FiLoLi Tea Farm (Mississippi) and Tealet (Hawaii) Announce Tea Across America

By Jason McDonald and Elyse Petersen

November 10, 2013

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” -Greek Proverb

Brookhaven, MS– FiLoLi Tea Farm and Tealet announce the Tea Across America campaign. With the groundbreaking of tea gardens in Mississippi and Alabama, the development of gardens in New York and other states, and the formation of The United States League of Tea Growers ( http://usteagrowers.com/ and http://usgrowntea.wordpress.com/) at the most recent World Tea Media events (World Tea Expo and World Tea East) , the hype of US Grown Tea has never been hotter. Nigel Melican (Teacraft, UK) has recently said that with TLC tea can be grown in every state in the US.

Camellia sinensis may not be ideal in every climate of the country, but the purpose of this campaign is to bring awareness to US grown tea.

FiLoLi Tea Farm and Tealet have been actively recruiting volunteers to "host" a tea plant in EVERY US state that currently does not have tea in some form or another. The states identified are: AK, AR, CO, CT, DE, DC, ID, IN, IA, IL, KS, KY, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SD, TN, UT, VT, WV, WI, and WY.

To date, Tea Across America is actively seeking "host families" in the following states: Delaware, Nebraska, and North Dakota.

Hosts/volunteers can sign up at the following site: http://tealet.com/teaacrossamerica

The only requirements are that the host families will abide by a few simple planting guidelines as set forth by Nigel Melican found at http://tealet.com/usteaplanting and that they will share with the world the "joys of owning a tea bush" through social media outlets, through regular media outlets, through educational sessions, through blogs, through videos, and through pictures. FiLoLi Tea Farm and Tealet will set up a website soon as a platform for host families to easily share their experiences.

Plans are also in the work for Tea Across America to post "how to" videos and workshops online on various topics like pruning, winterizing, care, propagation, and tea making. It is also the goal to "track" and map the progress of this campaign through voluntary social media "check-ins."

The final goal is to educate the US in how to care for tea in various climates and terroir. It is also a campaign to demystify tea growing in the US.

The plants will begin being sent out from FiLoLi Tea Farm by the end of November and the initial sending out of tea plants should be completed by the end of 2013.

More information is expected to be released as the project moves forward.

About FiLoLi Tea Farm

FiLoLi Tea Farm is a newly started tea farm in Southwest Mississippi owned by a LLC of family and friends of Colonel Jason Alexander McDonald. Technical Consulting for FiLoLi Tea Farm is provided by Nigel Melican of Teacraft in the UK. McDonald is a founding member and President of the USLTG.  

The website for the venture is http://www.filoliteafarm.com/. The social media presence for the farm is https://www.facebook.com/FiloliTeaFarm?ref=hl on Facebook and @FiloliFarms on Twitter.

About Tealet

Tealet is a Honolulu, Hawaii-based tech startup that provides online marketing and distribution solutions for independent tea growers. The business was founded by Elyse Petersen as a way to bring awareness to farm-direct tea and tea growing in Hawaii. The company tells the story of tea growing and has been at the forefront of telling the story of US Grown Tea.

The website for the venture is http://tealet.com/. The social media presence for the company is https://www.facebook.com/Tealet and @TealetTea on Twitter and Instagram.

Contact

The Project can be followed on Social Media Platforms by using:

Twitter:  #teaacrossamerica

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeaAcrossAmerica?ref=hl

Instagram: #teaacrossamerica

To learn more about this campaign, please contact

Jason McDonald; 2572 East Lincoln Rd SE, Brookhaven, MS 39601; 601-669-0303; coaster_25@hotmail.com

Elyse Petersen; 92-6131 Puapake St. Kapolei, HI 96707; 808-927-8330; elyse@tealet.com

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