hectare. They have doubled the amount of tea they have produced in the last year and they hope to continue doing this by increasing the number of plants on site through propagation from seed, which so far has seen promising results.
The soil where the plants grow is acidic – tea prefers a PH of between 4.5 and 6.5, with the land sloping downwards allowing good drainage which prevents the roots from water-logging which could spell tea-leaf disaster! The site is also surrounded by trees providing a perfect shelter belt from damaging winds whilst offering some shade for the crop during the daytime.
With the environment at the forefront of many a discussion in 2021, the company use eco-friendly methods to encourage healthy plant growth, wildlife and bio-diversity. With the BBC Radio 2 Big Bee Challenge running throughout this month, Katherine and her team are certainly doing their bit for the buzzers as unmanicured edges of fields are left as pollinator patches for bees and butterflies and pesticides and herbicides are nowhere to be seen. The plants themselves, not content to sit idly in their coastal spot, happily play their part by capturing carbon with pride, while chickens hunt down pests and dutifully destroy them – environmentally friendly egg producing employees!
Katherine describes the fields as tranquil with harvesting offering a moment away from the stress of day-to-day life, where you can focus mindfully on the repetitive task of just picking. Indeed this applies to gardening on the whole, and how valuable plants and their upkeep have become in ensuring positive mental health to us all, particularly after the events of the past year.
The Jersey Tea Company harvest their crop between April and
October where the process involves “fine plucking” where the newly formed bud and top two leaves are picked by hand. These leaves are sweet and tender and also packed full of nutrients. The tea leaves are kept whole to reduce bitterness (the more the leaf is broken the more bitter it tastes).
Specialising in green and black whole leaf tea, it’s not just a case of pick the leaves and your work is done! With the green tea the leaves are left to wither on a drier for less than 24 hours. After this they are pan heated until the leaves become malleable, the leaves are then rolled and bruised (whilst maintaining the whole leaf ) and finally they are pan heated in the wok until they are completely dried and then packaged in plastic free compostable pouches to travel towards their final teapot destinations.
So much dedication and care is on display here, the team really love their plants and the products they produce. So much so, they even welcome visits from local school children where they feel a great sense of pride in teaching tea to tots! Alan Titchmarsh and friends even gave them the stamp of approval when we tested their tea on ITV’s ‘Love Your Weekend’!
Of her time at school in Cheltenham, Katherine says “I remember never even questioning that as a woman you might feel unable to try something and was always given a sense of value and worth. I think those experiences have helped me find the confidence to start a new business – even one as crazy as growing tea in Jersey”!
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So it must be time for tea now, with a company whose tea leaves really are beyond belief! Twitter: @TheJsyTeaCo Instagram: @thejerseyteacompanylimited
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
ENTERTAINMENT CAMI L LA BAS S E T T - SMI TH
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