Does anybody have any experience with growing tea? We’re kind of getting a garden going, and I think that a few tea plants would be a nice addition to it. How hard are they to grow? I’m having a bit of a hard time finding the actual plants for sale online, about the only place I see is Camellia Forest, which doesn’t actually offer them for sale online, but through mail/fax. Is it the kind of plant that most run of the mill nurserys would carry, or am I going to have to hunt for awhile to find one if I decide to actually go out and buy them rather than ordering online?
oUTSIDE OF sAN fRANCISCO CAN’T YOU GET ARRESTED FOR THAT?
Common ornamental Camellias are Camellia Japonica - the tea plant is Camellia Sinensis - As far as I know, the two are not interchangeable and it does seem to be quite difficult to find tea plants - sort of surprising, as it isn’t an unattractive plant at all.
AFAIK, there’s more to producing tea than just clipping the leaves - they have to be processed.
I was just googling around, and found another source for ya: Barrows Tea.
It looks like they might even thrive in your zone!
If you want black tea, then after you pick the leaves you will need to let the tea “ferment,” which really just means letting it sit around and oxidize (turn brown.) You would have to be very careful about mold & such, I imagine, but if the leaves just dry out, they’ll stop oxidizing, so humidity and temperature control would be important. I haven’t the foggiest notion how fermentation takes, but if you only let the leaves ferment partially, you get oolong tea, and if they barely ferment at all, you’ll have green tea. After fermentation, the leaves need to be dried. This can be accomplished in various ways, but (WAG) you could probably do it on screens in an oven at low temperatures. Or do you have a Ronco food dehydrator? 
The least fermented kind of tea is white tea. Immediately after the leaves are picked they are steamed, then rolled (in better teas, this is done by hand anyway), and dried. I would think is something you could do in small batches at home.
It’d be a great experiment to try! If you do, you must let me know! I’d be very eager to try a sample!
Ah, here we go. This interesting article about tea grown in America says that withering (fermenting the whole leaf) to make black tea takes 18 hours. Huh. I would’ve guessed that it’d take longer.
Ah ha! Jackpot! How to grow and process your own tea.
Okay, I’ll quit now. The sad thing is, I’m too far north to try growing tea myself. pout
Breaking in that new shift key, I see. 
I’ve tried growing tea before, but the little bastards kept dying on me. Not sure what exactly I was doing wrong. The climate here might work a little better - I’ll give it another shot after the exams.
Still looking for suggestions. In the link Podkayne gave, the shopping feature is broken so I can’t complete an order. I found another site, but I’m still not sold on the idea. Any more input?
The Herbalist ,Meyerbooks, Glenwood Illinois, lists 87 different beverage teas.
From agrimony and alfalfa to Yerba Mate and Yerba Santa.Some interesting ones in between are
Birch bark tea.
Catnip tea.
Chamomile tea.
Cinnamon tea
Fennel seed tea
Ginger tea
Juniper tea
Nettle tea
Parsley tea
Peppermint tea
Raspberry tea
Red Clover tea
Spearmint tea
Slippery Elm tea
Tyme tea
So many different kinds.
It might be easier to find a tea you like and see if you can grow the plant.
good luck
just
I was actually just referring to what most people think of when they hear tea: Camillia Sinesis(sp?), and I think I’ve actually found a supplier which is fairly cheap and has a bunch of other esoteric herbs hard to find elsewhere, including ginger, and some tobacco plants.
If I do, in fact, decide to order from them, I’ll let you guys know how it goes, business wise and how the plants come out.