Tea (camellia sinensis) grows in my garden.
There are about 7 plants, but I pick from the more mature plants.
The small 3 are waiting until they grow up to be big plants and then there will be a full hedge for picking.
About mid-March I plucked my first flush, picking the top 3 leaves that were freshly grown.
I let them sit for a few hours then wrapped them in a cloth napkin and twisted and twisted more
to get a tight ball. Letting them sit tied in the cloth, then twisted some more.
Probably I got about 2 small teapots of tea from that plucking.
I thought that was going to be the only plucking this year until about 2 weeks ago I noticed
there was a lot of fresh growth.
I plucked again and got the largest amount ever, I was amazed.
This time I decided to let the leaves sit over night and then stir fry them in my iron skillet.
Here they are still fresh in the skillet ready to stir fry.
Stir fry is done now.
It took about 10 minutes on a medium heat.
Isn't it pretty, I think so!
Now time to taste.
The stir fried tea was like a white smokey tea.
Then I compared it to the earlier batch.
It had more sweetness and was like a white tea.
Comparing the two side by side really helped me know which I liked best.
I liked the first batch best.
The second batch I may add some herbs to make it a blend,
maybe lemon verbena.
It's fun playing around with my own tea crop.
No harm done if I don't like it as it is just for me.
If I was not social distancing, I would make a pot to share with friends.
Hope you are finding something fun to do just for you while quarantined at home.
