Gorreana Tea Plantation

Tea was planted on São Miguel in the nineteenth century, when the island's orange export trade collapsed to disease and growers looked for a replacement; two Chinese specialists were brought from Macau in 1878 to teach cultivation and processing, and Gorreana was founded in 1883 by the Mota family, who still run it. It is the oldest tea plantation in Europe and one of only two remaining on the island. The climate does the work - mild, humid, acidic volcanic soil, no frost - and the estate uses no pesticides or herbicides, since the island has none of the pests that force their use elsewhere. Visitors walk into the factory free of charge and see the nineteenth and early twentieth-century machinery, some of it British and still running, doing the withering, rolling, oxidation and drying, and there is a tasting room and paths through the tea fields to the coast.

What you actually see

• The 1883 estate - the oldest working tea plantation in Europe, still family-run.
• The old machinery - British rolling and drying equipment from the 1800s, still in use.
• The fields - tea terraces running down towards the north coast.
• The free access - factory, tasting and paths at no charge.

When to go

April to September, when picking and processing are under way and the machinery runs. One to two hours. Free entry.

Honest expectations

Machinery only runs in the production season - out of season the factory is quiet. The north coast is often wet and cloudy. The site is small and a visit is short. Everything ends at the shop, which is how it funds the free entry.

Nearby

Ribeira Grande is west; the Nordeste viewpoints are east along the coast.