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Finally, after ab out 6 months, it appears that one of the tea seeds i planted is growing! I have a little leaf sticking out of the soil!

Anyone else have any luck?

Well put the kettle on then luv!

There is lady in our region propogating tea camelias, dad has had some on order for oh i dont know 3 years? lol they are good friends though so its alright.
i understand the fermentation process to get black teas if rather complicated though - good thing im a green tea drinker ! - tis apparently better for you anyway

Oh I've been wanting to grow tea bushes, what part of nz is she in?

ooh, i would love to grow tea bushes, is there any one in NZ selling seeds?
btw i seem to remember that tea tree was named because it was used for tea, is this true? we have a few trees and obviouslu loads growing wild in the area.

possum wrote:ooh, i would love to grow tea bushes, is there any one in NZ selling seeds?
btw i seem to remember that tea tree was named because it was used for tea, is this true? we have a few trees and obviouslu loads growing wild in the area.

Eww! I'm not sure that I would drink tea from the melaleuca alternifolia (the tea tree which produces tea tree oil) it would taste pretty grotty!

Nev

Wombat wrote:

possum wrote:ooh, i would love to grow tea bushes, is there any one in NZ selling seeds?
btw i seem to remember that tea tree was named because it was used for tea, is this true? we have a few trees and obviouslu loads growing wild in the area.

Eww! I'm not sure that I would drink tea from the melaleuca alternifolia (the tea tree which produces tea tree oil) it would taste pretty grotty!

Nev

And probably a bit dangerous! There are rumblings in the aromatherapy community of starting to refer to the EO of Melaleuca alternifoli as Ti Tree to avoid anyone getting the wrong idea about it being safe to take orally. It would seem that the confusion comes about because Tea Tree is used to to refer to a number of unrelated plants:

Camellia sinensis (aka Thea sinensis), from which black, green, oolong and white tea are all obtained.
Leptospermum in the family Myrtaceae.
Melaleuca from which tea tree oil is obtained; also in the family Myrtaceae.
Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka) in New Zealand.
Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) also in New Zealand.
Boxthorn or Lycium in the family Solanaceae.
Ti (plant), Cordyline fruticosa, in the family Laxmanniaceae, formerly treated in the family Agavaceae.
Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree (Lycium barbarum), also known as Wolfberry or Matrimony Vine.
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well a quick google on Manuka which is the stuff we have says that there is no known toxicity and there are companies producing the tea
http://www.purangi.co.nz/estate/tea/manuka.html

Nev and I were referring to Australian Tea Tree Melaleuca alternifolia, which is a good example of why Latin nomenclature is very important!

Lady growing plants is Rosemary Steele and John Prince
http://www.helensville.co.nz/nestlebrae/index.htm
They are based just north of Parakai - south head way - NW of Helensville - North of Auckland.

Tea tree - manuka/kanuka was used to make 'tea'. it is an aquired taste. i like it, but then im a bit feral.

the thing with all esential oils is that they are super concentrated and thus you dont want to consume them - they are extreamly dangerous thus.
BUT some plants from which the commercial oils are derived are fine to consume/cook with/brew with (not advocating maleluca in particular - havnt googled it yet) as the amount of active component in the amount of plant material you use is very small.

Key idea being - anything can be toxic/dangerous in large quantities, the more concentrated something is the more carefull you need to be.

IF you want to try a native tea NZ Pepper Plant - Kawakawa is a safe bet.

Gidday

Hey I believe that in the Nelson area they grow the green tea and were exporting it to Japan a few years ago. I don't lknow if it is still going.

Manuka was used as a tea. I have drunk it in my distant past. The fruit of the manuka is spossed to be great for stomach upsets too, and of course the honey from the manuka has got amazing claims made about it's healing propperties.

Hi, we a growing a couple of tea bushes (Camelia sinesis) but haven'e yet had a go at making tea. They are now about 2feet high so will wait until they are a bit bigger. We were not sure if they would grow here as we have very cold winters but so far so good (with a lot of protection). Let you know how we go when the time comes.

Hi,

How are your tea plants going? I planted three last year and all survived the winter in a small patio greenhouse.

Well, dad had a go at making green tea wiht our plants and i thought it was nice. had a more 'hay-ish'? flavour than green tea from the supermarket and wasnt as strong as i prefer it but was not bad