Fun Facts About Tea Plantations - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Tea was invented in China purely by accident, when several leaves fell into an Emperor's pot of boiling water. Teabags evolved in a similar fashion, when customers were confused by the small bags of sample tea and placed them directly into the water. Most tea plant varieties only grow in warm climates, so the tea plantations exist predominately in Asia. There is only one tea plantation in the United States: Bigelow Tea's Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina. In can take nearly fifteen years before tea plants are ready to start producing a crop of tea leaves that can be harvested.
