(Iced) Tea from My Own Balcony

Food editor at large Marjan Ippel drinks tea. A lot of tea. As a tea fan, she has visited tea plantations in China, Taiwan and Sri Lanka. Because there, in the (sub)tropics, her favorite plant grows: camellia sinensis, also known as the tea bush. The mother of all tea.

Until now, that is. Because grower and tea drinker Johan Jansen from Zundert in Brabant became obsessed after visiting China with the fact that the tea plant doesn’t grow in our own little frog country.

Nederthee

And that’s despite the fact that a tea plant can handle quite a bit of cold, needs seasonal changes and moisture. Jansen didn’t rest until he had cultivated, through selective breeding, a camellia sinensis that does perfectly well in Dutch soil. By now, production at his start-up Tea by Me has grown so much that he sells plants both to consumers and prospective tea plantation owners.

For tea, you only pick the top two new leaves.

To say that I immediately thought about a career change would be an exaggeration. But of course I had to have one of those tea plants. I ordered it online, and my tea plant arrived wrapped in a plastic cocoon and protective cardboard. Exactly as I had seen them on the tea plantations. Beautifully glossy, bright green and robust.

Patience

It will be a while before I can brew my first tea of my own, because for my favorite drink you only pick the two topmost newly grown light-green leaves. And while in Sri Lanka you can harvest again approximately every three weeks, it can take quite a bit longer in our non-tropical climate.

With the plant I have now, that will eventually mean a harvest of around sixteen leaves. That’s one not-too-large pot of tea. Or two glasses of iced tea. But it will be my own Nederthee.

To be continued…

 Want to start a Nederthee plantation with Tea by Me too? You can order here.