Camellia to Cup: Hamilton’s Own Tea Farm

Zealong is New Zealand’s only commercial tea farm, and is continuously growing in size and popularity. Journalism student Sarah Morcom spoke to Zealong’s Brand and Retail supervisor, Juul de Schouwer about Zealong’s success.

The first thing Brand and Retail Supervisor, Juul de Schouwer, did when I walked into Zealong’s retail shop was offer a cup of classic black tea. It’s pretty commonplace in New Zealand to be offered a cup of tea when you arrive somewhere, but when visiting the country’s only commercial tea farm, it’s not something you want to turn down. 

Schouwer makes an excellent cup of tea. But it wasn’t just her work that went into the creation of my cuppa. ‘At the moment we have, full time, around 50 to 55 [staff]’, she said, adding that, during Zealong’s busy season, the number goes up to around 100 full and part time staff, all working together to create delicious black, oolong, and green tea. 

It’s not just the current staff that have made Zealong into the estate it is today. 

Zealong is a large enterprise currently has 1.3 million camellia trees; ten thousand times the amount that they began with in 1996. 

While I sipped on my black tea, Schouwer told me a story. Zealong’s founder, Vincent Chen, moved to New Zealand from Taiwan and realised that the camellia flower grew very well in New Zealand. While Chen originally imported 1500 trees to New Zealand, in the end he was left with only 130 trees to work with. 

‘He was a very big tea drinker’, Schouwer explained. ‘He got some cuttings to come over from Taiwan […] and a lot of them died in the quarantine facility’, she said. 

Schouwer said that Zealong and the tea grown on its grounds acts as a bridge between New Zealand’s multiple cultures. Tea is a massive part of New Zealand’s culture, and thousands of kiwis drink tea every day.

‘There’s a different type of tea for each different type of customer’, Schouwer said. 

‘You have the New Zealanders, and then you have the tourists that come here, and then you have the Asian market, […] tea is very important in their culture’.

Aotearoa isn’t the only country that enjoys Zealong’s tea. ‘Our biggest market is Germany’, Schouwer explained, ‘we also ship to the US, to China, all over the world really’. 

Exports continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the retail shop and restaurant both had to be put on hold, as did the tea deliveries to other restaurants. This made business difficult for Zealong.

However, despite this challenge, Zealong is thriving once again and Schouwer expressed the tea estate’s gratitude towards the many people who have brought them back to life after the lockdowns.

‘After the whole lockdown, we were actually really lucky that we’ve been visited by a lot of local people, and a lot of people from across New Zealand came to visit us’.

Zealong is now looking forward to future events and collaborations, such as a new chocolate and tea tasting experience they will be doing in collaboration with a Christchurch chocolatier. Read more about Zealong’s latest news and events here.