Planning new tea garden...

[digitS']

Llama Gardener, here is Lesa talking about drying herbs just a few days ago: Drying herbs...

Here we are last winter and continuing right up to this very day in 2010 talking about herbal teas:

A Favorite Tea?

Steve

 

[Collector]

Lesa, sounds like a fun project with lots of possibilities. Growing and drying your own tea's is a good idea if you like drinking tea. You might want to google penny royal tea before you plant some though LOL you dont want to drink anything toxic. Of course penny royal tea may be different from the kind I have heard of!

 

[thistlebloom]

Here we are last winter and continuing right up to this very day in 2010 talking about herbal teas:

A Favorite Tea?

Steve

I enjoyed reading that so much that I'm having tea instead of coffee this a.m.. I have anise hyssop, one of my favorite ornamentals, and I grow several different kinds of mints, and lemon balm, and feverfew, lots of beebalm ( monarda didyma, which I think is what they use in Earl Grey?)
And... if I think harder there's probably other tea material out there...
BUT, I've never made any of them into tea! You have all inspired me to get off my duff and experiment with it this year. :coolsun

 

[lesa]

How funny is that, Steve... you can see where our minds go in the cold, dark winter! I really was going to do this last year- but I got kind of lazy. I did harvest a bunch of tarragon and oregano. I hung these up in my attic and "remembered" them when I was putting Christmas decorations away...
Brought the bunches downstairs, stripped the leaves and put them in jars. What??? That is all there is to it? Yup! They are delicious, I have been using them every night. So, even when my summer is crazy- I'll take a few minutes and hang some herbs in the attic. When winter comes and I am longing for some tea- I will have it!
The price of organic herbal tea will be all the motivation I need!

 

[ninnymary]

Lesa..Am I understanding you right? You drink tea made from tarragon and oregano? If so, I've never heard of that.

Mary

 

[lesa]

I knew I should have made that clearer...no, I don't make tea out of those- but when I realized how easy they were to dry, I figured tea herbs would be easy too!!! Don't try oregano tea- yuck!!

 

[Ariel301]

Tea can be made from oregano, but it's not a pleasant drink. It's a wonderful antiviral/antibacterial though, if you can stomach it. I can't, so I use oregano essential oil in a capsule, so I don't have to taste it, that stuff BURNS going down!

Lemongrass is good, I'd also add horehound as a good cough remedy, lavender is nice for a relaxing bedtime tea, catnip is a mild lemony flavor that is also supposed to be relaxing (think Sleepytime tea), various mints, stevia makes a pretty good addition for a sweeter tea, you can use alpine strawberry (leaves and fruit) in teas, and marsh-mallow (not the white sugary kind, the flower) is nice for when you have colds/coughs. Rose petals and rosehips are nice if you like floral flavors, the hips are a little bit fruity tasting and also high in vitamin C.

Tea plants for growing white/green/black tea (they all come from one plant) are out there, but there's not many suppliers and they're rather pricey. I'd love to get some though. The problem is, you have to keep your hands off for a couple years at least so they can grow big enough.

 

[greengenes]

I live in Florida, where contrary to what most people think, we can't grow everything. by the time it warms up enough to grow, our nights are too hot.
But I would love to grow some bergamot. Do any of you know what it's requirements are? I would hate to invest in more seed just have them not thrive. I have to go with the idea that if it isn't here already then there is a reason for it.
Any other Florida tea gardeners?
can you substitute blackberry leaves for raspberry?
and I suppose i must have Russian tarragon, how do I get French?
thanks.

 

[thistlebloom]

Well I just learned something, I have always thought that the bergamot in Earl Grey tea was from the monarda didyma. Now I have no clue where that came from, I was just looking it up and, hmmm...
guess I just made it up....
Sorry Greengenes, I know I'm not helpful, but I was going to try to be!
Apparently Bergamot is a sour citrus type fruit and the dried rind is what is used to flavor things. And thats all I know.
BUT... if you did want an aromatic leaf to use as tea, you could use monarda didyma...also known as beebalm.

 

[digitS']

I am going to take a shot at a couple of these, not necessarily in order:

. . .I suppose i must have Russian tarragon, how do I get French?
thanks.

I am fairly sure that you had better NOT buy tarrogon seeds or you are liable to be growing more Russian tarragon, no matter what the seed packet says. Find the plants somewhere reputable.

. . . can you substitute blackberry leaves for raspberry? . . .

I'm sure that it would taste different. You should give it a try to see if you like it. Raspberry leaves are very tasty in tea.

I live in Florida, where contrary to what most people think, we can't grow everything. by the time it warms up enough to grow, our nights are too hot.
But I would love to grow some bergamot. . .

Wild bergamot flowers are used in tea by some folks. I bought the seed one year . . . the plants never bloomed.

Winter came and went and the wild bergamot survived. So, I took care of the plants and they failed to bloom in their 2nd year!! I don't know what happened to them after that - I wasn't pleased in the least, using the leaves. Had a "medicinal" taste :/. Probably better to grow Monarda didyma as Thistle' suggests.

But see, you live in Florida where there is a much longer season and you can grow everything! Right?

(I understand that Wild bergamot [Monarda fistulosa] is a weed in many parts of the country and does just fine blooming on its own . . . )

Steve