The Benefits Of Organic Tea-Growing Practices
In 1842, an English agriculture scientist named John Lawes invented a chemical known as superphosphate. He discovered that taking a phosphate crystal and combining it with sulfuric acid yielded monocalcium phosphate. This compound, when given to plants, gave them phosphates to help them grow. Thus, the modern synthetic fertilizer was born.
Up until near this discovery, human farming efforts had been completely natural, using materials found readily in nature. Although hard to deny synthetic fertilizer’s effectiveness, people still concern themselves with its affects on human health and the environment outside the specific farm using it. It is somewhat harmful to humans in direct application. Moreover, this excess fertilizer can harm the environment by washing downstream and destroying nearby ecosystems, typically in the micro-environments which are the base of the food chain.
Like many other industries, organically farmed tea does not use any chemical fertilizers in its growth or production. Many producers are returning to traditional farming methods that are now better understood from a scientific, analytical perspective, and, with careful application, can result in the same yields as chemically farmed tea.
Composting, for example, has long been a staple farming technique. Now that more is understood about the partial breakdown of organic matter (by bacteria and tiny insects) that leaves nutrients to be reclaimed by the soil, modern, chemical-free composting methods are becoming very popular with organic farmers. Composting takes advantage of and encourages plants’ natural processes for generation growth from air, soil, and water, leaving the surrounding environment untainted with excess chemical runoff.
Fertilization methods are only one aspect of farming. Pest control is another big area, where conventional methods have led humanity to poison its own food supply for the sake of a high yield. A traditional method of maintaining a healthy tea plant is to introduce bugs that feed on the bugs feeding on tea plants. Ladybugs and spiders are commonly used to keep crop-eating bugs in check. In fact, the ladybug is so effective that its presence is regarded as good luck in tea-growing areas of the world.
Finally, organic farming practices not only eliminate the runoff of chemical pesticides into the environment, they discourage their production. Even if these fertilizers are considered safe for human consumption, their unintended seepage into the surrounding environment. Importantly, this also promotes fewer greenhouse gases that result from the manufacture and distribution of the chemicals.
Drinking organically produced teas, of course, encourages the organic tea producers to continue using these low-impact farming methods while at the same time discouraging the introduction of toxic runoff into our groundwater and the environment at large. While the final product may be marginally more expensive than conventionally farmed teas, drinking organic teas has aggregate benefits to both the tea drinker and the environment. Drinking organically produced teas is good for you as well as the planet.
To brew the best quality loose leaf tea, you’ll need teaware like cast iron teapots, Yixing teapots, or kyusu teapots.
What does the USDA Organic label really mean?
