Gorreana

Gorreana is a Portuguese company headquartered in São Miguel Island, Azores. It is the oldest surviving tea plantation in Europe and one of only two still operating in the Azores.

History

Although the Azores were initially famed for growing oranges, blight devastated the orange fields to the point of near-complete destruction by 1864.[1] The farmer José do Canto was the first to import tea, in 1860, as a potential replacement crop.[1] In 1878, the Society for the Promotion of São Miguel Agriculture arranged for two Chinese tea specialists from Macau, Lau-a-Pan and his interpreter Lau-a-Teng, to teach São Miguel the fundamentals of the industry.[2] Tea was especially cultivated on the northern slopes of the island.[2] Tea harvesting took place between April and September, mostly employing women and children.[2] Although there were previously multiple tea companies on the island, global economic instability during the world wars, immigration from the Azores, and competition with tea from Mozambique led to a decline in the tea industry, with Gorreana being the sole survivor by the 1980s.[3][4]

The tea plantation that would become Gorreana was founded in 1883 by Ermelinda Gago da Camara, wife of José Honorato Gago da Camara.[4] Her granddaughter Angelina and her husband Jaime Hintze took over the plantation upon her death in 1913.[4] Hintze modernized the plantation and rebranded it as Gorreana in 1926.[4] Hintze's son Fernando Gago da Camara Hintze inherited Gorreana in 1945; Fernando's wife Berta Maria Ferreira de Lima Meirelles managed the property after his death in 1961.[5] Fernando's daughter Margarida Meirelles Gago da Camara Hintze and her husband Hermano Mota began managing Gorreana in the 1990s.[5] After Hermano's death in 2013, their children began managing Gorreana.[5]

Porto Formoso is the other tea factory in São Miguel, although unlike Gorreana it has not been in continuous operation, having closed in the 1980s and reopened in 2001.[6]

Production

In the 1920s, Gorreana packaged its tea with a written endorsement from Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn, who commanded the nearby U.S. naval base.[7]

As of 2021, Gorreana was maintaining its operations much as it had in earlier times, producing between 30 and 40 tons of tea per year.[8] Gorreana produces varieties of both black tea (Moinha, Broken Leaf, Pekoe, Orange Pekoe, Ponta Branca, Oolong) and green tea (Hysson, Encosta de Bruma, Pérola).[6] The relatively dry climate and isolation from parasites has allowed Gorreana tea to be produced without the use of pesticides.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Schechter, Alex (22 June 2017). "How Chinese tea arrived — and flourished — on an island in Portugal". Mic. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Fonseca e Sousa, Sílvia (22 April 2012). "A Cultura do Chá em São Miguel" (PDF). Açoriano Oriental (in Portuguese). p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2021.
  3. ^ Ghasemi, Vahid; Costa, Susana Goulart; Tiago, Flávio; Chaves, Duarte Nuno; Borges-Tiago, Teresa (2024). "Azores tea: From industrial production to tourism experience". In Bohne, Hartwig (ed.). Tea Cultures of Europe: Heritage and Hospitality. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. p. 246. doi:10.1515/9783110758573. ISBN 978-3-11-075842-9. LCCN 2023952386.
  4. ^ a b c d van Driem, George (2019). The Tale of Tea: A Comprehensive History of Tea from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. Leiden: Brill. p. 716. doi:10.1163/9789004393608_011. ISBN 978-90-04-38625-9. LCCN 2018056513.
  5. ^ a b c d van Driem (2019). p. 217.
  6. ^ a b Ghasemi (2024). p. 247.
  7. ^ Linard, Drew (May 1922). "Tea Growing in the Azores". The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. 42 (5): 620.
  8. ^ Szilagyi, Patricia (2 June 2021). "The oldest tea plantation in Europe". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
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