0215-REPORT_AZORES_cpia-2
AZORES - The island of Sao Miguel in the Azores has been growing tea commercially since the 1870s. Chinese experts were employed in the 1880s to advise on cultivation and processing. The Gorreana tea factory, established in 1883, today produces 40 metric tons of black and green tea every year and is a popular tourist attraction. Now the tea estates are hoping to become a popular venue for Chinese tourists.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China and president of the People’s Republic of China, stayed briefly in the Azores in July 2014 on his way home from a visit to South America and a Chinese Tourist Welcoming training event was held last October to discuss how to attract more Chinese visitors to the islands. It is hoped that more Chinese travelers will visit to enjoy whale watching, the natural beauty of the landscape, and the unusual experience of drinking green tea made at a European tea garden beside the Atlantic Ocean.
Learn more at www.gorreana.org