STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 21 Trustworthy advising ... Use our knowledge to your benefit. With our outstanding experience in tea buying and blend development, we offer you high-quality teas, sophisticated formulations and latest tea innovations. Independently. Personally. Since 1992. Get an impression of us: www.kktee.de Chiu Leong processing freshly picked tea buds and leaves. Photo credit: Tea Hawaii & Co istry of tea is a long-term skill passed down from generation to generation, so Lee believes in building others up and creating an environment where every tea grower can thrive and pass on their knowledge. "After all the years of research and collaboration with institutions as well as private consumers, it's very clear to me that there is great potential to scale up to meet these demands," adds Lee. The fu- ture resides in cooperation, collaboration, and community. Matcha Madness Here and Abroad As demand for matcha continues to dominate the tea industry, US domestic tea grow- ers are looking to cash in. Lee has witnessed this firsthand with a surge in orders from new farms, primarily in Washington and Oregon, for propagated plant stock. She says their goal is to produce commercially viable matcha in as few as five years, so they are eschewing growing tea plants from seed, a much longer, more inconsistent method. Lee jokes, "That's why we call that the 20-year plan. Because they're not true to seed, there's a long period of time before there's consistency." Lee says that while plantations with commercial production are established enough to conduct long-term experiments on cultivar development, new growers wanting to enter commercial pro- duction as soon as possible must rely on propagated plant stock of known cultivars suited to their environments. On Hawaii Island, Lee has witnessed the beginnings of several new tea growers. "These growers are really just getting started," she says, explaining that some are just about to hit that 5-year mark where they'll be able to begin commercial production. Hawaii tea growers have also relied on propagated plant stock for their own operations. Past CTAHR studies have examined cultivars from Camellia sinensis var. assamica and var. sinensis to cultivars such as Bohea and Yabikata, assessing which varietals are best suited to the region and for production needs. A Hawaii-specific cultivar is, however, still on the horizon. "Public institutions are transitioning focus due to lack of research funding," Lee notes. With public funding for research on Hawaii-grown tea waning, any research on developing a local tea cultivar is only happening in the private sector. Resiliency and Sustainability in Hawaii's Agriculture Hawaii, by nature of its remoteness and global popularity, walks a difficult line. Despite a 52-week growing season, the state imports 85% of its food. Consumer goods and ag- ricultural inputs also follow this trend, lending to concerns about the state's resiliency in the face of a changing climate and world. Resiliency and sustainability are at the heart of Hawaii's agriculture, reflected in UHM's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources officially changing its name to the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience in 2024. Amjad Ahmad, PhD, is an extension agent of sustainable and organic agriculture at UHM, whose work focuses on improving the sustainability and resilience of Hawaii's agricultural industry, tea included. "Crop diversity and variety selection are big focuses here in Hawaii because of pest pressure," says Ahmad. The goal is to reduce growers' reliance on imported inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizers. One of Ahmad's current research projects involves using a two-layer kiln to con- vert invasive plants into biochar without external energy input. He explains that while

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