewsTassie-T founder Gordon Brown among the tea plants.Tea fortwo ona tastymissionBRONWYN LISSONWITH a dream of making a pieceof land their own, Gordon and JaneBrown moved from Sydney to thegreen valley of Allens Rivulet in1986.Unbeknown to them, this movewould soon set the stage for athriving tea farm and eventually, atea movement.Mr Brown was working as apost-harvest researcher for theTasmanian Institute of Agricultureat the time and had no intention ofgrowing his own crops.It wasn’t until a tea researchproject took him to Japan for studythat he discovered a new interest:tea growing.“I always said I’d never grow acrop,” Mr Brown said.“My father was a nurserygrower, and my grandfather was astrawberry grower and everywherewe would turn there were risks.”Mr Brown said that for him, teagrowing in Tasmania presented aunique opportunity.Unlike other tea-growing regionsaffected by the tea mite, Tasmaniawas relatively free of pests anddiseases affecting tea.The only notable pest wasthe black aphid, which naturalpredators like ladybirds take careof, eliminating the need for spraysor insecticides.So, by 1990, the Browns hadstarted up their tea business,“Tassie-T” and began growing andharvesting tea for Tasmanians.Now, their daughter Charlottehas big plans to continue growingthe business and build on the Teagrowing sector in Tasmania.Charlotte grew up surrounded bytea plants.Her childhood memories are昀椀lled with market visits, helpingher parents sell tea and with variousstages of tea production.After moving away from homefor a time, Charlotte returned home10 TASMANIAN COUNTRY Friday, July 5, 2024Charlotte in the greenhouse where Tassie-T grow bundles of cuttings for sale as they try to expand interestin 2020 with a renewed vision forthe family business.“I always wanted to come backand help turn the business into a bitmore of an agritourism businessand I saw the opportunity tocome home and work on thatwhen Covid hit.”Her background in events andtourism has been instrumentalin expanding Tassie-T’s reach.Today, Charlotte is responsiblefor marketing, events, and creatingunique tea blends.Among Charlotte’s vision forthe business includes inspiringnew growers by taking farm tours,blending courses and selling plantcuttings.She hopes that doing so willshowcase their different teas wouldbe really interesting to see,” shesaid.In the last few years, the Brownshave seen a signi昀椀cant amountI think having a tea trail a of interest with visitors bothbit like a wine trail ... would within Tasmania and interstate.Creating new blends is one ofbe very interesting.Charlotte’s passions.“I try to create my ownCHARLOTTE BROWNtea blends each season withthings that we’ve grow on theone day lead to developing a teaproperty,” she said.industry akin to the wine industry.“We like to plant things that we“I think having a tea trail a bitthink will be interesting for a blendlike a wine trail where growers canin the future,” she said.‘
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