01/08/2013 | 11:01 AM

A Canadian tea trial

By Kristen Smith

COWICHAN, BC—A Vancouver Island couple might one day be referred to as tea-growing pioneers. Victor Vesely and Margit Nelleman of Teafarm are in the midst of cultivating the plants on their 11-acre, North Cowichan property. Restaurateurs may soon be able get local tea and take advantage of  fresh leaves for garnishes, salads, glazes and vinaigrettes.   

“We planted two terraces of camillia sinensus as an experiment to see if we could make tea grow,” Vesely told PRN. “Because we were growing cantaloupe, honeydew and sweet potatoes, we knew we had some good heat units, and southern-facing slopes, good irrigation, amazing soil, and I like a bit of a challenge and risk-taking.”

Vesely said the 200 plants pulled through a rough first winter and two mild ones, which can be worse because of early frost. 

“It’s been watching them evolve and take on the terroir,” said Vesely, who has learned snow acts as an insulator and has been responding to what the plants need as opposed to following a set of guidelines. Hungry deer chomping on the plants actually encouraged healthy, new growth, he said.  

The plants will be ready for plucking when the roots are established, which, in the perfect conditions takes between three and five years, said Vesely.  

In about two years time, if everything goes smoothly, Teafarm will have a limited harvest of Cowichan tea — about 200 grams per plant. More is being planted this year. 

Teafarm supplies its artisanal blends to some small-scale hotel chains and is working locally with chefs. The blends are unique recipes and Vesely said it took a year to develop recipes for each of the signs of the Chinese Zodiac. “When you are drinking Pig, it’s a broken leaf Assemese, biodynamic, breakfast tea, with an organic Ugandan vanilla bean with a rose from the farm,” said Vesely. 

“The culinary component of fresh tea leaves is a whole new world which happens a little bit in Hawaii,” said Vesely. He cites oolong-style tea rolled and dipped in chocolate for the local Feast of Fields at Alsery Farm and earl grey short bread and chocolate cakes as examples. He said Teafarm wants to develop a relationship with the chefs and establishments they supply. 

“We are hands-on, small-batch artisanal branded tea, so we’re pretty selective about who we work with,” said Vesely, who said the business is building capacity. 

Teafarm uses companion planting to ward off pests and doesn’t use synthetic components. “We seek out the flavour of the plants and the ingredients. The tea actually tastes the way it smells,” said Vesely. 

“We’re growing our capacity to do more berries; cranberry, blueberry and a variety of other berries to get some more of those fruitier flavours, but we want them out of the ingredients, not out of the chemicals,” he said.