Each year, the Brits consume more than 60 billion cups a year – 900 cups every year for every man, woman and child – but the leaves used to make it come from India and China.
But following the success of growing trials in Cornwall and Scotland, tea has been planted on a Trinity côtil and at a second undisclosed location.
Environment Minister Steve Luce, who is encouraging farmers to diversify into high-value crops, said: ‘This type of initiative is to be applauded and encouraged. This new crop to Jersey will need very little chemical input, either pesticide or fertiliser, if any, to grow.
‘It is therefore of great interest, as tea-growing could take fields that are high in potato eelworm out of potato production. There should be real benefits for the environment, as less chemical inputs will encourage more biodiversity.’
Potato eelworn – potato cyst nematode or PCN – is a big threat to the Jersey Royal crop because it damages roots and tubers. The pest is the main reason why the Environment Department is looking at alternative crops to encourage crop rotation, rather then growing potatoes in the same ground year after year.
Deputy Luce said: ‘It’s clear that returning to some of the practices of the “good old days”, by putting more rotation into our growing, is going to be one of the ways to keep our countryside green and pleasant in the coming years.
‘We can no longer rely on the chemical solution to answering some of our problems. Potato eelworm is going to be especially difficult to reduce in the future, except by the resting of fields from the growing of potatoes. We are, and must, continue to find sensible and viable alternatives crops to grow, crops that will allow fields to be rested from potato production.’
The Trinity grower decline to comment on the trial.
Although tea is largely produced in India and China, the common tea plant – Latin name Camellia sinensis – does not require a hot or humid climate to grow. It is most happy in temperate regions with plenty of rain. As well as making the nation’s favourite brew, tea leaves can be eaten raw in salads and stir-fries and its seeds are suitable for seasoning and to make cooking oil.
Other high-value crops currently being grown in the Island under trial conditions are four varieties of hemp (cannabis) for culinary uses and making fibres for clothing as well as honeyberries, a ‘super food’ that tastes like a cross between raspberries,
Before hemp could be planted, Health Minister Andrew Green had to grant a special one-year licence. It has not been revealed where the trials are taking place.
