in Saint-Joseph, a producer brings tea culture back to life

Perched on the heights of Saint-Joseph (La Réunion) at an altitude of 1,100 m, Johnny Guichard and his teams know how to spot the rare pearl. On six hectares, they unearth the ideal tea buds. A few kilometers from Piton de la Fournaise, the manager of the Labyrinthe En-Champ-Thé has taken over the business from his father, and given back to the tea trees abandoned for 50 years. The land, volcanic, is waterlogged and very fertile. However, the task is very heavy: two kilos picked up can only produce about sixty tea bags. 15 employees, hired on site, harvest every month and take care of drying the fresh leaves.

Once dried, the leaves are crushed, sorted and sieved for white tea. “It already gives off a smell of wood and slightly already vanilla, even without the vanilla in it”, enthuses Johnny Guichard. It also produces green tea, by roasting the leaves in the oven. The ton of tea it produces each year is sold locally. To ensure an additional income, the whole family is hard at work: the brother, Yoann, acts as tourist guide for some 20,000 visitors a year.