I’m obsessed with the idea of growing my own caffeine! I’m addicted, there are no two ways about it. And I really love my coffee and tea. But it’s not grown locally, to be sure. I ordered seeds last year, but we moved right after I planted them. And they never came up. So this weekend, I bought a seedling to plant with my mother’s ornamentals. As a camellia, it should fit right in!
I thought I’d share some of the research I did last year about growing tea….
Types of Tea
Green Tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea all come from the same plant. Surprise! They all come from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. There are two different varieties of the plant: Sinensis sinensis and sinensis assamica. The former has smaller leaves and thrives in cool, high mountains (eg, central China and Japan); the latter is a much taller plant and thrives in the lower elevations of moist, tropical regions (eg, Northeast India, and the Szechuan and Yunnan provinces of China). There are also hybrids of the two varieties.
Where Does It Grow?
Camellia sinensis is indigenous to China, Tibet, and northern India. The major tea growing regions today include India, China, Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, Kenya, Turkey, Argentina, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe…. and more.
That said, you can grow it outdoors in Zone 8 or above. Or if you’re colder than that, you can grow it in a greenhouse or a pot that you bring indoors in the winter. They’re a camellia, so if you grow camellias, chances are you can grow tea!
What Does It Look Like?
The fragrant flowers are white with yellow stamens inside (above). The leaves are shiny and dark green, with new growth being much lighter. The fruits are small and hard, looking similar to a hazelnut (below). The seeds are about 1/4” in diameter. The sinensis variety can reach a maximum height of 10 feet or so; the assamica variety (think Assam tea) are much larger: up to 65 feet tall. So, for a garden plant, you’re probably going to want to go for the sinensis.
How Do You Grow It?
Propagation
You can propagate tea from cuttings or from seeds. According to the flier I received with my seeds from Whatcom Seed Company: “Sow seeds 3/4” deep in standard soil mix with coarse sand added. Keep damp. Ideal night temperature of 55F, day 68F. High humidity and filtered sun. Fertilize often. Ideal pH 5-6.”
Cultivation
Plants should be placed approximately 3 feet apart in a sunny to semi-shaded area. Plant them so that a house, wall, tree, or something else will protect them from strong wind. They should be pruned back every four years to rejuvenate the bush and keep it at a convenient height.
Harvest
Tea plants have a growth phase and a dormant phase. The dormant phase is in the winter, so as soon as shoots (“flush”) emerge in the spring, the new growth is plucked for tea. In hotter climates, there may be several flushes per year. The two uppermost leaves and the new buds are picked during each flush.
Here’s the tricky part for the home gardener: propagating a tea plant from seed is like propagating asparagus, rhubarb, or a number of other perennials from seed. It takes time. If you grow a tea plant from seed, it can take three years before your plant is ready to harvest. So until then, think of it as an investment, and experiment, or just a nice plant. If that sounds like too long for you, you can buy a plant or propagate from a cutting.
Given the right conditions, a tea plant can grow and produce for 50-100 years. Wild tea plants have been found to be as old as 1,700 years.
Where To Find Seeds & Plants
- Whatcom Seed Company (this is where I bought my seeds)
- Forest Farm
- Raintree Nursery
- Territorial Seed Company
- Rockridge Teas (thanks, Jenn!)
- Jungle Seeds (UK)
- Seeds, Leaves, and Flowers
Note: these later two seed/plant sources are new to me, so I don’t know anything about their reputability.
More Resources
- Food Info
- Tea Fountain
- Tea Center
- Teekampagne
- Ask The Tea Master
- About.com: Growing Tea At Home
- And there’s a great tea dictionary here.
Tea Blogs
When I figure out how to harvest them, I will certainly write about it. Anyone know?
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We grow tea in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Not operations like the places you mention in the blog post but yo can go visit the farm. Cool place http://www.bigelowtea.com/act/
Actually there is local tea. A field was planted experimentally by Sakuma’s in Skagit County. They mostly grow berries. I don’t remember how many plants they put in, but it was several hundred. When I talked to one of the owners about it several years ago he said at that time one of the problems they were having was how to process it. There were directions on line for doing a small batch somewhere on line. I don’t remember where though. :( To harvest you pick the tips of the new growth. The tiny little ones. That’s one reason tea can be so expensive!
Sakuma’s did process and sell it one year at their farm stand. My mom bought me some. It’s pretty good. I don’t know what they are doing currently with it, but I could find out.
I planted two tea plants this year. I got them from Burnt Ridge Nursery (Washington state nursery). They are doing great. I am going to put some type of wind protection up around them this winter.
I believe Crunchy bought a plant from a nursery this year, spurring my interest. I will probably invest in a few next fall.
Very nice, comprehensive post!
I loved this post. I too am starting to grow my own. I love coffee and drink far too much of it–maybe I won’t drink so much if I have to work to get it! LOL I ordered my plant through Gurneys seed. It takes a awhile for beans to form, but I’ll treasure the flavor.
Rockridge Orchards out of enumclaw has had plants for sale both at the ballard and u-district markets. They had Camelia Sinensis and szeyaun pepper and some sort of sour orange citrus. http://rockridgeorchards.com/RockridgeTeas.aspx
just in case the seed starting fails or your too impatient to wait.
What a great post! I bought a coffee plant last year and then got all excited about growing tea, but a woman at one of our local nurseries told me you couldn’t buy tea plants around here. Now I am seriously doubting that information! Thanks for renewing my interest and all of the great growing information too.
Compostinmyshoe, Awesome – thanks for the link.
Deb G, I found an article about Sakuma tea here. But nothing more recent – I wonder how it went! Very interesting. Would love to know more.
Risa B, Thanks. : ) If nothing else, at least we’ll have some pretty camellias!
monica, I bought coffee seeds at the same time I bought tea, but it, too, never came up. I think the seeds dried out in the move. I am determined to try coffee again – maybe next year. Let us know how it goes!
Jenn, Great info – thank you. I have a friend who is looking for a local source for tea seedlings – perfect! I’ve also added a link into the post above.
Zoe, One of my biggest rules of gardening is “don’t believe everything you’re told.” LOL. Have fun! And let us know how the coffee grows!
[...] One Green Generation is growing tea. [...]
OK, I wanted to grow some tea too but a friend told me that she had done research into and read that the quality of tea when grown in our region wasn’t the best because (I’m assuming because of our weather and soil?) Have you heard anything about the quality of it here?
If any of you live in the Los Angeles area, I bought my Camellia Sinensis plant from Nuccio’s Nursery in Altadena. They had a ton of them there. I haven’t harvested any of the leaves yet (I’ve read that you shouldn’t harvest until the plant is at least 3 years old), and granted, my is still pretty small and lanky.
[...] (instructions to grow these are here, if you’re interested) [...]
Here’s what I know about tea manufacture, in case it helps anyone:
Tea is made by first 1 – picking, then 2 – withering, 3 – rolling, 4 – oxidizing (black, oolong, pouchong) 5 – drying, and finally 6 – sorting and grading. Not all teas are oxidized, and of those that are, there is a vast array of oxidation levels. A light pouchong may be oxidized only 8%, whereas a nice black Keemun is fully oxidized at 100%.
Black tea is first picked, by either machine or by hand, and the leaves are spread out on wire screens or grids and left to wither, often with hot air blown across by fans. This is the withering stage (step 2) and it is done to remove much of the moisture from the leaves and render them pliable. It takes up to 24 hours and removes 30-50% of the moisture content.
The next stage (step 3) is rolling. The withered leaves are either rolled by hand or by a rolling machine which twists the leaf in order to bruise and break them. This has the effect of allowing the juices of the leaf to flow out onto the surface and begin to oxidize. The essential oils are also released, partially accounting for the aroma.
The tea is then spread out in trays in thin layers up to 4″ deep, and left for a period of time to oxidize (step 4). Some teas are left to oxidize outside in the shade, and some are oxidized inside the buildings, it all depends on the processing plant and the tea being made. As tea oxidizes, it generates heat. Temperature is critical at this stage, if it is too high, the tea will spoil; too low and the tea will be flavorless. It is up to the expertise of the supervisor of the processing plant to know when to halt this oxidation step. It has been reported that it takes 3 years of making tea to learn just when to halt one step and proceed on to another. Once the tea is oxidized to the satisfaction of the supervisor, it is dried (step 5).
The tea can be dried in a warm furnace or oven, or over a fire, or even in a large wok, but it is dried by whatever means used and it is this step which stops the oxidation process. The sap which flowed out in the rolling process dries on the leaves and they turn from coppery-brown to black. The remaining moisture in the leaves is driven off and the final result is the dried black leaf we measure out for tea.
Last but not least, the tea is graded. Orthodox methods produce all manner of leaf sizes and therefore all grades of tea. It is important to sort the tea into the various grades in order to be able to steep the tea properly. Larger leaf sizes steep more slowly than smaller sizes, so you can see that a mixture of leaf sizes would not make a quality cup of tea no matter how fine the tea leaves.
My all time favorite tea is an oolong that is fired in a huge wok, I don’t see why a frying pan wouldn’t work just as well. Experiment with small amounts of your tea and time everything and write everything down so you will remember what you did.
I hope this is helpful, take care all.
i enjoy your article about camelia senensis. I am from Davao City, Philippines. there are two plants I am interested but had not been successful in obtaining seeds or cuttings, the yerba mate of argentina and other south american countries and camelia senensis.
i hope you can help me where i can buy.
thank you
larry
I’m from Manila, Philippines. Laary, you can buy camelia senensis and other plants/seeds from Manila Seedling Bank located along EDSA, Quezon City. You can contact them http://www.msbfi.com/contact.htm on how or where you can buy seeds without going to Manila.
Based on a few of the comments I wanted to let everyone know that Sakuma Brothers is growing and producing tea in the Skagit Valley of Washington state. We currenlty have over 5 acres of tea plants. We do not sell the plants but do offer tea for sale at our Market Stand and hopefully soon on our online store. If you would like more information on our tea please visit our web site at: http://sakumamarketstand.com/sakuma-market-tea-green-tea.htm
If you are interest in purchasing our tea online, please post us a comment requesting it: http://shop.sakumabros.com/contact-us.aspx
Thanks.
Thank you so much for this information. It is more helpful than any other source I’ve found online.
@Sakuma
Thanks man, i’ve been wanting to find out where i could buy camelia sinesis here in manila
I read a lot of information on tea harvesting and processing. I wonder can you use a freshly picked tea leave and just use it without any processing at all?
I liked this post. We are avid lover of coffee and for someone who consumes 6-8 cups, the article sticks. We liked your style of writing too! Great job!!
Great post. I love camellias so I may add sinensis to my collection and get the benefit of tea too!
Hi everyone!
i would like to ask if where i can find camellia sinensis here in the Philippines. i already called the Manila Seedling Bank but they told me that they don’t have any plant like that. I really need this plant for our research in school. if someone could really help me as soon as possible, i and my group would really appreciate it a lot..
Thanks.
Our family has been propagating tea for about 7 years now. We have a nursery dedicated to tea in Florida.
Our web site is http://www.greenteaplants.com (the above site “seedsleavesandflowers.com” listed in the where to find tea plants is our old site. Blessings , Steve
we visited the charleston tea plantation a week ago. They are the only growers of tea in the UNITED STATES!:) We learned that some tea plants live for over 300 years!:) They took us on a tour of the plantation & they have a wonderful shop with many tastes of tea for sale. They also have their great tea to drink, both sweetened & unsweetened. WE are now trying to grow some tea for ourselves at home. This ‘tea’ site is VERY good. Thank you—betty