What a strange title, no? But I do think that you will understand what I meant before the end of this post.
Call me a magician but I know what your deepest dream is: you all dream of owning and operating a tea plantation.
Can you imagine the joy of drinking your own production?
However I am no magician but someone interested in tea, figures and facts. Therefore you can imagine how happy I was when I found online a paper called “Rapid estimation of the minimum size of a tea project” (Guinard André. Evaluation rapide de la dimension minimum d’un projet de production de thé. In: Économie rurale. N°87, 1971. pp. 67-71. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/ecoru_0013-0559_1971_num_87_1_2137).
Unfortunately, it is in French and it was written 40 years ago.
But I am here to help you and I am not sure but I thought that perhaps what was true 40 years ago is still true today.
My only fear is that it might become too complex but we will see.
The first thing to understand is that this estimation is based on the profitability criteria, which for the author means finding out what is the minimal size which minimises fixed costs per unit of production.
Why does he want to do that?
Easy. Fixed costs are business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_cost); so the lower they are per unit produced, the higher the profit is for each sale.
Why did he use them and not other direct production factors (capital, work force, land…)?
Simple, because it takes so much time to “create” a plantation that the optimal use of these direct factors is too far away to be of any interest here.
The author decided to focus on the factory as even if it is not the most costly part of the process (20 to 30% of the investments and total price of the project), it is one where the fixed costs are the most important (50% of the fabrication costs).
Here comes the tricky part.
The total daily capacity of the factory is equal to the number of production lines available multiplied by their hourly production capacity and the maximum operational hours per day.
But how do you find what is the needed daily capacity? It is quite simple; the factory needs to be able to deal with the maximal daily production of the plantation, which is function of the maximum production by hectare multiplied by the number of hectares.
This means that the size of the plantation must be equal to the total capacity of the factory divided by the maximum production by hectare.
Let me guess. You are lost, aren’t you.
The only important thing to know is that if you ever get your hands on the perfect piece of land to create your own tea plantation, you will have everything you need to decide how to optimize it.
I’m not lost, I want more!
@thedevotea I didn’t lost you? Great.What else do you want to know?
If I ever do get my hands on a tea plantation I will have Tennant deal with this sort of thing, while I sit around sipping a nice cup of tea. 🙂
@verity Exploiter 😛
When I next buy a tea plantation I’ll make sure I refer to your blog post first. It will accompany me on all future tea garden purchases, and no deals shall be struck without it. However, not all estates have factories onsite, or come with factory attached. Then what? I want cost estimates for “garden only” operations please.
@jackie I didn’t speak about costs yet. 😉 And I hear the garden only thing but usually the more profitable solution for one is to have as much added value as possible added at “home”.
Does it make any difference if one wants a Pu-erh tea garden as opposed to any other type of tea plantations? I am not bright at all, it was all above my comprehension, apprehensively I might add. What is the difference with tea garden and a tea plantation?
@seule771 I think it is a matter of size and of what you make of the production.
A garden is smaller and for your own consumption.
A plantation is bigger and the production is sold elsewhere (usually far away).
The process for a Pu-erh tea is different and therefore the price for a “factory” would be different.
Tea garden and tea plantation are interchangeable. Every time I write about an estate I’m grateful there is more than one word for a field where tea is grown.
Well, I know that the Menghai Pu-erh grows on tea estates gardens but does not mean I understand.
Something to do with needing room for growing. I read (at times comprehending what I read) anyhow, the Camellia sinensis plant can grow up to 7ft tall if left alone…
Room to grow, and something to ponder when there is time. Perhaps I am not making sense of the sinensis.
Let’s all buy one together!
@thedevotea.
Okay. Where?
I had read something to the effect that tea estate or garden were for growing pu-erh; as they are described as tea garden varietals…The Menghai Pu-erh is one grown tea garden estate.
Anyhow, it is all very interesting. I am sorry to say I cannot invest/divestiture in a tea factory or plantation at present time. Thank you for offering.
Oh, do forgive me…I recently acquired this book title Tea Chings by Ministers of The Republic of Tea and now just viewing, it has section on Tea Gardens. Reads as follow:
“In the mid-eighteenth century tea began to be enjoyed outdoors, in fair weather, in “tea gardens.” Many such gardens were elaborate affairs with fanciful buildings, arbors, flowered paths, and lavish entertainments such as fireworks and concerts. The most famous gardens, at Ranelagh, Marylebone, and Vauxhall, attracted royalty, nobility, and social climbers, which added to tea’s cachet. But tea gradually became more domestic pleasure, and by the 1850s the last tea garden had closed.” –Tea Chings, The Republic of Tea
Oh well, just sharing more info. Happy teas to all.
@seule771, tea gardens are places to drink tea.
But earlier in this post, tea gardens and tea estates were just different names for the places where you grow tea plants.