It’s our cup of tea

When Gigi Crawford was growing up in Singapore, she never dreamed one day she’d be managing a tea plantation in New Zealand. She wasn’t even a tea drinker, and New Zealand certainly wasn’t a tea-growing country.

As Gigi says: “We drink coffee in Singapore, and Kiwis don’t grow tea.”

Fate played a part in what happened next. Gigi married a New Zealander, and 20 years ago she came to live in Hamilton. She worked in property development with Tzu Chen, who was from Taiwan. Tzu Chen had noticed a camellia bush flourishing in his neighbour’s garden in the city, and he was intrigued by the similarity between the camellia’s leaves, and the leaves of his beloved oolong tea bushes, Camellia sinensis, in Taiwan.

Fast forward, and Tzu Chen’s son Vincent had a vision to establish Zealong Tea Estate, at Gordonton, on the outskirts of Hamilton. He started in 1996 with 130 seedlings of Camellia sinensis from Taiwan. Nowadays, Zealong’s 48ha certified organic plantation produces 20 tonnes of pure, single-source tea each year from its 1.2 million bushes. It is the country’s only tea plantation.

Gigi became a tea-drinker. She was won over by Vincent’s oolongs, and his uncompromising quest for perfection. She shares his faith in producing world-class oolongs from a country previously way off the radar of serious international tea-drinkers.

Gigi says the fertile Waikato is the perfect place to grow tea. “We have a pristine environment here, even the leaves on the bushes are shiny.”

Zealong has invested more than $20m in this enterprise. It sells its magical teas in China, UK, Germany, Japan and Singapore, and has won awards in Hong Kong and London.

While there is enormous potential, Gigi says the business is still building, and there are many challenges in marketing Waikato tea worldwide. It has plenty of supporters. Chinese president Xi Jinping has drunk Zealong tea, as has the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, and it’s been sold in upmarket London store, Harrods.

While the principal markets are off-shore, New Zealanders love visiting Zealong, and the estate’s Tea House hosts around 40,000 visitors a year. A handsome new visitor centre, The Vista, has just opened with retail facilities. Gigi rates the work-life balance that can be achieved in the Waikato. “We wake up and listen to the birds here, not the trucks. It is a million-dollar lifestyle, and you don’t have to be a millionaire to enjoy it.”

www.zealong.com