TEA GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS: A Comprehensive Guide to Growing, Blending, and Brewing Organic and Healthy Teas from Home

By Sharon Bickel

It's coming to that time of the year when the weather is changing, and you may be thinking about getting your garden ready for the coming season. Well, if you're a fan of tea, then you may have thought about putting in a new tea garden. After all, it's one of the most popular ways to get into gardening, but before you start spending all of your

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sharon Bickel
• Release date: Jun 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088202500

Book preview

Introduction

It’s coming to that time of the year when the weather is changing, and you may be thinking about getting your garden ready for the coming season. Well, if you’re a fan of tea, then you may have thought about putting in a new tea garden. After all, it’s one of the most popular ways to get into gardening, but before you start spending all of your time thinking about planting new tea plants in your yard, it’s best first to find out more about the subject and decide whether this is something that you actually want to do.

Tea gardens are not just for professionals anymore; that is where this book comes in. This book is a complete guide to creating your own tea garden, plants and all. It will help you find the best plants for your particular area, as well as some great tips to ensure that the garden you create is both beautiful and functional. Tea gardening can be quite expensive, but this book will take the guesswork out of it and leave you with a beautiful garden that you’ll have hours of fun exploring. It is ideal for people who don’t have a lot of time to devote to gardening but want a garden that is easy to maintain. You’ll also learn some great tricks of the trade, ensuring that you’re drinking the best tea you can find. Tea is easy to grow, and it’s a great subject for anyone who wants to get into gardening but doesn’t have a lot of room in their yard. This book will tell you about the types of tea you can grow and the different kinds of teas that you can drink. It will also help you understand how to properly brew your tea, what it does for your health, and the many different ways you can consume it.

If you’ve set your sights on planting your own garden, this is the best place to start. This best seller is easy to read and very easy to follow. You’ll start with some basic information and then move on to more elaborate information about growing your first tea plants. Everything will be explained blow by blow, from planting to harvesting, and you’ll never have a question left unanswered. The book will teach you how to know what kind of tea plant you have, choose the best types for your garden, and prepare tea to keep your health in tip-top shape. If you’re interested in discovering the secrets of tea, then this is a book that you’ll want to read. It is useful for newbie gardeners and an excellent reference tool for people who want to add potted plants to their homes or gardens. At the end of the day, you’ll find that tea gardening is a lot easier than you may have originally thought and that it can be an engaging and very interesting hobby that you can enjoy for years to come. So, if you’re ready to start, there is no time like the present!

Chapter One

Origins of Tea

Tea’s Ancient History

The origins of tea use are shrouded in myth and legend. Some say the first drink of this kind resulted from a divine revelation, while others claim it was discovered by chance. However, the first mention of brewed tea is in Chronicles, written by Ancient Chinese historian Lu Yu (c. 760-804). He recounts how tea leaves were boiled in water that had been passed through bamboo shoots to remove any impurities that might have tainted them. His records also mention making tea sweet by putting honey into the water.

The first recorded reference to tea as we know it today is found in the Chinese classic The Classic of Tea (or Libai), written over 500 years ago by Lu Yu. This work describes how tea was discovered, how it is grown and gathered, and how to pick, process, and consume tea. The importance of this book is demonstrated by the fact that it was a required text in the schools of China for over 700 years.

Even before the days of tea’s written history, the drink had been consumed by the Chinese for a long time. It is mentioned in some of the early Chinese dynasties’ historical records, such as those relating to Emperor Shun. He was said to have drunk it regularly from a bamboo pipe, while Emperor Shen Neng (c. 2852-c. 2977 B.C.E.) was said to have developed a strain of sweet and fragrant tea. A number of teas from different regions of China were also brought to the imperial court during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. - 220).

Tea had become so popular that Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (502-557) had a standard for testing and grading tea, with different grades ranging from inferior to superior, which was much like today’s grading system for tea. Tea had also become such a popular beverage that the Emperor of the Northern Wei (386-534) had a special tea house built that was nearly 100 kilometers in length. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), tea had found its way into every social stratum and every household in China.

Tea is also mentioned in the world’s classic literature, such as the I Ching, a book of divination written during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.E.). It was believed to have a spiritual quality and was seen as being vital to good health and longevity. The tradition of drinking tea and the history of its growth in China are rooted in past culture. It was an integral part of the Chinese lifestyle, with tea’s unique benefits being celebrated throughout a series of poems and paintings.

The Spread of Tea as a Beverage

Tea was carried across Asia by many traders in ancient times. However, Europeans first became acquainted with it during the 15th century when the Ottoman Empire introduced it to Europe and later to Russia, Japan, and the Americas. The first European to record drinking tea was Dr. Engelbert Kaempfer, a German who came to China in 1689 because of his interest in plants that could cure disease. Kaempfer became well-liked by the Chinese, including those in the royal court, who believed him to be a fortune teller. He wrote about drinking tea in his book, History of Japan. Kaempfer used the word tea in English for the first time.

Although tea was being consumed in China during Kaempfer’s time, it was also being imported and sold for medicinal purposes - a practice that continued with the arrival of Europeans to China. The Europeans first started importing Chinese teas across the Indian Ocean during the 1740s, and the first country to do this was the United Kingdom. By 1764, tea was being grown in Ireland, and by 1775, it was also grown in North America. The first tea gardens were planted in Massachusetts Bay Colony by a Chinese American named Hung Shing (a member of the famous Chinese Little Yankee family), who arrived in Boston with his wife on May 15, 1784. They were the first to introduce the Chinese tradition of growing tea on farmland and employed people from their own community who worked to harvest and process it into finished products like tea bags and other infusions.

From the first tea estates in British North America, tea spread worldwide. From China, tea was sent all over Asia, Russia, Persia, Italy, and Holland. From Japan, it spread throughout the rest of Europe and to various parts of Africa. Although it had been grown in Japan from at least 1603, it did not become a major crop there until 1827, when Dutch traders brought seeds from China as a gift for Emperor Takahashi.

The Role of Tea in Different Cultures

In countries throughout the world, tea has found its way into every culture and has become an indispensable part of many different regions. For example, in Russia, it is taken with vodka to warm the body. It was used as a substitute for coffee in England during the Catholic Church’s ban on coffee drinking from 1657 to 1660. Countries like Turkey and Iran have settled on foods that go well with tea, such as scones and saffron buns; this is because when tea was first introduced in these regions, no sugar was available to sweeten the bitter taste of the drink.

During World War I, tea was a primary commodity in the United Kingdom. It was used to provide soldiers with some of their most basic needs and comforts during time spent in the trenches, where they had no access to fresh water or food that could be stored for long periods. To this day, British soldiers are considered some of the best tea drinkers in the