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How to grow tea at home
The freshest tea you can get is that you grow yourself of course. The taste difference between old, store bought tea and fresh tea you have picked yourself is phenomenal !
Isn't it hard to grow tea ? Doesn't it take years to grow ?
You'd be surprised how easy it is . This is the secret the tea companies don't want you to know . You don't need a large garden to grow your own tea, a planter will work as well .
The tea shrub, Camellia sinensis , grows well up to the zone 8 hardiness zone ( America for example Atlanta, Georgia Seattle, Washington Washington, D.C., England, Wales and Scotland, and parts of central Ireland ) White tea, green tea, oolong and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed differently to attain different levels of oxidation.The tea shrub gets 5-10 ft tall .Tea plants bloom in the autumn with fragrant blooms .Tea plants need plenty of moisture. They do best in climates that are a bit humid . Seedlings and young tea plants should be shaded . Mature plants produce best in full sun. Moisture: Tea plants need plenty of moisture. Tea shurbs can be propagated by planting cuttings and grafting . Teas are grown from seed as well. White tea, green tea, oolong and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed differently to attain different levels of oxidation.They can also be grown as a house plant.
The name sinensis means Chinese in Latin. The plant is a small shrub about 3 to six feet in height. On tea plantations the shrub is trimmed to waist height .It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that is usually trimmed to below six feet when cultivated for its leaves. It has a strong taproot. The flowers are yellow-white, 2.5 cm in diameter, with 7 to 8 petals. Grow tea plants in well-drained and acidic sandy soil. If you grow your tea in a container, add something to the soil that will help keep it moist .You'll need some patience, too. Your plant should be around 3 years old before you start picking leaves. The young, light green leaves are preferably harvested for tea production; they have short white hairs on the underside.From your plant, you can make black, green or oolong tea. Fresh leaves contain about 4% caffeine. Different leaf ages produce differing tea qualities, since their chemical compositions are different. Tea plants will grow into a tree if left undisturbed, but cultivated plants are pruned to waist height for ease of plucking.
Varieties of Tea
The most volume comes from the Assam variety (sometimes called C. sinensis var. assamica or C. assamica), predominantly grown in the Assam region. It is a small tree (single stemmed) with large leaves. In the wild it reaches a height of 6 to 20 meters (20–65 feet) and is native to north-east India, Myanmar, Vietnam, and south China. In tea estates it is kept trimmed to just above waist level. A lowland plant, it requires a high rainfall but good drainage. It does not tolerate extreme temperatures. Discovered in 1823 (though used earlier by local people in their brews), it is one of the two original tea plants. All Assam teas and most Ceylon teas are from this plant.
The Chinese plant (sometimes called C. sinensis var. sinensis) is a small-leaved bush with multiple stems that reaches a height of some 3 meters. It is native to south-east China. The first tea plant to be discovered, recorded and used to produce tea three thousand years ago, it yields some of the most popular teas.
Links
Rainbarrels.info How to make your own rain barrels |
The Classic of Tea 茶經 the first monograph on tea in the world, written by Lu Yu around 760 AD .
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