September 12 7pm - 8:30pm (Doors open at 6:00 for refreshments & strolling.)
Minto Island Tea Co., one of the few farm-scale tea plots in the United States, is thriving right here in the Willamette Valley! Tea grower Elizabeth Miller will share her story and give us some insights on growing, processing, and brewing tea. Processing tea is truly an art form. Even avid tea drinkers are often unaware that all teas derive from the same plant: Camellia sinensis, which has been in cultivation for more than 2,000 years. What makes the different types of tea is how the leaves are processed. We’ll learn about the creation of green, black, and oolong teas as well as the biochemical changes that take place in the tea leaf over the harvest season. Then we will get to taste the difference between teas made from the spring flush and those made from leaves plucked later in the summer.
Elizabeth and her husband Chris Jenkins tend to 200 fully established unique cultivars on a half-acre of land outside Salem, Oregon, that has been in Elizabeth’s family since the 1970s.
Leach Botanical Garden 6704 SE 122nd Avenue Portland, OR 97236
Please park in the Upper Garden parking lot. (See map on website.) The lower lot is closed due to construction of the 122nd Street bridge. Do not follow Google Maps!