Homegrown Tea
The past couple of years, I’ve experimented with making tea using leaves from my own Camellia sinensis shrub, and I’ve been rewarded with lovely, fragrant brews. The process is quite simple. I begin by pinching off all of my shrub’s new, tender tips with my fingers, and placing the leaves in a sieve. Over the next several days, whenever the strainer catches my eye, I pick it up and toss the leaves to even out their exposure to air. (Tea leaves need to be oxidized, meaning exposed to oxygen and humidity.) After the leaves have darkened to my satisfaction — usually after just a few days — I spread them out on a work surface to dry thoroughly, and then they’re ready to infuse in hot water. My homebrewed tea tastes just as good as the imported stuff!
I live in northern Alabama, but will prosper anywhere its popular cousins or grow. Camellias thrive in rich, moderately moist, loamy soil in part shade, and they’re hardy in Zones 7 to 9. If you live in a colder climate, you can try growing in a container, or in a protected location. My shrub thrives in barely improved clay and rarely gets watered, even
