The Birds and the Bees of Tea

The weather has turned cold and so my tea plant, the one that had been overrun with hornets and then miraculously liberated earlier this summer, is now pregnant. And I’ve got pictures. If you’ve got small children, you may want to have them leave the room because I’m going to show off the sex parts of my tea plant.

A little more seriously, though, this gives those who don’t have their own tea plant to get an idea of its flowers, leaves, and seeds.  I’ve read that the flowers are often quite fragrant.  I didn’t find that to be the case with my plante–they smell kind of herbaceous and ever so slightly spicy, but not particularly fragrant.

I’ve included my hand and a ruler to give a sense of size.

Also, there will be a bit of a break in my blog because I’ll be in Taiwan through the middle of November.  Cross your fingers for great tea being available while I’m there!

Northwest Tea Festival 2008

It’s been longer than I’d like since I wrote a blog post. The main reason is that I was the president of the Puget Sound Tea Education Association (PSTEA) and we just finished the first ever Northwest Tea Festival. Attendees of the festival appeared to enjoy themselves, lots of tea was had by all, and virtually everyone involved said it exceeded their expectations.

A few photos from the event: