Elizabeth Miller leads more than 25 fellow tea growers intoher small nursery, pointing out young plants in various stages of development.She explains the successes and setbacks she has experienced growing tea inOregon’s Willamette Valley.
The audience is captivated because, like Miller, they are eithergrowing or hope to grow tea in non-traditional terroir. Working together thesetea pioneers are establishing best practices for cultivating tea in the UnitedStates.
The visit to Miller’s Minto Island Tea Company is a featuredevent during a recent annual meeting of the US League of Tea Growers (USLTG),an 85-member organization established in 2013. Some members are hobbyists,others operate commercial tea production facilities. They all have one thing incommon: a passion to grow specialty tea in their own locales.
“Tea is not a new crop. They’ve been growing tea for thousandsof years,” said league president Angela McDonald. “But it’s a new crop in the UnitedStates. Any time you’re growing something in a new region you have to figureout how it adapts.”
So, members traveled to Oregon from across the country toshare ideas and discover which techniques may work back home.
“When the league first started, a lot of people were excited,but they did not want to share secrets,” McDonald said. “That approach ends upholding everybody back and the entire industry doesn’t develop. But theyrealized they are not competitors and they are learning from each other andcollaborating. Eventually, we all can get to the same place.”
In the end, McDonald says, the goal is to establish viableproducts for the marketplace.
“It’s important to have research done, collaborate and createan industry. The league exists to assist in creating that industry, so everyonehas a place to sell their tea.”
Part of that effort means staying informed on all aspects of tea cultivation and production. To that end, the group is considering organizing its 2020 annual meeting to coincide with the Global Tea Initiative’s colloquium on tea and wine scheduled on Jan. 16-17 at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science on the campus of the University of California, Davis. Members also are encouraged to follow and provide public comment on programs such as the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Special Crop Block Grant Program. University researchers also speak at league meetings.
“Some people right now are producing tea as a novelty, but itdoesn’t taste good,” McDonald said. “Once that novelty wears off, you can’tsell bad tea. You must produce good tea. We need standards.”
The league of tea growers is in position to help establishthose standards, create good teas and develop regional flavor profiles.
“It’s like the wine industry. If you’re trying to replicate,you’re not going to get very far,” McDonald said. “If you start creating yourown wines that taste good and fit your terroir, you’re going to be successful.
“We have been focusing on specialty tea,” McDonald said. “Ifwe try to create commodity tea, it will be hard to compete. It will be nothingspecial. If we create a specialty product people all over the world will beinterested.”
To learn more about the League of US Tea Growers, visit: https://usteagrowers.com/
Sources: US League of Tea Growers