10-27-2022 Howard Mag - Flipbook - Page 63
A variety of teas on
display at BLTeas at
Heron’s Meadow Farm
in Woodbine.
BLTeas owner Lori Baker
checks her crop of tea
plants at Heron’s Meadow
Farm. The plants resemble
an evergreen shrub with
shiny green leaves.
The data showed a surge in the demand for tea among young people.
The surveys highlighted that millennials, in particular, drank tea during
the lockdown due to its hydration benefits and the “feel good” factor.
“Tea is calming, relaxing,” said Goggi, who previously spent three
decades working with Lipton Tea as part of the Royal Estates Tea
Co., and was the first American-born “tea taster” in the history of T.J.
Lipton/Unilever. “And it has healthful properties.”
A new National Institutes of Health study, published in
August 2022 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that
people who consumed more than two cups of tea per day, had as
much as a 13 % lower risk of death from any cause compared to people
who did not drink tea.
Higher tea consumption, researchers revealed, was associated with
a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, heart disease and
stroke.
Given increased consumer demand in America for tea, one might
wonder if that has inspired a boom in tea growers such as Heron’s
Meadow Farm.
While tea is grown “in about 25-30 states,” said Goggi, it’s not necessarily an easy endeavor. “It’s extraordinarily expensive. You need land.
And tea plants. Tea seeds are hard to transport, and can be difficult to
get ahold of domestically,” he said.
Angela McDonald, president of the U.S. League of Tea Growers,
agreed. She notes that while the U.S. does have major commercial tea
growers, the industry is “small” compared to India and China where
production is “huge.” While there are some tea estates, she said, smaller,
artisanal farms are more of the norm.
“You’ll find tea farms in places like California, Hawaii, Oregon, and
in the South,” said McDonald, who leads a membership organization
made up of tea growers, retailers, educators and other stakeholders.
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