Camellia sinensis also known as tea

[movenosound]

Anyone had any experience growing tea, AKA Camellia sinensis? All types of tea come from the same species, though I understand that there are several cultivars around. The main differences in teas like green, black, and oolong, have to do with the prep of the leaves after harvest, steaming, parboiling, fermenting, and drying times all change what you get. I drink a hell of a lot of tea, and think that since coffee bean growing is pretty much out, and I don't drink alcohol or smoke pot, so the only thing that I dig that I can grow myself is tea. Anyone given it a try and have some experiences to relate?

[dudley]

no but i would be interested interested in what you find out. how closely related are they to the camelia flowers. they grow well here but i have never seen "tea"in any nursery around here so i just assumed it wouldnt grow well.
i do like tea though.
also alcohol and pot. what else ya got?

[movenosound]

So, tea or camellia sinensis is very under-cultivated in the United States, it seems. Apparently, there are only two farms producing and processing their own tea in the US. One is in the Skagit Valley of Washington state, called Sakuma Brothers. They produce a green tea, an oolong, and a white tea. I haven't tried any of it yet, but I think I am going to swing by their market on my next trip to Seattle, probably in a few days. If you want to check it out, and don't live near the area in Washington, here's the website:

http://sakumamarketstand.com/sakuma-mar ... en-tea.htm

As for the plant, according to Wiki, it is a zone 8 plant, can basically grow into a tree, but is normally kept to three or four feet to allow hand cultivation. This hand cultivation is also what prevents tea from being a reasonable crop, the labor costs to harvest are just too high, and so many folks in the US have known tea as just the crap sold in tea bags, and don't know how a really good cup of tea can be, especially from leaves that haven't been oxidized to hell.

Somewhat ironically, another producer of tea in Washington, which doesn't sell retail because the very small number of plants that they have are bought up before the leaves are even harvested by specialty places, is Rockridge farms, the farm that is providing the land for the WSU bamboo trials. The woman I talked to there was very helpful, but didn't have very positive outlook on the farming of tea in the US, but then, I am not really concerned about farming it, I would just like to grow my own, see of I can make the ultimate cup of tea for myself.

For information, places to get seeds, and what not, here is a pretty good page:

http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?p=1053

For general information, and the different methods used to process and produce the various varieties of tea, I like the Wikipedia entries on the subject as starting points:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sinensis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea#cultivation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing

I think I will order some seeds and maybe order some seedling next spring. I plan to start in pots, and after a year, put one in the ground in the spring a couple of years from now, see how it fares. Anyone else who can add info, or has any experience growing or roasting your own tea, chime in.

Also, apparently the tea plant produces some decent looking blooms that have a nice smell, so they are a nice ornamental addition to a garden.