How to grow your own tea.
Camellia sinensis is the plant of commerce, it's from this camellia that the tea you use in the daily cup is produced. So can you grow your own tea, well yes you can if you live in an area where you can successfully grow camellia.
Camellia sinensis is a small with small white flowers and rough or corrugated leaves. Usually growing to 1-2m in production od tea although it will get much taller if not pruned, or picked for tea.
It is only the youngest leaves that are picked for the production of tea, For green tea they are picked early in the morning, dried by removing any moisture, lightly steamed for a minute or two and then dried in an oven.
Oolong tea and Black Tea require a slightly different process.
So why would you want to grow tea ?
- It's free from pesticides
- Its fresh
- Its a challenge
- If you do it correctly it tastes great.
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