Tea Plantation on the Hillside of the Japanese Garden

Visitors familiar with our Zoo already know that we are not only a zoo but also a botanical garden. While the number of animal species we present is high by international standards, we actually showcase even more plant species, varieties, and cultivars than animal ones.

Our new tea plantation was created on the southern slope of the Japanese Garden hill—more precisely, at the base of the slope. This is the first actual tea plantation in Budapest. The area has always been quite steep, and in recent years it became eroded, partly due to children from the neighboring Energy Playground often climbing the hillside. Additionally, the site needed attention because of the invasive root shoots of paper mulberry trees (Broussonetia papyrifera) planted here in 1968, which have since become a problematic species.

Work began last year. Our staff first removed the debris, then constructed a three-tiered terrace system along the slope using specialized horticultural retaining walls. The original soil was enriched with organic acids, beneficial bacteria and fungi, and earthworms to make it suitable for growing tea. Just a few days ago, we finally planted the roughly two hundred frost-tolerant tea shrubs. Czech high school interns participating in the Erasmus program assisted our gardeners with this work.

By creating Budapest’s first tea plantation, we mainly wanted to highlight the tea culture that is closely tied to East Asian traditions. If all goes according to plan, in a few years we’ll be able to harvest enough tea leaves for around a hundred cups per picking. Of course, this is a small quantity compared to commercial plantations, but it will be enough to show visitors where tea comes from and how it reaches the cup.

Although Europe is not traditionally known for tea cultivation, the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) has long attracted interest on this continent as well. In the 1940s, more cold-hardy varieties were introduced to Europe via Georgia, and the first plantation was established near Mukachevo in 1949. In Western Europe, tea plantations have appeared over the past 10–20 years, helped by increasingly mild winters. Today, several Dutch nurseries offer their own cold-tolerant tea cultivars. Hungary also has its pioneers: for instance, the first Hungarian tea garden for research and tourism purposes was established near Vác.

We ourselves have not only just begun working with tea plants. In 1912, for example, we acquired a tiny tea plant from the Sander Nursery in Belgium. By 1936, it had grown into a sizeable shrub.

The setting and history of our new tea plantation are also worth mentioning. The hill of the Japanese Garden was originally a large pile of rubble, created when debris from World War II was deposited here during the postwar reconstruction. There was a lot of it, as the nearby railway made the Zoo a frequent target for bombings, and in January 1945, the front line passed through the Zoo for several days. After the war, the rubble was covered with soil, and the gentler northern side was initially shaped into seating for an outdoor stage. That stage was temporary—only used until the Zoo was repopulated with animals. After that, the area returned to botanical use: under the initiative of then-director Csaba Anghi and based on the horticultural plans of Mária Sulyok Kiáczné, a Japanese Garden was created. That was more than fifty years ago, and the garden has remained one of the Zoo’s most beautiful areas ever since. Now, with the addition of the tea plantation, the botanical attractions of the surroundings have been expanded even further.