#tea recommendations

first things first you’re gonna need to make sure you have White Pine Trees growing naturally in your area. These are the pine needles needed for this tea (we won’t be using tea leaves for this.) DO NOT i repeat DO NOT just grab any plant you see that looks/smells looks like pine THATS HOW YOU DIE. Instead, look for this:

Make SURE the needles have 5 needles per. Thing. idk what they’re called. If it helps, you have 5 fingers, so do the pines you’re looking for. The needles should be about 2 inches long (around 5 cm). Thats what you’re looking for. (I’m probably bad at explaining and may have missed something so just in case GO TO A PROPER WEBSITE and double check. Always double check. Don’t Die. Here’s a better website: https://blog.davey.com/do-i-have-a-white-pine/)

now: DONT TAKE TOO MUCH. For about 2 cups of this tea, you’ll need about 4 tbs worth of needles (condensed). When harvesting, don’t take all off of one branch. Try and spread it out so you don’t hurt the tree. You can harvest more for storage to use later, but i wouldn’t take any more than a (medium) ziplocks bag worth of needles off of one tree. Any branches that are on the ground that still have healthy, green needles on them are fair game though. (But even Then that belongs to the fungus and bugs. Don’t clear the forest floor)

ok good job you got the needles 👍👍👍

Now for preparation

WASH WASH WASH WASH WASH THEM. WASH THE NEEDLES I DONT CARE IF THEYRE JUST GONNA GO INTO BOILING WATER ANYWAY WASH THEM. Don’t use boiling water, a good thorough rinse in the sink with a strainer should do the trick. Yes the needles are gonna get annoyingly stuck in the strainer you just gotta have patience

Once the washing is done, gently dab them with a drying apparatus. Then take a knife and cut those suckers up. Not TOO small, a cm in length should be good. Then after THAT, you gotta smush them a bit. Gently press down on them with something flat and curved, like the back of a spoon. DONT crush them, just soften them up a little. Great job yay ok Next

Put the little guys in a paper towel. Make sure you wrap them up really well. Then do it again. And then maybe one more time. Now put them in a cool, dark environment for about 3-7 days. They gotta Dry and become Crispy

While you’re waiting for that, you can go shopping for the rest of the ingredients assuming you don’t have them already.

You’re gonna need:

honey (uh, maybe like 1-1 1/2 tablespoons?)

ginger powder stuff (the seasoning [a gentle tap])

Ground cinnamon (also a seasoning [Mean tap- 2 of them])

nutmeg (seasoning [VERY gently tap. Maybe 2])

a little brown sugar (i don’t even know if this did anything imma be real but I put it in so it Might have done something. 1/3-1/2 tea spoon)

Great now assuming you’ve waited till your needles are dry: we can make it now! Throw in your ingredients

put in the honey and cinnamon with like a TINY TINY bit of water so you can mix them together well. Then throw in the other stuff and mix that too. Preferably do this while your water is on the kettle cuz that water is gonna need to be boiling hot.

this is definitely best done with a separate steeping device like a teapot- that’s how i did this (cast iron works great)- but you could probably figure something else out if need be. Idk use one of the mug sized steepers that go in the cup i think those work. Get one of the Things and put your now hopefully decently dry needles in it.

Once your kettle is making aggressive noises, pour the water over the needles. now Sit and Wait for 10 minutes because that’s how long this thing takes to steep I’m not even kidding. This isn’t your nice tea leaf steeping, these guys are robust. Once the steeping is complete, remove the needles and DRINK because that drink took so much prep that it partly didn’t even feel worth it BUT IT WILL IF YOU SIP IT PROPERLY. You HAVE to make that loud sipping noise Because it allows air to get into your mouth whilst the tea does simultaneously. It allows you to extract the flavor better. Don’t take big gulps otherwise you’ll finish your drink before you taste it.

Your needles can be used for a few more steeps so if you wanna you can just put them back into whatever steeping body you used and once your finished with your drink, just make another with the same ones. Don’t save these when your done though- just throw them out.