Name:
Green Tea
Camellia sinensis

How many plants for average family:
1 plant per family

Type of plant:
Medium height evergreen shrub.

Sowing:
Seed can be sown in spring but it is usually propagated by cuttings.

Growing Habit:
Small to medium evergreen shrub.

Growing Conditions:
Like other camellia species, the green tea shrub, camellia sinensis, likes slightly acidic conditions with moist and very fertile soils. So feed heavily with manure and compost every spring time. Camellias have fine root hairs so it is important to keep the soil moist. Flowers are small and white but the plant is grown for its foliage instead.

Green tea bush will tolerate some shade and is frost hardy.

Keep the plant pruned to about 3ft' (or 1m) high to encourage bushy growth.

Companions:

Problems:
Relatively problem free if soil is kept moist and fertile.

Uses:
Green tea is drunk for high antioxidant qualities and health benefits associated with that.

Leaves can be picked and dried for making tea after about 3 years.

Featured Article:

Cooking with Green Tea
  by: John Newman

Recently it has become popular to cook with green tea. In powder and liquid form it's so easy to use, delicious and good for you it's really no surprise. You may ask why people would try to cook with such a thing. Well green tea is filled with a wide array of health benefits. It lowers cholesterol, is high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. In fact most Asian countries have used green tea for cooking purposes for these very reasons. The other reason would be flavor. Green tea has a very distinct flavor that many enjoy and cannot be easily emulated by anything but green tea itself.

So now the big question, How do I cook with green tea? Well as I said earlier it's really very easy to do. A very simple way is to substitute the water in a recipe with brewed green tea (at room temperature or as specified by the recipe). This is probably the best way for someone who is experimenting with a recipe or this style of cooking. When you do this keep in mind that you want the green tea to be strong. The stronger the tea is the more flavor and color will remain in the end product. This is why loose leaf tea is generally recommended.

You may also just want to look for green tea recipes. I see new ones popping up every day. Simply go online and search for green tea and your favorite recipe. You may be surprised to find several already available.

A lot of green tea recipes will ask for green tea powder or matcha. This is ground up green tea leaves. Matcha specifically is ground up Gyokuro leaves and is used for tea ceremony purposes. You will find matcha generally more expensive than green tea powder, which can be made from almost any green tea. However you may find matcha worth the extra price for those specially recipes.

If you have never done it, I recommend buying green tea powder or matcha and trying it on some of your favorite recipes. You will find it amazing how much color and flavor one teaspoon of this stuff can provide.

About The Author John Newman is an author for Teanobi.com. All articles may be used and reprinted as long as they have an active link at the bottom pointing to http://www.teanobi.com with the anchored text: Matcha