Your Own Tea Garden

Could you grow your own tea garden? Camellia Sinensis, the tea plant is not your usual garden shrub but will grow in certain areas of UK. This tale of a very British cuppa was inspired by National Afternoon Tea Week. We’ll look at the history of the tea plant, have a little foray into tea ceremonies, and other interesting facts with which to entertain your afternoon tea party guests.

Camellia sinensis, Thea sinensis, Camellia assamica

Tea is a drink made with the dried leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. This is not the Camellia you’re used to growing in your garden; that will be Camellia japonica, prized for its ornamental flowers.

Your tea leaves will probably be from one of two species of evergreen shrub, both of which are in the same genus (or family) as the garden favourite. There are hybrids which are also used in tea production.

Camellia sinensis sinensis is small leaved and Camellia sinensis assamica has large leaves ; research suggests they become separate species over 20,000 years ago. These two species (and from now on, I’ll drop the middle ‘sinensis’) have the flavour we know as ‘tea’ and respond well to cultivation and harvesting. They are both evergreen shrubs, with pointed leaves and scented white flowers in winter. Left unpruned, the tea plants would grow to over 30 foot.

Able to grow to 65 feet high in its native habitat, Camellia sinensis is found in parts of China and India. When the first plant was brought to Europe around 1768, it was categorised as Thea sinensis by Linnaeus. The floriferous Camellia japonica had arrived some thirty years earlier. Thea species became re-categorised as Camellia in 1818. Camellia assamica wasn’t reognised as a native Indian tea plant until 1820, when leaves were sent to Calcutta Botanic Garden and then onto Kew.

Tea plant Profile

So, what is it about Camellia sinensis and Camellia assamica that make a cuppa so refreshing? Let’s consider an average sized cup of tea: –

there’s about 4% caffeine in a fresh tea leaf, or 1 grain in a cup
caffeine is the main stimulant, but does little for flavour or colour
flavour comes predominantly from tannin, with oils and sugars adding more layers of taste
tannin, aka polyphenols, are antioxidants; there’s about 13% in a fresh leaf
as with wine, the altitude at which the plants are grown, the soil and the climate affect the flavour
tea is the second most popular beverage in the world, after water
there are four main types of tea – black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong. The type produced depends primarily on the processing of the tea leaves

China Tea

Nearly five thousand years ago, the Emperor of China had decreed that, as a health precaution, all drinking water should be boiled before being drunk. One morning, he was awoken by a sweet aroma. Looking into the pot of boiling water at his bedside, he saw some leaves had fallen in from a nearby evergreen shrub.

The Emperor was considered knowledgeable about healing powers of herbs. He drank some of the brew and found it had a restorative effect: and so the early morning cuppa was invented!

There is mention of tea drinking in China by 50 BC.
By AD 350 it was considered sufficiently important for there to be a detailed description of tea drinking, including the preparation of the leaves.
The first mention of tea plant growing comes from the 3rd century AD
By the time of the Tang dynasty, AD 618 -906, tea was referred to as cha and had become a national drink.
Li Yu wrote the first book on tea around AD 780. Called ‘Cha Jing’ it was a beautifully illustrated work, describing the cultivation, preparation and drinking of tea.

Japanese tea ceremony, San Francisco tea garden, photo by Chris Lawton

Japanese Tea Garden and Tea Ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony, ‘Cha-no-yu’ was possibly inspired by Li Yu’s book. Certainly the Japanese took tea drinking to a whole new level during the Muromachi period, 1338 -1573.

It was important that the tea ceremony

“be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible.”

(Lafcadio Hearn, writing in the 1890s)

The more stylised the ceremony became, the longer the training. Geishas, who are cultural hostesses and guardians, became particularly adept. The tea garden would contain one or more tea pavilions in an architectural style known as chaseki.

tea plantation in Cameron Highlands, photo by Paul-Vincent Roll

Indian Tea

Although native to India, it was the imported tea plants from China that led to of tea plantations. The development of the Indian tea industry during the nineteenth century began with plantations in Assam and Sikkim. Like so much of the history of tea from the seventeenth century, it involved the East India Company and power struggles between a closed China and the rest of the world.

the first Assam tea reached London in 1839
in 1857 only 3% of the tea sold in Britain came from India
by 1890 that had risen to 90%
tea became one of North India’s principal exports in the latter half of the 19th century

Japanese tea plantation, 1916

Tea Plantations and Growing Your Own Tea

Whether grown in China, India, the sub tropics or Great Britain, there are some similarities in the cultivation of management of Camellia sinensis, Camellia assamica and the hybrids

Camellia originated in an area of monsoon climates and likes a heavy rainfall; 2 inches a month as a minimum
it can be grown at elevations from sea level to 7,000 feet
a soil pH of 5 – 7 is preferred, ie acidic
the bushes take 3 – 5 years to reach maturity
they are pruned to a flat top aka ‘plucking plateau’
shade from hot sun and shelter from strong winds is preferred
the slower growth at higher altitudes produces a more flavoursome tea
once ready, the leaves are plucked every 7 – 14 days

photo by Asantha Abeysooriya

The process of turning the fresh leaves into the tea leaves we would recognise, varies in detail depending on the region and the required end product. Once picked, the leaves are dried in the sun or under cover (a slower process, arguably producing a better end product). The dried leaves are rolled or cut, the latter resulting in smaller pieces that better fit into teabags. Then they are then fermented in a hot humid atmosphere (occasionally steamed). Lastly the tea leaves dried to remove all moisture. Some processes require smoking to get a specialised end product.

tea leaves air drying, photo by 蔡嘉宇 on Unsplash

British Tea

Not the tea you may be drinking right now, but the British tea plantations.

Scotland has a long relationship with tea and not only as great tea drinkers. Many of the fast sailing tea clippers were built here; the famous Cutty Sark was launched from the River Clyde in 1869. Robert Fortune, a Scot and a famous 19th century plant hunter, was instrumental in bringing tea plants and seeds from China.

Would it surprise you to learn that there is a group of Scottish Growers and farmers producing artisan tea? The Tea Gardens of Scotland is a group of Highland growers. There are similarities in climate between Scotland and Assam – soil, altitude, rainfall – and the harsher Scottish climate is mitigated by growing the tea plants within old walled gardens. Growing the Camellia from seed encourages a long taproot and helps the plant to acclimatise to the Scottish climate.

In Cornwall we find another tea plantation. This one, Tregothnan, is possibly better known as it was the first producer of tea grown in Britain.
Many of the plantations, or tea gardens as they are sometimes called, offer tours and tastings. Just like vineyards do; and indeed, we should celebrate the hard work that all these growers put in to create quality products for us to enjoy.

National Afternoon Tea Week 2019 takes place across Britain August 12 -18th. The website has offers for visiting some rather special venues to enjoy afternoon tea -in a tea garden, posh hotel and some rather more unusual places. Various locations offer their own specials for Afternoon Tea Week. And if you happen to be in California, there is a famous Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco.

But for your own tea garden, whilst you may not have the space or facilities to produce quantities of leaf tea, you could grow a Camellia sinensis or Camellia assamica. If your soil isn’t acidic, then plant into a container. This is a good idea if you’re in an area with colder winters, as you can then bring the tea plant under cover.

You may drink a brew made from picked and lightly crushed leaves or try your hand at air drying them first. The taste of the former is very different, but not unpleasant.

Tea plants are available to purchase from various sources, both from specialist nurseries and tea plantations and also online.

There are tea tasting and tea plucking courses and experiences to be had as well, run by the individual plantations. Of course you may prefer a more general course on Edible Gardening in your own garden – in which case why not try Plews Gardening Lessons?

If all you fancy is to brew a pot of tea and sit in your own garden, surrounded by hybrid tea roses and having a read, we have a selection of articles for you below!