Australia is recognised, worldwide, for its qualityproducts, as well as green and clean practices. Green tea, however, is not thefirst thing that comes to mind when talking about exported produce.
Around 20 years ago Japanese tea companies werelooking for a place to grow their tea during the off season. Working with theAustralian government, several test plantations were set up using Japanese teavarietals.
The tea was processed using Japanese processing methods, exported and then sold in Japan where it was marketed under Japanese brands. There are several Australian plantations still under contract to produce good quality sencha style tea for the Japanese market.
Recently, a growing number of Australian tea companies have incorporated some of this tea into their own collections for the Australian market. Although Australia produces less than 1% of the tea consumed worldwide, the federal government recently provided a $100,000 grant to the Australian Green Tea Cooperative to promote the burgeoning industry. There are now 20 commercial gardens in the country with plans for more.
MangroveMountain in New South Wales has an ideal climate and was one of the firstplaces planted for the original pilot program.
"Overthe course of time, the competitive advantages that this area had havedisappeared or been reduced through international trade, or other areas thatcould produce these crops more effectively, and cheaper prices," farmerJohn Robb told SBS."So,it's put a big strain on this region, from an agricultural point of view, overthe last 50 or 60 years," he said.
Robb is a horticulturist who specializes inCamellias and has travelled the world extensively to research tea production.He is a founding member of the Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd, Austea CoOp andthe AUSTEA brand.
In2004, the area caught the attention of the Japanese tea company Kunitaro, whichhad been searching for new land to meet a growing demand for green tea in itshome country.
“Fourteenyears on, the farm is no longer just an experiment but a thriving business anda new source of pride for the community. The owners have expanded the farm todouble the size of the original plantation,” writes SBS.
The farm has established a counter-seasonal market for Japanese drinkers that coincides with the lucrative gift-giving period of Christmas and the New Year. The five-hectare farm produces up to 20 metric tons of tea a year. Once the leaves are harvested, they go through a small-scale processing facility before shipment to Japan for further processing and packaging.
You can now find large tea farms on the Somersby Plateau, along the NSW Central Coast, in South West Victoria and Queensland. There are also commercial plantations in Western Australia. The most southern tea plantation in the world is in Tasmania where Dry Ideas began growing tea for the Japan market in 1990.
Robb, of AUSTEA says that if his vision comes true one day the NSW Central Coast will be covered with lush tea plantations.
Our ‘Southern Hemisphere’ unique terroir and production cycle, combinedwith Australia’s ‘clean & green’ approach gives Australian farmers theadvantage, when supplying fresh products into the growing Northern Hemispheremarkets, according to Robb.
Several new initiatives have recently been put intoplace, including the Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd (AGTPL) a private tea tradingand consultancy, which propagates tea plants specifically for plantations ins Australia.
Additionally, the AGTPL is also one of the foundingmembers of the AUSTEA Cooperative. Boththe AGTPL and AUSTEA Co-op, were created to act as catalysts in theset-up, education, and development of this industry and its potential farmers;assisting farmers who are interested to make a smooth transition from othercrops, into tea, he explains.
A new branch of AUSTEA has been designed withthe sole purpose of supporting and showcasing, a carefully curated collectionof the best Australian teas. A successful case is Arakai Estate, inQueensland. This award-winning artisan tea company produces green tea and blacktea using Taiwanese processing methods.
FrankSammut, a board member of Regional Development Australia Central Coast, told SBShe believes green tea could be a major export crop for Australian farmers oneday:
“China'sthe biggest tea exporter, and we'll be competing with them, but I think wherewe have to look at our point of difference is around that clean, green foodproduction which Australia's known for," he said.