The Last Two Gardens in Europe

On a green hillside above the coast, rows of tea bushes grew in neat lines down to the sea. They looked almost as tidy as a drawing. Polly landed on a stone wall and looked out. This is one of only two places left in Europe that still grows tea, and the only one people can visit.

The farm began in eighteen eighty-three. Before that, the island grew oranges, but a disease killed the orange trees. The growers needed something new for the volcanic soil, so they brought in tea plants and old English machines. Both are still used today, which makes this the oldest tea farm in Europe.

Inside the small factory, iron machines more than a hundred years old still roll and dry the leaves. Workers still pick the newest leaves by hand, because the youngest leaves make the best tea. No pesticides are used here, a rule the growers have followed since the very start.

Polly walked along a warm row of tea plants. The leaves smelled like grass after rain. Five generations of growers had cared for this hillside, one harvest at a time.