Spring Tea Harvest and making of Oolong tea from San Jose California

[vuanguyen]

It is possible to grow teas in Northern California. I have a small tea garden in my backyard. This year is my 3rd year growing them. I am only able to make 40gm of Oolong tea with the first harvest. The aroma is good but the taste is average at best. However, it's 100% organic, safe too drink, and made with love. I sing to my teas every night hoping that they will grow strong and give me a good harvest

It's really fun growing and harvesting them and I learn to appreciate teas much more than ever before. If anyone interested in doing this, feel free to ask me.

My small tea garden

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Picking fresh spring leaves

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Withering for ~18 hours before green kill process

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[vuanguyen]

Green kill process (deactivate enzymes with heat)

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Rolling by hand

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Final product

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[vuanguyen]

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Collecting rain water to water my tea plants

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[Victoria]

Wow, it is fantastic that you are doing this. Thanks for sharing your process. Like you mention, an appreciation of the skill required in the tea making process is revealed.

[debunix]

So cool! I've thought about doing that--just to see what the processing is like. I once took some wheat berries and planted them in a window box to grow a 'crop' of wheat and not surprisingly, the yield was less than what I spread in the box. So I toasted the resulting quarter cup of wheat, ground it coarsely, and put them in a batch of bread. The space required for the tea experiment and the low yield is daunting; seems like I would feel lucky if I could get enough leaf from one plant to fill this pot one time....

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(volume 25mL)

[Rickpatbrown]

It is possible to grow teas in Northern California. I have a small tea garden in my backyard. This year is my 3rd year growing them. I am only able to make 40gm of Oolong tea with the first harvest. The aroma is good but the taste is average at best. However, it's 100% organic, safe too drink, and made with love. I sing to my teas every night hoping that they will grow strong and give me a good harvest

It's really fun growing and harvesting them and I learn to appreciate teas much more than ever before. If anyone interested in doing this, feel free to ask me.

Well done! This is very cool.
Now do it at 3,000 meters at 100x scale followed by processing techniques passed down through generations of your family

That's not to say that some industrious farmers/scientists couldn't develope a new variety/cultivar that would be perfectly adapt to California climate.

You should try roasting, too!

[vuanguyen]

Thanks @Rickpatbrown. However, if I listen to your advice and run this as a business, I will be broke in no time
 

[_Soggy_]

The countertop picture and someone making their own tea is giving me deja vu.