Plantations of South Carolina’s past produced a bounty of products traded all over the world. It was the very first state to grow both tea and indigo, and there is still a working tea plantation today. Rice was long a key to the agricultural base of the state, and the rice it exported was considered the best in the world! In fact, for many years long grain rice was called “Carolina Gold”. It is the worldwide trade to and from our state that inspired Planter’s Brew. We chose a sturdy black tea to emphasize the colonial period, accented it with tropical notes of French plum, mango and toasted coconut, and splashed it with the bright red color of safflowers and tart currants.