#teacrafting

Before I started crafting my own tea, I had very expensive taste in tea, and I only bought what I considered the best tea blends. But even when I was using store-bought tea or blends, I always liked adding fresh herbs to tea -- especially iced tea. Because it takes me a few days to drink a whole pitcher, and flavors get more and more intense as the herbs and fruit sit in the pitcher. It's a personal preference, and obviously something that's not really feasible 100% of the year depending on where you live (I live in Boston and clearly our growing season is short). So I do still dry a lot of herbs. But since it's summer, I thought I would do a write-up on my own (short) experience and growing herbs and adding them to tea, and how to plan a tea-ccentric garden.

Full disclosure: this was my fist year growing anything. Up until 4 months ago, my husband and I lived in a tiny condo with not-so-fab natural light. We also have 3 cats, so the window sills were already claimed for either naps or eating of said herbs any time they were placed there. But if you have the outdoor space (and it doesn't take much), or better natural light inside and no furry friends, it's totally doable -- my point is that if I can keep things alive, anyone can.

All of my herbs were planted from seeds in late April, but you can totally buy plants that are further along as early as May. I may do that next year, so don't feel like you have to grow from seeds. I just got a little enthusiastic. Also, a tip from one urban gardener to another -- you don't need a ton of herbs, especially if you're the only tea drinker in the house (this is true even for food). They go a long way, and I find myself drying out way more than I'm using fresh. (This is not the case with fruit -- plant the crap out of those babies if you want a decent amount. I have 6 strawberry plants and I get 1-2 strawberries a day. So sad.) I only planted one seed packet of each of these.

Here are this year's choices:

German Chamomile. Note the type, because there are several different kinds of chamomile. This is the "typical" kind you use in tea. I actually haven't harvested it yet because I really need a tea ball, because the middle of the flower is made up of tons of tiny little seeds and they will definitely create dregs in the tea. If that doesn't bother you though, feel free to drop them right into your tea when you brew. Also, note that only the flowers should be harvested -- you don't generally use the greenery. 

Mint. Honestly, guys, my love for mint knows no bounds. I freaking LOVE this stuff. I put it in nearly everything I drink (except for like, beer), salads, cooking... I even baked it into most of my dog's treats. And once it starts to grow, it really takes off. My father has tried to kill an overgrown mint plant in his yard for years. It can't be done. If you have managed to kill mint, I would probably recommend that you don't have kids.

A note here -- you can tell that the chamomile and mint are in the same bin, which is about the size of a washtub. Urban gardening, ya'll. Make the most of your space. This is PLENTY of mint for a house of two adults (and 4 animals). 

My herb pot. Complete with color-coding. Clearly you can see that my talent extends beyond gardening and well into visual art. 

Yellow: Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm is pretty bad ass. It has all kind of natural health and healing benefits (you can google that ish, I'm too lazy right now), but it's also the primary herb used for lemon flavoring in tea because actual lemon is too tart. True story.

Purple: Lavender 

I'm just going to go on record here and say you are majorly missing out if you don't plant this gem. It's super hearty, and clearly can be used for way more than tea. It smells AMAZING, so if you have extra, you should clip some for your house and jus stick it in water, or even melt it into wax potpourri. But yes, it's also amazing in tea.

Red: Sweet Thai Basil

Again, a choice that I use for more than tea. I make a lot of asian dishes, and this (to me) is the secret that really pushes it over the edge. But in tea, it's great, because it is decidedly sweeter than "regular" basil and blends well with fruit, sugar and honey. 

Black: Lemon Basil

I prefer this for tea because it definitely does have a lemon aroma and flavor. It's technically not the kind you use in Italian cooking (which is straight up Sweet Basil, which is also different from Sweet Thai Basil!), but I use it in sauce and it makes an awesome pesto as well. 

White: Flat Leaf Parsley; Blue: Cilantro

I don't really use these in teas. I guess you could use the cilantro if you're feeling daring, though! But c'mon guys -- these herbs are delicious. They had to go into the bunch.

Again, I would like to stress the space issue. As you can see from the picture (and compared to the watering can next to the pot), this is not a huge space. And there are 5 different kinds of herbs here! Next year I'll probably double it so I can dry more as the season comes to an end, but I'm pretty happy with it anyway. 

Ok, so your herbs are growing and look like they're ready to use (for me up in New England, that began around Memorial Day). What now? Time to harvest! The most important thing I can say about harvesting simply, DO IT. Do NOT be afraid to cut back your herbs. In fact, be afraid to let them grow too long without cutting and harvesting. If you let edibles grow too long, they go to seed and won't continue to grow any longer. In order to keep them alive and producing, you actually have to harvest them regularly. With most herbs, you should cut below the first or second full set of leaves. Pruning will also keep your herbs fully and "bunchy," instead of tall and lanky. With chamomile specifically, simply cut the flower right off at the top fo the stem. (I've even heard of people with a larger crop simply going in and using their hands as "rakes" to simply rake the flower heads right off). 

After harvesting (and WASHING, of course!!) you can either drop them into a tea ball to steep hot tea, or I drop them directly into a pitcher when I make iced tea. I'm a bit picky about when I drop the herbs in - I make my iced tea by brewing hot tea first, then I add ice to cool it down. I usually add my herbs before the ice, but after it's cooled down a bit. If you add them right after you put the hot water in, you will probably burn fresh herbs. No bueno. You can also dry them, of course. Because I have such a small garden, I simply cut the herbs as they get a bit tall for my taste, and lay them on my counter for a day or two. If you have a large garden, you can gather a decent handful, tie together and dry anywhere (some people hang them upside down, I just put them on the counter). 

Hi Friends!

I haven't posted in a while but I was asked by a Boston-based tea company to experiment with their raw tea leaves and post my teacrafting results. I've bought several batches of raw tea leaves from Boston Teawrights and I have been THRILLED with the results. Crafting and working with your own tea leaves is not only very rewarding, but the taste and health benefits can't be beat by nearly any commercial tea company. So here it goes!

This weekend I was crafting a black tea, and I'll be adding fresh blueberries and sweet thai basil. I opt for fresh herb (and fruit) additions most of the time because 1) I like the flavor better (more intense); and 2) I don't also have muslin or a cheese cloth right now to hold the herbs. But I'm picky about when I add it -- more on that later. Oh, and I forgot to mention I'll be making ICED TEA today. It's just too hot for me for hot tea right now. Calm down, purists. It's going to be delicious. Let's go through the steps:

Step 1: Lay your leaves out in ONE layer and left dry overnight. 

My experiences: When I first dried leaves, it was early spring and still cool and damp. Overnight worked like a charm, and the leaves were still moist to roll. 12 hours was definitely too much for the weather at the end of June in New England. My leaves were too dry :( (See video below)

Step 2: Rolling your tea leaves

II

As you'll see from the video, I opting to skip rolling the tea leaves. I'm pretty bummed about having to make this decision, because rolling, while a bit tedious, it the most rewarding part (I think). But I chose the integrity of the whole leaf over rolling, since rolling it designed to extrude the remaining water and NOT to break down the leaf. Also, sorry about the vertical video. I'm used to having to do it in Instagram now and it's throwing me off.

Step 3: Ferment Your Tea Leaves

I would definitely recommend consulting the black tea tutorial above (again), but when I ferment, I basically wrap the tea leaves in a very thin dish cloth and pour steaming water (about 175-195F) over them every 45 minutes or so until I achieve the proper color and aroma for the leaves.

Step 4: Drying

I apologize, I don't have a picture for this, but the good news is it's the easiest part! Once your leaves have fully fermented (as Boston Teawrights notes in the tutorial, they will turn coppery in color and the aroma will change -- to me, if becomes less stringent and more like the scent of tea we know and love!), you should once again lay them out in one layer on a cookie sheet and turn the oven down as much as possible. However, if you have a dehydrator, I would highly recommend using that instead. I have a Nesco dehydrator and I LOVE it. (You might be surprised how much you use it. It makes awesome veggie chips, fruit roll-ups and, did someone say JERKY?? Oh yeaaaah, boi.) I usually let them hang out at the lowest setting (95 degrees on mine) for 1-2 hours and VOILA! You tea leaves are ready to go!

Step 5: CREATE!

I love using fresh fruit in tea, although I'll admit it doesn't really infuse for a few days, and not to the extent the herbs do. (Although if you want to dehydrate your berries you can can steep them with the tea!) This tea was very basil-heavy, which was fine with me, but just note the proportions for one pitcher of tea. 

As you'll see below, I did use a tea ball because I finished the batch at my parent's house and my mom has a tea ball. But I usually use a single-serving self-steeping tea cup from Teavana, and I steep the same leaves 3 times. I also do what most purists would consider "oversteeping," which means I usually leave my leaves about 5-7 minutes. It works for me, and my tea leaves go a LONG way. Once I've got my three sets of steeped water in the pitcher, I add the herbs & the fruit, and let it steep for an additional 10 min or so. Then I -- get ready... deep breath... -- fill the entire rest of the pitcher with fresh ice. Hey, teacrafting is all about being unique, right? Here's the finished product below, which was DELICIOUS.