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Tassie-T founder Gordon Brown among the tea plants.
Tea for
two on
a tasty
mission
BRONWYN LISSON
WITH a dream of making a piece
of land their own, Gordon and Jane
Brown moved from Sydney to the
green valley of Allens Rivulet in
1986.
Unbeknown to them, this move
would soon set the stage for a
thriving tea farm and eventually, a
tea movement.
Mr Brown was working as a
post-harvest researcher for the
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture
at the time and had no intention of
growing his own crops.
It wasn’t until a tea research
project took him to Japan for study
that he discovered a new interest:
tea growing.
“I always said I’d never grow a
crop,” Mr Brown said.
“My father was a nursery
grower, and my grandfather was a
strawberry grower and everywhere
we would turn there were risks.”
Mr Brown said that for him, tea
growing in Tasmania presented a
unique opportunity.
Unlike other tea-growing regions
affected by the tea mite, Tasmania
was relatively free of pests and
diseases affecting tea.
The only notable pest was
the black aphid, which natural
predators like ladybirds take care
of, eliminating the need for sprays
or insecticides.
So, by 1990, the Browns had
started up their tea business,
“Tassie-T” and began growing and
harvesting tea for Tasmanians.
Now, their daughter Charlotte
has big plans to continue growing
the business and build on the Tea
growing sector in Tasmania.
Charlotte grew up surrounded by
tea plants.
Her childhood memories are
昀椀lled with market visits, helping
her parents sell tea and with various
stages of tea production.
After moving away from home
for a time, Charlotte returned home
10 TASMANIAN COUNTRY Friday, July 5, 2024
Charlotte in the greenhouse where Tassie-T grow bundles of cuttings for sale as they try to expand interest
in 2020 with a renewed vision for
the family business.
“I always wanted to come back
and help turn the business into a bit
more of an agritourism business
and I saw the opportunity to
come home and work on that
when Covid hit.”
Her background in events and
tourism has been instrumental
in expanding Tassie-T’s reach.
Today, Charlotte is responsible
for marketing, events, and creating
unique tea blends.
Among Charlotte’s vision for
the business includes inspiring
new growers by taking farm tours,
blending courses and selling plant
cuttings.
She hopes that doing so will
showcase their different teas would
be really interesting to see,” she
said.
In the last few years, the Browns
have seen a signi昀椀cant amount
I think having a tea trail a of interest with visitors both
bit like a wine trail ... would within Tasmania and interstate.
Creating new blends is one of
be very interesting.
Charlotte’s passions.
“I try to create my own
CHARLOTTE BROWN
tea blends each season with
things that we’ve grow on the
one day lead to developing a tea
property,” she said.
industry akin to the wine industry.
“We like to plant things that we
“I think having a tea trail a bit
think will be interesting for a blend
like a wine trail where growers can
in the future,” she said.
‘
