If you are a tea-lover, then check out all of the different plants below that can be grown in your backyard for fresh, home-grown beverages.
Tea Plant – You might not know that you can grow real tea in Florida. It isn’t a commercial crop here, so you don’t usually hear about it. It is a plant in the Camellia family and prefers morning sun and afternoon shade to thrive. The newest leaves are harvested for tea-making and do require a little preparation to be ready for brewing. See below for at-home tea-making instructions.
Lemon Grass – and Lemon Balm are great additions to tea. In fact, Lemon Grass also goes by the name Fever Grass and can be brewed by itself to make a tea that can help reduce fevers.
Chamomile – is known for its relaxing properties and is often an ingredient in stress-relief and sleepy-time tea mixes. For this type of tea, you don’t use the leaves but use the dainty little flowers.
Herbs – Mint, Basil, Rosemary, and Lavender are just a few herbs that can be used to brew delicious drinks. Many have medicinal and antiseptic properties of one sort or another, and all provide delicious flavor depending on what you are in the mood for.
Yerba Mate – This plant (Ilex paraguariensis) is in the Ilex family, which also includes common holly bushes. The leaves of this particular species are dried and brewed into a tea that contains caffeine for energy and antioxidants for general immune system boosting.
There is always something new to grow in the garden and something fresh to harvest. Enjoy the fruits of your labor with some of these backyard beverages.
How to Make Tea (information courtesy of Pine Island Nursery):
Plucking – Cut off twigs with 2-3 younger, fresher leaves, then pull off the individual leaves. This also prunes the bush and encourages new growth, for more tea!
Withering – Lay the freshly-picked leaves out on a sheet of paper in a warm, dry place for 24 hours to wither and lose about 40% of their moisture.
Rolling
-Japanese Style Green Tea – Roll the leaves long ways as tightly as possible between both hands to produce long twists of whole leaf.
-Orthodox Indian Tea – Roll the leaves in a circular motion using both hands. Press together as hard as possible to crush and break the leaves. Put the leaves in a paper bag for a day or two to ferment and lose some of their “greenness” and to develop a drier tea character. Remove the stalks and stems and roll briefly.
Drying – Place on a sheet of foil in a warm oven, below 245° F, for a maximum of 5 minutes. This dries the leaf and stops further fermentation. Be careful not to burn the tea!
Brewing – Green tea will brew in water slightly under boiling for 1 – 2 minutes. For standard tea, brew in boiling water for 3 – 5 minutes. The harder you roll the tea, the stronger it will be.