From Seed to Cup: A Tea Experience close to Lake Maggiore

On the shores of Lake Maggiore, nestled among the mountains of Piedmont, lies a surprising reality: the largest tea plantation in Europe, located in Premosello-Chiovenda. What you can visit today was once a distant dream. In the 19th century, botanists and scholars attempted to cultivate tea in Italy, but without success: replicating Asian climates proved too difficult, and creating a local production chain was too complex. For more than a century, tea remained something to be imported.

Here, however, that dream found fertile ground. The tea plants thrive in an area already well suited to acid-loving species, among azaleas, camellias, and maple trees, giving life to a fully Italian tea production.

During the visit (approximately 2 hours), you will explore the plantation, the laboratory, and the tea processing methods firsthand, ending with a tasting experience. A genuine journey that shows how passion, research, and the local territory can transform an impossible idea into reality.

At the end of the experience, you will also take home a small symbol of this story: a little bag of tea seeds, so you can continue the journey at home as well 🌱