HSA Webinar: Tea Gardening with Camellia sinensis

by Christine Parks

Many gardeners are surprised to learn that Camellia sinensis is the most popular camellia in the world. And most tea drinkers in the U.S. have no idea that tea is made from the leaves of a camellia. Like them, I enjoyed tea for decades without giving a second thought to its origin. All I knew was that Golden-tips came from Assam, Genmaicha from Japan, and Red Rose Tea from the grocery store. I got my daily dose of caffeine from coffee and drank as much herbal tea (tisanes) as traditional caffeinated teas. Flash forward 25 years, I’ve given up on coffee and become intimately involved with tea – a relationship grown, both literally and figuratively, through gardening.

Much has been written about herbal tea gardening. I have several of these books, along with various texts on herbal medicines, and an older favorite from my grandmother’s bookshelf, The Herbalist by Joseph E. Meyer and Clarence Meyer (1934). But my own introduction to tea gardening began with Camellia sinensis after moving to North Carolina with my husband, David, when he came home to run Camellia Forest Nursery. Founded in 1979 by his mom, Kai Mei Parks, the nursery started as a small mail order operation built on his dad’s collection of Camellia species and breeding program. 

At first, I didn’t know much about Camellias (just like tea) but soon came to appreciate the diverse flowers of Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua. It was their close cousin, Camellia sinensis, though, who stole my heart. While the nursery had grown and sold tea plants for decades, it was my first (and only) trip to China to adopt our daughter that ignited my fascination with tea. While visiting Hangzhou, home to Longjing (Dragonwell) tea, I was amazed by the national tea museum and discovered the qualities of a really fine tea. As we welcomed our daughter home, I fell head over heels into tea and knew how I wanted to spend the rest of my life – tea gardening! 

In 2005, we started our first tea garden here in the Piedmont region of North Carolina—including our Camellia Forest favorites—varieties that grow well and are proven to be cold hardy (having survived -15°F in 1985), along with one-of-a-kind tender accessions from his father’s collection (including Assam-type plants and close relatives), and new plants from other North American sites, China, and Korea. Every five years since, we’ve started a new garden, trialing selections from the last along with new acquisitions. 

Our expanded plantings have given us plenty of leaf to process, and I’m exploring which plants are best for the different tea types—white, green, oolong, and black. When I started, practical information on tea processing was limited outside the tea industry. I’ve studied the many types of processed tea, learning what variables contribute to their flavors and aromas. I’ve also met many generous tea lovers who come to share their favorite teas and taste teas made from Camellia Forest leaf. I am learning, sip by sip, which qualities delight and how to achieve them.

Camellia Forest Tea Gardens has grown from a collector’s and hobby garden to a community space for learning, sharing tea, and growing new friendships. Since the beginning, the garden was intended to be a place where people can learn about growing and making tea. We regularly host interns and volunteers, tours, and students in classes designed to empower and inspire gardeners. I also wrote the book I wished I had when I was starting: Grow Your Own Tea (Timber Press, 2020). My current intern, a student in agricultural education, has developed our volunteer program. Recently, we have begun creating content for Patreon to share our story and help support the garden and our educational mission; not everyone can visit for in-person classes, but all are welcome to join our gardener’s membership and learn alongside us here at Camellia Forest! 

Any long-term relationship takes effort, and sometimes I have to ask myself, Why do I love growing tea? One of my favorite reasons is that tea gardening requires slowing down to meet the rhythm of the plant over the years and seasons. Fourteen hundred years ago, tea traveled alongside Buddhism to Japan and Korea—a perfect pairing. The relaxing qualities imparted by L-theanine, together with the stimulating effects of caffeine, support focused attention. Harvesting and processing tea by hand can be a timeless and meditative activity. Tea aroma is especially pleasurable, even intoxicating, as the leaves travel from garden to teacup—plants in the sunshine, freshly plucked leaf, and the aromas that develop with processing. Last, but not least, bees love tea (flowers)! 

I’m looking forward to presenting a guide to tea gardening for The Herb Society of America, which will include plenty of “how to.” Thanks for letting me share my personal “why.” 

Join Christine Wednesday, March 23 at 1pm Eastern for her webinar: Grow Your Own Tea. Our webinars are free to The Herb Society of America members and $5.00 for guests. Become a member today, and enjoy all of our webinars for free along with access to the webinar library with over fifty program titles. To register, visit https://www.herbsociety.org/hsa-learn/herb-education/hsa-webinars/

Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of the author

Camellia sinensis – Herb of the Month

By Maryann Readal

Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world, after water. Countless books have been written about tea, which is the leaf product of this herbal shrub, Camellia sinensis. The history of C. sinensis and its product goes back almost 5,000 years, and it is believed to be one of the oldest plants cultivated by humans. C. sinensis is truly a plant that has been responsible for wars, influenced social customs worldwide, inspired religious practices, and, of course, has lifted many troubled and tired spirits with its medicinal properties. 

Camellia sinensis is an evergreen shrub or small tree that is usually trimmed to about six feet when cultivated for its leaves. It thrives in acidic, rich soil where rainfall is adequate throughout the year, and grows in dappled shade to full sun. It is winter hardy in zones 7-9 when grown as a landscape shrub, but it can also be grown in a pot and moved indoors or grown in a greenhouse where winter temperatures fall below freezing. The fragrant white flowers have  yellow stamens and bloom in the fall to early winter and are attractive to pollinators.

Radiocarbon dating has placed some ancient C. sinensis shrubs growing in regions of China at up to 3,200 years old. Some of these old shrubs have been cut down to make way for growing rubber trees.

The new leaves of Camellia sinensis are harvested for tea. All types of tea come from two C. sinensis varieties: Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (Chinese tea) and Camellia sinensis var. assamica (India tea). Six true teas come from C. sinensis: black, white, oolong, green, pu-erh, and a rare yellow tea (all other “teas” are infusions of flowers, herbs, roots, or bark, and are properly called tisanes). The differences in taste, color, and aroma of these teas depend on where they were grown, their variety, and the processing of the leaves. The small white flowers of C. sinensis are edible and are used to brew a sweet, rich drink. China is the number one producer of tea, producing two million tons annually. India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka follow China in tea production in that order. Interestingly, Turkey is the largest consumer of tea per capita.

The tea plant contains over 500 compounds that contribute to its flavor and health benefits. Green tea’s first recorded use in ancient China was for medicinal purposes, where it was used as a preventive drink for many health problems. Even today, green tea is used to boost the immune system, and researchers have found it to be an effective ingredient in cosmetic products to block UV rays and to reduce cellulite tissue. Though all teas have medicinal benefits, black tea contains antioxidants and other compounds that are particularly good for heart and gut health. Researchers have found that older C. sinensis shrubs grown at higher elevations have the most medicinal compounds.

The history of tea is a long one. In one popular Chinese legend, Emperor Shen Nung, known as the Father of Chinese medicine, in 2737 BCE was drinking a bowl of hot water when the leaves of the tree he was sitting under dropped into his water. After taking a drink of the water, he observed a nice flavor and felt restored. He encouraged people to cultivate the tea plant. And with that, tea as an important commodity and drink was born.  

Tea was introduced into Japan and Korea by Buddhist monks in the 6th century, where it became a drink of the religious classes. The tea ceremony, developed by Buddhist monks, became an important social custom. Tea was considered a medicinal drink at that time. Portuguese priests and traders brought tea to the west in the early 16th century. Drinking tea became popular in Britain in the 17th century, and tea became a worldwide industry with huge demand. 

An interesting tea story reveals that the British introduced tea cultivation in India to compete with the Chinese monopoly of tea. As tea consumption grew around the world, the British became the major supplier of the product. Tea had to be paid for in silver bullion, and some British feared damage to their economy as a result of the loss of so much bullion. As a way to generate more bullion, Britain began exporting opium to the Chinese and increased imports fivefold between 1821 and 1837. Seeing the effects of opium on their people, the Qing government banned the import of opium into China. The banning of opium created financial exchange problems for the British and was one of the causes of the First Opium War. It was at this time that the British brought the tea plant to their colony in India and began growing it to fill worldwide demand for the leaves. 

The British Tea Act ignited the American Revolution with the Boston Tea Party when 342 tea chests were dumped into the harbor. Americans switched from drinking tea to drinking coffee and teas made with other plants. But the American’s love of the true tea continued even after the war. Fast American clipper ships began sailing to China to bring home the product. It’s interesting to note that the first three American millionaires—T.H. Perkins of Boston, Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, and Jacob Astor of New York—all made some of their fortune in the tea trade.

It is a long and interesting history for this simple drink brewed from the leaves of the C. sinensis plant. The story continues with iced tea, tea bags, matcha tea, chai, and now bubble tea and tea-infused cocktails. While old tea leaves from the ancient trees have become a valuable investment for some, tea connoisseurs believe that artisanal teas produced in the ancient art of tea processing are a promise for the future. 

As we drink our cup of tea, we should remember that every tea leaf is touched by human hands. An interesting, well-researched fiction book about the tea plant is Lisa See’s The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. It is a fascinating story of the history of tea and tea making in China.

For more information about Camellia sinensis, recipes, and a screen saver, go to the Herb Society of America’s webpage https://www.herbsociety.org/hsa-learn/herb-of-the-month.html. 

(Editor’s Note: Check out our recent post by Matt Millage for info on other Camellia species: https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/not-just-for-teatime-the-herbal-significance-of-camellias/)

Photo Credits: 1) Camellia sinensis leaf and flower (Pancrat via Wikipedia Commons); 2) Different teas and their colors (Wikimedia Commons); 3) Japanese tea ceremony (Wikimedia Commons); 4) Picking tea in China (Wikimedia Commons)

References

Koch, W., Zagórska, J., Marzec, Z., & Kukula-Koch, W. (2019). Applications of Tea (Camellia sinensis) and its Active Constituents in Cosmetics. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(23), 4277. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24234277  Accessed 5/3/21.

Not Just Tea Panel: The Untold History and Future of Tea. (2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsZGkG1Myc. Accessed  5/17/21.

Reich, Anna. (2010). Coffee and Tea History in a Cup. The Herbarist. 76, 8-15.

See, Lisa. (2017). The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. New York, Scribner.

Tea Crossing. Where Does Tea Come From? Complete Guide: Camellia Sinensis. (2021). https://teacrossing.com/where-does-tea-come-from-complete-guide-camellia-sinensis/ Accessed 5/3/21.

Wikipedia. History of Tea. (2021) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tea  Accessed 5/3/21.

Medicinal Disclaimer: It is the policy of The Herb Society of America, Inc. not to advise or recommend herbs for medicinal or health use. This information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation or an endorsement of any particular medical or health treatment. Please consult a health care provider before pursuing any herbal treatments.

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Maryann is the Secretary of The Herb Society of America and a Master Gardener. She is a member of The Society’s Texas Thyme Unit in Huntsville, TX. She gardens among the pines in the Piney Woods of East Texas.