Food 22 Dec 2005 01:45 pm
local food: green tea from Enumclaw
Did you know that you can get locally grown green tea? There’s a farm out in Enumclaw that grows it. Rockridge Orchards — the folks who sell the hard ciders at the University and West Seattle Farmer’s Markets — grow a number of interesting things, including Camellia sinensis. They’ll even have some plants for sale in the spring. “Grows like crazy,” says Wade Bennett, one of the owners. I might plant one if I can figure out where to put it.
If you think about it, it makes sense. Our climate is not so unlike that of Japan, so it’s not so strange that there would be varieties of tea that do well here.
The tea itself is, I think, pretty dang nice, though I’m no tea expert. It’s a good tea for winter — a little bit heartier than you might expect from a green tea. It’d make a great genmaicha. (I sure like genmaicha on a rainy cold day.) Dry, it smells like dried apples; brewed, it has the dried apple scent, and also smells pleasantly like pipe tobacco. (And, of course, it smells like tea. Heh.) For me, it has a major cool factor. Tea. From Enumclaw. Sure!
I let my friend Sue of the Perennial Tearoom know about it, and she seemed pretty intrigued. Maybe someday we’ll be able to get local green tea any day of the week down in Post Alley. For now, though, you have to ask Wade at the farmers markets.
on 22 Dec 2005 at 3:30 pm 1.naomi said …
What a timely post for me. I have been getting hooked on green tea lately, and was just wondering why I’ve never heard about tea being grown here. It’s good to know that there’s some worthy specimens in the area. I’ll try them soon.
I never got into tea from teabags, but I LOVE loose green teas. In fact, the White Peony from PCC is brewing right now, gotta go!
on 22 Dec 2005 at 8:19 pm 2.Wim said …
Cool. I get about half my tea from there; I’ll have to ask. It sounds nice. I don’t get to the farmers’ markets much any more — too busy sleeping in, usually.
on 25 Sep 2006 at 1:23 am 3.green tea said …
Growing your own tea is also rewarding, and you know exactly what’s in it (no chemicals).
on 07 Nov 2006 at 7:03 am 4.weight loss said …
The Japanese steam their green tea leaves while the Chinese pan fry theirs (though they also steam them). There seem to be a difference in the quality of the taste. Wonder which one contains more of the “miracle ingredient” after the steaming/frying process.