Camellia sinensis does well in dappled shade beneath larger trees. The tea camellia is the common source of tea leaves but this attractive species of camellia doesn’t look anything like the flakes we tip into the teapot. The leaf tips are harvested regularly throughout the growing season and the different types of tea (green, black etc) are the result of postharvest treatment. Although the tea camellia doesn’t have the big, showy flowers found in most garden camellias, it makes a charming garden shrub. It has glossy, mid-green leaves with slightly serrated edges and pleasantly fragrant, small, creamy white flowers. While it’s fun to harvest your own tea, it’s best to allow the plant to establish itself for the first few years before attempting to pick many of the leaves. It will grow in full sun but must be kept well watered through the heat of summer. And, in spite of its long association with warm parts of Sri Lanka and India, the tea camellia, a native of China, is surprisingly tolerant to cold. There are plenty of tea substitutes that can be grown in the garden, too. The New Zealand native manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is said to have been first christened ‘tea tree’ by Captain Cook when he infused some of the leaves to make a hot drink. Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citridora) is an Australian rainforest tree that is grown commercially as a native tea. Other widely gown plants are infused to make herbal teas. Yates seed range includes borage, lemon balm, peppermint and oregano, which are all popular herbal infusions. Growing from seed is a cost effective way of developing a herbal tea garden. Ref: Yates
Processing tea at home Pick early in the morning about a barrow load, chop it up and let it rest all day then she puts it through her garden mulcher and she puts it through 3 times, then put it back into the tub and let it ferment overnight (no water) then the following day, put it out to dry and cover with plastic so the wind won’t blow it away and it’ll be wettish. You need 2 days of hot sun so at the end of the 2nd day you put it through a sieve and it comes out fairly fine and that evening, pack it in tightly into large ice cream containers and clamp the lid on and it’ll last for 2 years and it will never go mouldy. Ref: John Marshall’s mother’s recipe – Cairns