Mobile Tea Garden

First brewing and tasting of “Old School” Oolong this morning! This oolong is a bit lighter on the oxidation scale from our previous oolongs and therefore less earthy and definitely more floral. The aroma is of jasmine and a hint of gardenia. The flavor is definitely of jasmine. Betty and I enjoyed several cups on the deck - one with a dash of Manukā honey.
We’ll have this tea available this weekend at Market in the Park. Hope to see you there.

15”+ rain in May has transformed the tea garden… I am back in the processing business. Saturday brought a full day of processing oolong tea to get us restocked for this coming weekend’s Market in the Park downtown. This batch of oolong was all hand picked and I used the pan firing method to end the oxidation stage - what is called ‘kill green’. This method has been used for centuries and is still used by small family tea farms in China. Going forward we are calling this tea ‘Old School’ Oolong. I’ll make a pot tomorrow morning and report the results.
But for now, back out to the garden for another day of harvest and processing!

Good news on the drought front! We have gotten around 8” of rain since the beginning of the month and the tea garden is beginning to wakeup. And not a minute too soon! The last two weeks of April and the beginning of May are usually bumper crop time …first flush! Not this year - I have had one tiny harvest day over 3 weeks ago. In comparison to last year at this time I am down almost 90% in fresh leaf harvest. But, things look to be improving with the good soaking rains of the last two weeks. I hope to be back out in the garden harvesting tea leaves in the next few days - I have a lot of ground to make up. Fingers crossed a regular rain pattern is maintained in the coming weeks. 🤞🌱🌦️