Last Poster #8

[Xue Sheng]

 

[Badhabits]

Aw, now that sounds awesome. One of my life goals is to create a tea garden with a camelia sinensis in a miniature glasshouse with all the various jasmine and things that people add to tea and a little fire pit where you can experiment with creating the perfect cup of tea.

You might not need a glass house. Camellias in general tolerate cold well. Ice and snow can knock the flower buds off them but the rest of the plant doesnt suffer much. Sinensis is much faster growing than other camellias as well. The only drawback is they have pathetic little flowers compared to the japonica varieties

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Ah! Cool I shall give it a go, eventually...

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Cuuuuuute <3

 

[Gyakuto]

We have several camellia sinensis ( tea plant ) bushes on our property. They grow really well here. I dont drink tea often but do enjoy an occasional cup made with leaves directly from the bush. You can go deep down the rabbit hole learning how to dry and process leaves from the same plant to get different tea.

Do you just pull off a tip and put it in hot water?

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Well, I once pulled off for a tip and got in hot water for it

 

[Badhabits]

Do you just pull off a tip and put it in hot water?

That's the basic quick way yeah, makes for a very mild green tea. You pull a new soft growing tip with three or four leaves beneath it and just steep it in a cup of water. But then you get into bruising the leaves, drying them for varying lengths of time etc. We do some basic drying sometimes, but there's an entire art to it that we don't get into. Maybe one day. It would be worth keeping one in a large pot on a patio if space is an issue for anyone interested in having one.
My buddy up the road has a whole privacy hedge that's tea plants. He gets laundry baskets full off those in the spring when there's the initial explosion of new growth. Those are the best leaves, but you can pick them throughout the year and they taste just fine to me.

 

[Gyakuto]

That's the basic quick way yeah, makes for a very mild green tea. You pull a new soft growing tip with three or four leaves beneath it and just steep it in a cup of water. But then you get into bruising the leaves, drying them for varying lengths of time etc. We do some basic drying sometimes, but there's an entire art to it that we don't get into. Maybe one day. It would be worth keeping one in a large pot on a patio if space is an issue for anyone interested in having one.
My buddy up the road has a whole privacy hedge that's tea plants. He gets laundry baskets full off those in the spring when there's the initial explosion of new growth. Those are the best leaves, but you can pick them throughout the year and they taste just fine to me.

That’s fascinating. I wonder if it’ll grow here in Devon…?

….it seems it does! Dartmoor Estate Tea

 

[Gyakuto]

I’ve just bought a 5 year old Camellia sinensis! Thanks Badhabits for the tip!

​

 

[Gyakuto]

Doh! I found this in my tea repository!

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Well, I once pulled off for a tip and got in hot water for it

 

[Badhabits]

I’ve just bought a 5 year old Camellia sinensis! Thanks Badhabits for the tip!

​

Nice! You'll love having it (especially if you enjoy pruning and shaping). If you keep it potted I also suggest a good organic fertilizer rather than chemical, we use a brand called Earth Juice. Very little immediately available nutrients in it, no chemicals. It's a thick green liquid that slowly breaks down in the soil to feed the plant. Almost impossible to overfeed as the plant uses it as needed as it breaks down. Think of it as feeding the soil rather than the plant directly. The main point is that it won't affect the taste of your tea leaves like chemical fertilizers can.

 

[Gyakuto]

Nice! You'll love having it (especially if you enjoy pruning and shaping). If you keep it potted I also suggest a good organic fertilizer rather than chemical, we use a brand called Earth Juice. Very little immediately available nutrients in it, no chemicals. It's a thick green liquid that slowly breaks down in the soil to feed the plant. Almost impossible to overfeed as the plant uses it as needed as it breaks down. Think of it as feeding the soil rather than the plant directly. The main point is that it won't affect the taste of your tea leaves like chemical fertilizers can.

Ooo I love pruning; I’m an avid bonsai grower! Tea plants seem to appreciate lower pH, well draining soils too, which we have down in Devon but a bit of grit (akadama) will improve our clay soil’s drainage properties. Growing advice suggests they’re thirsty rather than hungry.

So they can be pot grown…?

 

[HighKick]

L

Looks about right, but one of them needs to scratch their butt.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Comments are turned off on this video by a band called anal kent I'm listening to, and that's probably a blessing

 

[Prince_Alarming]

I cannot find a paper which is suited to my rather idiosyncratic technique. I don't want to resort to making my own because frankly only a remnant of my sanity remains to me, but I may have to

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Ooo I love pruning; I’m an avid bonsai grower! Tea plants seem to appreciate lower pH, well draining soils too, which we have down in Devon but a bit of grit (akadama) will improve our clay soil’s drainage properties. Growing advice suggests they’re thirsty rather than hungry.

So they can be pot grown…?

There was a time when I had grown a lot of pot.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

There was a time when I had grown a lot of pot.

Yes, we have a lot of pot plants too. Olive trees, a lemon tree, a fig....( )

 

[Gyakuto]

There was a time when I had grown a lot of pot.

We shouldn’t laugh at his juvenile humour; it only encourages him

 

[Prince_Alarming]

We shouldn’t laugh at his juvenile humour; it only encourages him

Yes, that's why I laugh at it