Tea?

[forestwalker]

Time to collect more tea for the winter. My usual mix is rosebay
willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium), meadowsweet (Filipendual ulmaria,
common nettle (Urtica diocia). Often also some mint, blackcurrant, wild
raspberry, but that depends on what I find.

What is your favourite tea?

[Toddy]

Sounds good

Funnily enough l collected the meadowsweet yesterday before the rain came

I like a mix of raspberry, blackcurrant & strawberry leaves with a little mallow flower, yarrow and lemon balm. I have a very tasty spearmint growing in the garden and I like that one just on it's own
I'm also fond of the elderflower & lady's mantle, sometimes mugwort and catnip but I like the red clover and heartsease too.

It varies; I dry loads of different things and mix them up as need or notion takes me at the time.

cheers,
Toddy

[forestwalker]

The fun thing is when people try it and then respond in a surpriced voice "this is actually good!".

My problem with the mints is that you have to pick the variety, or it will end up tasting like toothpaste...

Not enough strawberries to make a significant amount of tea in our garden. And no elders in the vicinity, which is a pity; there is a wonderful cheesecake in Forme of Cury that calls for them.

[Paganwolf]

.................PG tips....

[comeonbabylightmyfire]

Yes please. Strong, no sugar and a splash of milk. I don't know that I have a favourite.

[rik_uk3]

Stop messing with stewing flowers, get a proper Welsh brew down you

http://www.snackmix.co.uk/catalogue-...drinks-p2.html

[forestwalker]

It simply *can't* be just me and Toddy that collects our own herbal teas.

[forestwalker]

Stop messing with stewing flowers, get a proper Welsh brew down you

No flowers for me, just the leaves, please. While I like more-or-less normal black tea, the wild herbals are nice, free for the picking and IMNSHO a definite buchcraft skill.

[addo]

Hi Forestwalker, do you mix the rosebay, meadowsweet and nettle together and in equal quantities?
I love a brew, currently drinking some "normalitea" but often try a blackberry one.
Cheers.

[forestwalker]

Hi Forestwalker, do you mix the rosebay, meadowsweet and nettle together and in equal quantities?
I love a brew, currently drinking some "normalitea" but often try a blackberry one.
Cheers.

it depends on mood, so there are no set proportions. Lots of the easy to gather stuff (meadowsweet and rosebay willowherb), less of the more labour intensive stuff. Not too much mint. Some years I mix it all up when I put it in jars, some years I store each herb in separate jars and mix according to mood and availablility.

The meadowsweet and rosebay willowherb is real easy; cut an armfull or two of stems and hang in a dry, shady and well ventilated space (i.e. in the old hay-loft). When dry collect the leaves. Nettles can be managed the same way, but I allways get slightly stung (I'm fairly resistant, but it does itch a little for 10 minutes or so). The nettle stalks will of course go into cordage.

Hmm, mayber I'll collect a lot of nettle this year, and spend some time during the winter making cordage. A nettle tumpline?

[Toddy]

I've ben thinking about this; real tea isn't just picked and dried, it's rolled, crushed, 'fermented' before it's dried. It makes for a better cuppa.
*How* we dry affects the tea and it's taste.
I roll the leaves between my hands and turn them several times a day for the first day and then dry them quickly. I think it makes for a better tea.

Rosebay willowherb in particular is known to be a better partially fermented tea. Even just rolling a bunch of the leaves into a small palms of hand ball and drying that makes for a better result.

The strawberry eleaves, even from the wild strawberries, makes a very good tea Forestwalker. They're a weed in my garden, I could send a couple of small offsets safely through the post ?
They survive quite happily in the shade under the trees near the burn and around my back garden pond. Tiny wee sweet fruits

cheers,
Toddy

[addo]

Thanks for the advice.
I have a nice patch of wild strawberries, and a seporate one of cultivated. Might try these along with the others and try different mixes.

[drewdunnrespect]

Boys and girls will please realise your all wrong cos when it comes hot
Drinks its coffee and I don't mean this instant rubbish I mean proper
Americano coffee

Now if your making its black two sugars and strong enough to stand ur
Tea spoon in

The tea hater drew

[Tadpole]

I only use tea to kill slugs so it doesn't matter what kind.

[rik_uk3]

No flowers for me, just the leaves, please. While I like more-or-less normal black tea, the wild herbals are nice, free for the picking and IMNSHO a definite buchcraft skill.

I'd rather drink warm water, I've tried lots of herbal herby stuff, some from the Carabean was pretty good in cakes..... Don't mind a green tea but stewing leaves ain't a bushcraft skill, its a "oops I forgot the tea bags" excuse.

[Toddy]

Speak for yourself
I'm a tea jenny and I still collect wild herbs for mine

M

[forestwalker]

I've ben thinking about this; real tea isn't just picked and dried, it's rolled, crushed, 'fermented' before it's dried. It makes for a better cuppa.
*How* we dry affects the tea and it's taste.
I roll the leaves between my hands and turn them several times a day for the first day and then dry them quickly. I think it makes for a better tea.

Rosebay willowherb in particular is known to be a better partially fermented tea. Even just rolling a bunch of the leaves into a small palms of hand ball and drying that makes for a better result.

Hmm, must try that, I hope it will not be to far gone in the season in another two weeks when I get back home. No way to dry anything in any advanced manner when here at work I know about the difference in the "brutal" drying I use and proper tea-treatment, but for some reason have never thought of trying it on the herbals.

The strawberry eleaves, even from the wild strawberries, makes a very good tea Forestwalker. They're a weed in my garden, I could send a couple of small offsets safely through the post ?
They survive quite happily in the shade under the trees near the burn and around my back garden pond. Tiny wee sweet fruits

Strawberries do grow here, but I'm pretty far to the north, so not all varietys will thrive. I appreciate the offer, but I suspect that locallity might be too big a factor.

[bilmo-p5]

... stewing leaves ain't a bushcraft skill, its a "oops I forgot the tea bags" excuse.

What tosh!

[Harvestman]

Hmm, wild leaves tea. Interesting idea. Will have to try that...

Thanks for the suggestion.

[forestwalker]

Hmm, must try that, I hope it will not be to far gone in the season in another two weeks when I get back home. No way to dry anything in any advanced manner when here at work I know about the difference in the "brutal" drying I use and proper tea-treatment, but for some reason have never thought of trying it on the herbals.

Tested a batch, and can now report on the result. It definitely tastes more "tea-like" than just plain dried leaves. A bit like a decent sencha, but not quite.

I rolled the leaves in my hands, allowed to ferment a bit while drying slowly (i.e. left in piles on newspapers for 2 weeks), then spread out to dry more fully.

[Brewers Whoop]

Any chance of putting up something of a basic 'how-to' for the interested but uninformed, please?

[forestwalker]

Wild tea how-to.

At the most basic it is dead simple. Gather plants (known non-toxic!), either whole and hand by bundles or as leaves and leave on e.g. newspapers on screens in a dry, shady and well ventilated place. In the latter case turning gently every few days will help. When dry (crumbly) store on a opague fairly airtight container.

As a more advance step one can ferment the leaves slightly, buy rolling them in your hands and storing in "piles" in the same place as you ae going to dry them for a week or three, and then spreading them out to dry throughtly.

[rik_uk3]

Had a panic, Tesco were out of stock of
http://www.welshbrewtea.co.uk/

Back in stock so just got 20 boxes, panic over.