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Has anyone tried growing tea yet?

No, but I'd love my own bush, just for a laugh (as a serious tea drinker) - tell me more!

Adrian 

Following a project to grow tea at Tregothnan in Cornwall which has been very successful and featured on TV a few times now today on a TV programme they mentioned that growing tea is rapidly being taken up by UK people.
Bushes are now available from quite a few nurseries and even Sutton Seeds since 2013 I have found today
Camellia sinensis  is the name to  look for. I also see Chiltern seeds sell seeds as well. Hence why I was curious to see if anyone on here had tried to grow it yet.

Sage tea is actually rather nice.

Cheers.

My soil is alkaline so I can't grow any camellias, rhodos, azaleas etc but I suspect there's a lot more to tea than just growing the leaves.  You have to keep picking the tips regularly and then you have to know how to dry and blend them to get green or black tea.    If I had acid soil I'd probably have a go as Possum likes green tea.   

Quote from: Obelixx on January 28, 2016, 21:50:17
My soil is alkaline so I can't grow any camellias, rhodos, azaleas etc but I suspect there's a lot more to tea than just growing the leaves.  You have to keep picking the tips regularly and then you have to know how to dry and blend them to get green or black tea.    If I had acid soil I'd probably have a go as Possum likes green tea.   

A basic article is available here
http://hub.suttons.co.uk/gardening-advice/growing-guides/general-growing-guides/preparing-picking-and-looking-after-your-tea-plants

yes and i keep killing the plants after my 3rd gave up !

Mine also died. I gave up after the 1st.