The tea or Theaceae household has about 267 to 300 species within the Camellia genus of flowering vegetation together with Camelia sinensis the supply of tea.
Jane Weber
Jane’s Backyard
CC Homefront Jane Weber column sig mug
Camellias originated in east Asia. Globally, drinks created from different vegetation like dandelion, chamomile, rosehips and mint are accurately referred to as natural infusions and tisanes. Globally, these drinks should not thought-about true teas. I should know as a result of I used to be born and raised in England and have been ingesting tea for about 75 years.
Well being advantages of ingesting pure Camellia sinensis tea, notably unfermented inexperienced tea, are as a result of complicated composition of various lessons of chemical compounds, akin to polyphenols, alkaloids, proteins, minerals, nutritional vitamins, amino acids, and others. Within the U.S., there’s a massive industrial tea plantation in South Carolina, a smaller one in Washington and about 40 small collective growers in Hawaii.
Evergreen Camellia tea shrubs are sheered of their younger leaves and buds to supply actual tea leaf beverage. When you have a tea plant within the backyard, contemporary newly emerged leaves may be picked and steeped in boiling water to supply a light-weight aromatic tea. Choose the highest bud and the primary two reverse leaves. New tender shoots will sprout on the leaf nodes beneath the plucked tip. Gardeners can harvest younger leaves repeatedly between April and September and even in October in Florida.
Commercially, after younger camellia tea leaves are picked, sheared, or mechanically harvested, they’re withered on racks or conveyors the place heat dry air shortly removes most of their moisture.
White tea leaves are entire, not crushed or fermented – simply withered, steamed to forestall oxidation, dried, graded and packaged.
Grading of the 4 sorts of processed camellia tea is finished by sieves to separate small leaves from massive ones and the damaged leaves from unbroken ones. Withered tea leaves are crushed, torn, lower (CTC), or rolled or damaged to show the cells previous to fermentation.
Inexperienced tea is withered, crushed, dried, graded and packaged however not fermented.
Withered and crushed leaves are damaged up after which fermented in particular rooms or on oxidation beds for a exact period of time.
Oolong tea is briefly fermented by enzymatic oxidation for about quarter-hour on the Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina. Then the oolong tea is dried with scorching air to cease the fermentation earlier than it’s graded, packaged, and shipped.
Black tea is withered, rolled, and damaged or CTC earlier than fermentation by enzymatic oxidation for about 50 minutes on the oxidation mattress. Then it’s scorching air dried to cease fermentation, graded, and packaged.
Bulk tea is packed in moisture-proof plywood circumstances, lined with aluminum. Completely different firms bundle and mass market their tea manufacturers.
Guests and tour teams are welcome to tour Bigelow’s renovated and revamped Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island, south of Charleston, SC. Began by Lipton Tea firm in 1963 the experimental farm was bought to Mack Fleming and Invoice Corridor in 1987.
The pair ran a well-tended and beloved farm and tea backyard. Their American Traditional Tea turned the official tea on the White Home. In addition they produced Sam’s Alternative Immediate Tea for Sam’s Golf equipment and bought tea by mail order.
The famend Bigelow Tea Firm purchased the plantation in 2003. After renovations and modernization, the Charleston Tea Plantation and tea store have been reopened in 2006.
Tea vegetation are cloned to make sure plant traits, high quality, and consistency. Vegetation should not raised from seed for tea manufacturing. Warmed by the close by Atlantic Ocean and coastal marshes and rivers, Wadmalaw Island will get 75 days of excessive humidity and rain and has acidic moist soil so is good for rising camellia tea.
Once I visited the South Carolina plantation a number of years in the past, I watched tea leaves being mechanically harvested by a repurposed tobacco choosing machine, dumped into pickup vehicles then transferred to a conveyor to be processed. Tea may be repeatedly harvested between Could and October.
There are few different scorching, refreshing, aromatic drinks fairly pretty much as good as a scorching cuppa tea identical to my grandmothers made. Possibly it’s the ceremony or the custom that makes tea ingesting particular.
Jane Weber is knowledgeable gardener and marketing consultant. Semi-retired, she grows hundreds of native vegetation. Guests are welcome to her Dunnellon, Marion County, backyard. Contact her at jweber12385@gmail.com.