Tea Growers

educate me please

would like to grow my own

Been wanted to do so also.


Sorry no info to share.

Any web site that sells tea plants?


Look forwards to seeing how this thread develops.

im interested as well. googled how to grow camellia sinensis and found a few links, this one was nice:
http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2009/06/growing-tea-plant.html

Growing Tea Plant

Originally tea was produced from the Camellia sinensis plant, a variety of camellia. Tea has been cultivated in China for centuries (2009 estimates put it at around 5,000 years).

Standard teas, not herbal infusions made from other types of herbs and plants, are processed using a number of steps to make the varieties you're probably used to like: green, black and oolong. Processing is one of the main determiners of a tea's flavor and medicinal properties. Green and white teas are taken from very young leaves, undergo less processing, and aren’t fermented. They are typically considered better for you and are more expensive.

Propagating Tea Plants

Seeds
Camellia sinensis, or tea plant, needs acidic soil and lots of water. It will grow outside in Zones 8 or higher. Sow seeds in spring when nighttime temperatures reach 55 degrees F or more. Soak seeds in water for a day or so before planting, and keep purchased seeds moist and viable in the refrigerator before planting out. When you start seeds, try placing them in small pots indoors in a sunny window with a combination of perlite and orchid mix. Mist them frequently. Seeds sprout in four to six weeks.

Seedlings
Plant seedlings four feet apart in a sunny to partially shaded spot in sandy soil with a pH of 5 to 6. Make sure the location you choose has protection from the wind and that the soil drains well. Tea camellias are slow starters and can take up to three years to begin producing when grown from seed.

Cuttings
You can also purchase cuttings or young plants online. The tea camellia can grow to 10 feet and live for well over 100 years, so make sure its final home has plenty of room to spread out.

Harvesting Tea from Homegrown Plants

Depending on your climate, tea plants will leaf out at least once a year, usually in spring. This new, young growth is what you'll want to harvest for tea.

A good rule of thumb is that if you can grow camellias in your climate, you can probably grow tea plants.

Growing Tea Plants Indoors

You can keep tea plants in pots and bring them indoors to overwinter in areas that experience a hard frost. Be sure to give them sandy soil and top with a layer of mulch or moss to retain moisture. Your camellia will need a cool indoor winter location that has good light. If you can't provide six hours of light a day, try a spot away from heat and invest in a grow light for your plant. Plants go dormant in winter and stop producing foliage.

In spring, gradually adapt your plant to living outside by leaving it outdoors for longer and longer periods. If you want to keep your plant indoors year round, you will have to give it good light and lots of humidity. Although this can be a tall order, there are success stories out there about tea camellias growing happily indoors in someone's sunny window for years.

In spring, make sure to harvest new growth to keep the plant small enough to stay in its pot. Although it will probably eventually outgrow its container, you can keep the plant small by harvesting young leaves when they appear.

I really love tea. For a little European flair, try buying heat-tempered glass teacups. They showcase your brew and give teatime a special touch.

*I have also dried green tea leaves in a dehydrator.

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also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sinensis

I found this link: http://www.raingardens.com/seedpage/herbtea.htm

Lots of different seeds and good information about the plants.

It takes many years for C. sinensis bushes to establish themselves in order to produce enough new buds suitable for picking. You don't want the older leaves, trust me. I bet it'd be worth it if you did devote enough time and space to do this! You could have the freshest white tea ever! Also, the flowers are pretty and attract beneficials.

I would go to Yunnan and search out some of the older varieties of tea plants and grow those, just to be cool

Also, there are varieties that are purple, and other varieties still that will turn purple when subjected to enough UV-B light. more anthocyanins, healthier tea!

i havent grown it but i love the plant,,

"Camellia sinensis is part of the evergreen family. The leaves are glossy green with serrated edges. When allowed to flower (flowering is prevented during cultivation by harvesting the leaves, forcing the plant to make more) the plant produces small white flowers with bright yellow stamens. The fruit that develops has a hard green shell and a single, round, brown seed. The seeds can be used to make tea oil.

Camellia sinensis comes in two primary varieties and a third which is not typically used in tea cultivation. The Camellia sinensis sinensis plant strain is from China and is usually used to make green and white teas. Some black teas and oolong teas are also made using this variety. The Camellia sinensis assamica strain is native to the Assam region in India. This plant is usually used for black tea, as well as pu'erh tea in Yunnan province, China (in Yunnan, you can find ancient tea trees; these are Assamica variety, too). The third variety is Camellia sinensis cambodiensis (the "Java bush"). While it has been cross bred to achieve certain traits in other cultivars (ie: 'cultivated variety'), the Java bush is not typically used in commercial tea production. There are roughly 1,500 cultivars derived from the two main varieties, but we'll leave that for the tea growers.

Camellia sinensis sinensis (China)
The China plant grows best in cool temperatures on steep mountain slopes. In fact, it thrives at elevations up to 9,500 feet. Because of the climate and elevation, the China plant will typically grow to between 5 and 15 feet tall, if left unattended, and produce leaves up to two inches long. The short mountain growing seasons yield a smaller crop of more tender leaves that yield a sweeter, less astringent cup.

The China plant is typically pruned to be waist high with a flat top surface to allow easier plucking of the new growth. Because of the climate, the growing season is, at most, half of the year, and the plant will generally yield no more than five pluckings in a year. The China plant will be dormant during the winters. During this time, the plant is storing up its energy and nutrients and the first spring "flush" of new growth provides some of the finest teas on earth with the highest concentrations of desirable flavors and essential elements that provide the health benefits in tea.

Camellia sinensis sssamica (Assam, India)
The Assamica strain is native to the Assam region in Northern India. High humidity, generous rainfall, and warm temperatures allow this larger, more robust tea variety to thrive. The Assamica plant will grow to between 30 and 60 feet if left unattended and produce much larger (up to 8 inches) leaves. Under perfect conditions with proper fertilization, the Assamica plant can be harvested every 8 to 12 days throughout the year. Because of the tremendous yields, it is the preferred crop in Northeast India, Sri Lanka and Africa. The unique climate in Sri Lanka allows the harvest from this hardy bush to continue year-round. The Assamica leaf is ideal for producing strong, malty, black teas. Other Chinese teas requiring lengthier production, such as oolong and pu'erh, are also made from the larger leaves of the Assamica plant. "

here's a couple random quotes for ya:

"Tea is in my opinion a phantasticum, coffee an energeticum-tea therefore possesses a disproportionately higher artistic rank. I notice that coffee disrupts the delicate lattice of light and shadows, the fruitful doubts that emerge during the writing of a sentence.One exceeds his inhibitions. With tea, on the other hand, the thoughts climb genuinely upward."

Ernst junger

"The first bowl cleanly moistens my lips and throat;
The second banishes my loneliness;
The third chaces through all dullness
To clarify every word I've ever said.
The fourth brings on a light sweat
That clenses away life's troubles.
The fifth purifies my soul.
The sixth beckons me to the Immortals.
The sventh is my limit
A breeze breaks from my sleeves."
Lu T'ung

i have a fukien tea bonsai and have been told i can harvest the leaves and brew tea. Does anyone know about this tree? tips? pointers?

Tea leaves are used to create a 'botanical tea' like is done with Yarrow, Borage, Comfrey, etc.

Plants & seeds are easily sourced and it's well worth the effort.....

We have 2, purchased from terratorial seed company as live plants(in person). I would estimate that theyve grown 8 or 9 inches this year.
She took some cuttings when she clones...other plants...and used clonex and the clone dome with other stuff.
No luck. Hey, cc, can you reproduce them via cuttings, or leaf clones like chaliponga?
If I remember, I will take pics tomorrow

Nader said:

It takes many years for C. sinensis bushes to establish themselves in order to produce enough new buds suitable for picking. You don't want the older leaves, trust me. I bet it'd be worth it if you did devote enough time and space to do this! You could have the freshest white tea ever! Also, the flowers are pretty and attract beneficials.

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More buds, you say? There should be a thread or two around here about how to maximize bud sites on your favorite plants...

Camellia sinensis is totally on my short list of plants to grow. And it's definitely about the white tea, which sounds pretty easy to cure.

I mean, check this out: 'The name "white tea" derives from the fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which gives the plant a whitish appearance.' [Wikipedia]

White hairs on the unopened buds? Sounds mighty familiar!

anyone familiar with this one?

from http://www.edibleaustin.com/content/editorial/editorial/1096?task=view

We have our very own native source of caffeine, and it so happens that the small, evergreen tree sometimes called yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) is a close relative of yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis). I’m no connoisseur, but I do like the taste of tea, and the leaves of the yaupon holly make a darned good cup. While writing this column, I decided to skip my afternoon coffee for several days and replace it with a cup of what I call Yerba Tex-Maté. My afternoons turned out to be as productive as ever, and the yaupon holly buzz was more gentle and settling—much like any green tea. I was hooked and pleasantly surprised by how much better it felt to drink something that I had harvested and processed on my own. It also helped that I knew I was getting a hefty dose of antioxidants.

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Oh, I hadn't considered holly as a source of caffeine. Nice!

It would grow a lot faster than camellia, and it seems like you're not limited to using new buds to make tea.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex#Other_uses:

Several holly species are used to make caffeine-rich herbal teas. The South American Yerba Mate (I. paraguariensis) is boiled for the popular revigorating drinks Mate, and Chimarrão, and steeped in water for the cold Tereré. Guayusa (I. guayusa) is used both as a stimulant and as an admixture to the entheogenic tea ayahuasca; its leaves have the highest known caffeine content of any plant. In North and Central America, Yaupon (I. vomitoria), was used by southeastern Native Americans as a ceremonial stimulant and emetic known as "the black drink".

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Very interesting, indeed.

Also, ayahuasca - always wanted to try that. Cheers!

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quinoa64 said:

Oh, I hadn't considered holly as a source of caffeine. Nice!

It would grow a lot faster than camellia, and it seems like you're not limited to using new buds to make tea.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex#Other_uses:

Very interesting, indeed.

Also, ayahuasca - always wanted to try that. Cheers!

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Is holly edible? I always thought it was slightly toxic? but I don't really know much about it.

Does anyone know what holly tea tastes like?

Ayahuasca sounds fucking terrifying to me, though I do have a few B. Caapi seedlings which are one of the typical ingredients.

I only bought them because I wanted to add something new to my rainforest mini-garden.