Cha Gorreana

This was the largest of the two tea plantations on Sao Miguel and the only two plantations in Europe. They were established in the late 1800's when Chinese people came and taught the methods of cultivation and harvest. Of interest, the plants are all the same but the difference in processing produces either black or green tea and the youngest top leaves are "orange pekoe" (most expensive), the next sized leaf the "pekoe" and a mixture is called "broken leaf". We bought some broken leaf and orange pekoe at the first tea producer, Formosa which was smaller than Gorreana (which was quite over run by tourists all seeking indoor things to do with the weather and then sitting out to enjoy the sun that had finally peeked through). Overall, the tea produced here seemed to have less tannin than typical black/green teas at home, no bitterness and it was not really in need of either sugar or milk.En savoir plus