Tea harvest time at Zealong
THERE is always plenty going on at the Zealong Tea Estate. These photographs of the annual harvest manage to make this skilled and demanding job look positively bucolic. And all on a former Gordonton dairy farm!
Now. Anyone for tea?
The estate’s marketing manager Sen Kong announced earlier this year the next part of the story was to get their tea onto the world markets, as reported in the Waikato Times:
The past eight months have already seen the strategy bear fruit. Zealong Tea opened its flagship store in Beijing, signed off a supply deal with Harrods in London, and featured in a number of international media including Tea Time and China’s Economic Observer. The long list of famous lips that have sipped Zealong tea – from the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, to Japan’s First Lady, Madame Akie Abe, to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping – have also helped spread the word.
All going well, says Kong, the result will be more stores in China, a long-term deal with Harrods, and the 1.2 million plants growing on the 48 hectare estate swelling to just over 2 million. The about 25 full time staff will grow, as will the up to 100 workers needed each season for harvesting. Thanks to a new factory production will be able to “increase quite significantly” to keep up with the already growing export demand.
Click here for the full story, but make a cuppa before you settle down!
