Q&A: Angela McDonald

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Angela McDonald took on the role of president for the US League of Tea Growers in 2019. She has owned Oregon Tea Traders in Eugene, Oregon since 2011 and currently teaches classes about growing and drinking tea across the country. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oregon.

How did you get interested in tea to begin with, and what led you to work in the tea industry?

I have always loved tea, but like most people, I grew up on tea bags, and had no idea about loose leaf tea, or where tea came from. In my early 20s, I lived in India and Tibet for three years, marrying a Tibetan refugee while I was there. I was exposed to teas that I had never heard of before and saw tea brewed in ways I never imagined. Since we had to boil our water anyway, we drank tea all day long (mostly Hei Cha) instead of water.

When I returned from my travels, I went back to school and finished my degree in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oregon, then quickly discovered that my degree did not give me any kind of a career path. My husband and I wanted the flexibility to be able to travel back to India and Tibet, and we wanted children, but I was opposed to having them in day care full-time. Few careers seemed to fit into those parameters. Through an odd coincidence, I met a local woman who had started a tea company but had never really gotten it off the ground, so she wanted to sell it. I had never thought of being self-employed before but was excited by the possibilities, so we purchased the company and named it Labrang Tea Traders, after the region of Tibet that my husband was from. Two kids and a divorce later, we re-named it Oregon Tea Traders.

Around 2014, I heard that tea was growing in Oregon, and I was completely fascinated by the thought of growing tea here in the US. I bought some tea seeds from Nigel Melican in 2015 and began growing my own plants. I am currently working to create a group of Oregon Tea Growers (similar to an agricultural cooperative) here in my home state. My goal is to be able to combine my passion for local agriculture, tea growing/production, education and, of course, drinking tea to expand the industry.

Tell us about your role as president of the US League of Tea Growers. What does the organization do, and what are your goals for its evolution?

The US League of Tea Growers acts as a resource hub for growers in the US. We encourage growers to work together in regional groups and facilitate finding other growers in their region. We have two specialists who can answer questions from members. We hold an annual meeting in various locations around the country to get hands-on experience with growing and processing tea. On our Facebook page and website, we have a variety of useful resources for growers, videos, and pictures. We also work on larger issues, such as research funding, germplasm collection, and bringing universities together to collaborate on research.

How would you evaluate the state of the global tea industry today (both pre-Covid-19 and now)? Where does the US fit into this scenario — as both a consuming country and a producing country?

The American-grown tea industry is in a very interesting place right now. It is still very small but with growing demand that tea farmers are struggling to keep up with. The farm-to-table and locavore movements have been going strong, and people want more than ever to know where their food comes from. Tea has always been mysterious to most Americans because it is grown and processed across the world, and there is such a wide variety of teas that it is hard to imagine how it all comes from the same leaf. Terroir also plays a crucial role in the resulting flavor profile, and people don’t realize how much difference there is between teas from different regions of the world. The experience of seeing tea grow and be processed has been revolutionary for tea enthusiasts across the US, and there is a huge demand among consumers for domestically grown tea.

Gardening in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic has exploded, as everyone is looking to secure their own food supplies. If you look at history, the few times that the government has invested in growing tea in the US have been during times of conflict, when there was fear that our supply of tea would be cut off. The experiments were abandoned each time as trade routes opened back up. For a variety of reasons (mainly labor shortages, rising cost of labor, and environmental changes), it is not going to be as easy going forward to get the same “cheap” teas that we are used to. The time is right to begin growing tea in the US. It’s the only way to assure our supply continues.

The specialty tea market is still going strong. People are moving away from coffee, soda, juices, and other beverages, and many are switching to tea. I often call commodity tea the “gateway tea” for most people, as that is where they start, but more and more people are moving from tea bags into specialty teas. The availability of a wide variety of high-quality teas has been expanding each year, though that availability could be inhibited this year due to Covid-19. Some harvests, such as the prized Darjeeling first flush, were lost due to the inability to get tea pluckers into the fields. Shipping has also been slowed and, in some cases, stopped. 2020 harvests are trickling into the country slowly, but we may not have the availability and selection of previous years. That could mean that there will be a greater emphasis on teas that can age such as Puerh and Hei Cha, but that remains to be seen.

Commodity tea is moving away from India and China to countries such as Kenya and Argentina, and I don’t see that trend changing any time soon. Covid-19 will not likely slow the availability or price of commodity tea.

How does Oregon currently fit in the global picture?

Oregon has the potential to have a very important role in both global tea production and consumption. Our climate gives us a unique opportunity to grow a wide range of crops, and we have long been known for our food innovation, often being on the forefront of trends both in food manufacturing and farming. Portland, in particular, already has a very robust tea culture that is quickly spreading around the state. Some of the first specialty tea companies, such as Tao of Tea, were born in Oregon, and more are popping up left and right as the industry expands.

Tea grows in temperate climates with high humidity, good drainage, and acidic soil. It is often compared to blueberries because its growing conditions are so similar. Though tea is a hearty crop once its established, it can be difficult to get to maturity. Due to Oregon’s robust blueberry industry, Oregon State University and the extension office have done extensive research on acid-loving crops and have ample information for establishing crops that need similar conditions. Oregon is one of the states in the US that has a very hospitable situation for tea production.

What are the challenges of growing tea in Oregon? What problems does it solve?

Oregon has a shorter growing season than states in the South and Hawaii, which can mean a smaller yield. However, we do not have the extreme temperatures that the South does. When tea gets too cold or hot, it goes dormant, but Oregon’s temperature ranges are much more temperate than many other states.

How are Oregon growers addressing the threat of climate change?

At the moment, it is difficult to know what the effects of climate change will be on Oregon’s potential to grow tea. Unfortunately, in addition to the warming effects, it brings a great deal of unpredictability. More extreme weather patterns will begin to occur, and since these will be unpredictable, it is hard toprepare for them. However, tea is a very resilient crop once it’s established, and if the bushes are properly structured, they can withstand a wide range of extreme weather patterns. Water supply is a big issue for growers worldwide, and though Oregon’s climate has been getting much drier over time, we are better situated to maintain a consistent water supply than many states.

What is the primary market for Oregon-grown tea? Local, national, international?

Tea is a very terroir-specific crop, just like wine. Tea from different regions of the world are famous for their specific flavors, and those are hard, if not impossible, to replicate in other climates. When people talk to me about growing tea in Oregon, they’re often looking for a specific cultivar of tea that is used to make their favorite Chinese or Japanese green tea. I always suggest that, instead of trying to replicate other teas — the best they can hope for is to make something similar, and it will usually lead to disappointment — try to create something that tastes really good and is unlike anything else in the world. The wine industry is a fantastic example of how important regional flavors are in establishing a market. When Oregon wineries were trying to replicate French wines, they were not successful. Once they began creating their own flavor profiles that were very good, and unlike anything else in the world, they became famous and the value of their wines skyrocketed. Oregon has a unique opportunity to establish its own flavor profile, meaning that it could be sold anywhere in the world as a premium product that cannot be reproduced.

How do you view the role of tea education in relation to industry professionals and consumers? What’s the best way for people to learn about tea?

Education plays a crucial role in the tea industry. Tea production is not well known, particularly in the West, because it happens so far away from us. I love teaching about tea because it is one of those subjects about which the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. Though you hear about “tea masters” around the world, I don’t believe that anyone can truly know everything about tea, even after a lifetime of studying it.

Someone may master one specific aspect, but tea is so versatile that there is always more to learn. For me, it became an obsession. Every year’s tea are different from the last. A black tea from Darjeeling is completely different from an Assam. Puerh teas, which are still not well known in the US, can be aged for 100+ years and can be worth their weight in gold. Tea is also like wine, in that respect. People can study it their whole lives, university programs can be devoted to it, scholars can opine about it — and yet, there is always more to learn.

The more people learn about tea, the more they enjoy it. One of the things that first drew me to tea was the fact that it combined all of my favorite subjects; anthropology, art history, pottery, agriculture, food science. Plus, it is one of the few material objects that I find priceless pleasure in consuming. Tea is versatile: It can wake, calm, heal, stimulate, warm, cool, nourish, and comfort.

There are teas to suit every taste and temperament. When people begin drinking tea, they may not like it because commodity teas, especially green teas, can taste very flat, harsh, and bitter. If they take the time to look into tea further, they will discover that not all teas are created equal, and they will find the teas they like and stories about tea that fascinate and inspire them. For these reasons, and more, education is critical to a successful tea industry.

The best way for people to learn about tea is to drink it. As they drink more and more, it’s great to join classes about tea. Start with the basics, as it can get overwhelming quickly. If there are no classes nearby, there are more and more online education programs, and Covid-19 is rapidly expanding their availability. Tea is best consumed in groups, because tea is a great community experience, but for some it is a more intimate experience.

People often find other “tea friends” with whom they can share their love and curiosity about tea, both in person and online. There are many good books about tea available now, as well as blogs. Ultimately, people should drink as many different teas as possible, take notes on their experiences, do some research, and talk to others about them. People often ask me how they know if a tea is good, and I always say, “If it tastes good and makes you feel good, it is a good tea.” People do not need to feel judged by their tastes in tea.