Gorreana Tea Plantation

Yes that is the ocean in the background.

We spent our morning and part of the afternoon at the Gorreana Tea Plantation on the north coast of Sao Miguel Island.  This tea plantation is the only one in all of Europe and has been in operation in the Azores since 1883.  It is still family owned and operated, and while there is machinery to help with the process, most of the work to harvest, process, and package the tea is done by hand.  We were able to observe the workers at the various stages of production and really appreciate how the tea leaves are processed.  Gorreana grows and produces green tea and black tea and the production process is different for both.

Mona and I hiked the trail that traverses up the mountain and through the tea fields.   The tea plantation and factory are along the coast so we had great views of the ocean and coast line.  It was very cool hiking through the fields and seeing the workers harvesting and tending to the tea plants.  It was only about a 3.5 mile loop hike, but we climbed about 1,000 vertical feet to the summit so it was a good workout.  The Azores have a nice network of trails on all of the islands that are well marked and maintained and we hope to do a little more hiking while we're here.  If the views are half as good as this hike, then it will certainly be a lot of fun.