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.
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.
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.
Very interesting, indeed.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".
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!