thinking about making some homemade teas.

[mopinko]

so, i am looking at value added products for my farm, which is where the real money is, imho.
i have offered things like dried strawberry and raspberry leaves for teas in the past, but they didnt really sell. but i think that complete tea mixes would do better.

i am working on a batch of wood sorrel and lemon balm tea. it is a delicious and refreshing summer drink. i think enhancing it w a little dried lemon zest would be a winner.
i have a lot of mints, which i will try next.
i have a lot of berries, but dont know what else to throw in to build out flavors. dehydrated berries are a possibility.

i am not married to all herbal teas. adding some flavors to a good commercial tea is an avenue i think i will pursue.

any gardener/tea drinkers here?

[Xipe Totec]

1. Hibiscus nt

[no_hypocrisy]

13. YES ! ! !

[applegrove]

2. Sri Lanka's put cardamon seeds in their tea. It is yummy. Cardamom has to

be one of my favourite spices.

[procon]

3. Start with a base of real tea leaves, then add your own flavoring ingredients.

I mix up my own custom tea blends using plain bulk tea leaves and then add the flavors, spices and herbs I like. I use my dehydrator to dry cranberries, citrus, fruits, leaves and fresh herbs to mix with the tea leaves. Many leaves, seeds, roots and flowers, like rose hips and petals, mint leaves, or fennel adds a licorice taste, ginger root, lemongrass, just use the things you like or what you have on hand to create unique tastes and aromas.

To market your teas look for the properties of the ingredients, like it might be relaxing or calming, or good for an upset tummy. Perhaps it they are high in certain vitamins, or organically grown. You mention wood sorrel which has diuretic properties and aids digestion, so that might be another sales angle.

[mopinko]

5. need to grow some lemon grass.

trying to focus on what i grow, but if they go well, i will broaden that to make better teas. it seem like an easy way to do a high value product.

do you do fennel seeds? i have that one. what else would you add to that?

[Kali]

8. plain and candy coated fennel seeds are popular Indian after-meal "mint"

also good in Italian sausage - do you have sage and maybe hot pepper? look up sausage seasoning, you might have a mix you could market.

[mopinko]

9. hot peppers are a specialty. thinking of making some spice mixes, also.

dried hot pepper salt mixes should be popular, and mixed w a couple other tastes should be good. have a lot of basil flowers right now. gonna do some vinegars, but they would do good in a salt, too.

have everything from hot bananas to trinidad scorpions and ghosts.

and yeah, i love those candy fennel seeds. great after a big meal. i wonder how that works. now i have to spend some quality time w the google.

[procon]

10. For a licorice flavored tea, I start with a green tea base.

I dehydrate the fennel fronds and any leftover parts and then roughly grind them when they are dry, but I had to order 1 lbs fennel seed from a spice company. The mix that I make is 3 parts green tea leaves, 2 parts dried fennel, 1 part fennel seeds. It has a nice, subtle licorice taste and aroma, not overpowering. I read that fennel is supposed to be good for the tummy.

I make a very tasty and aromatic spice tea starting with black tea leaves, pickling spices and dried citrus. In the winter I add a splash of good cabernet or a merlo to take the chill off.

You can use almost anything, and you're lucky you can grow things to make really interesting custom tea blends.

[Bladewire]

4. Orange spice tea

It's the best!

[locks]

6. I really like

gingko tea; it's supposed to be a circulatory stimulant and brain tonic. Not sure how you raise the leaves but gingkos are the only trees that survived the Hiroshima bomb 70 years ago today.

[mopinko]

7. hmm. dont think it is worth it to me to plant a tree just for leaves for tea.

and dont really want to go off to far into the whole herbal health debate.

if i plant a tree, it needs to give me more than leaves. it needs to give me fruit or nuts.

[procon]

11. If you are going for herbal teas, or tisanes made without any real tea leaves,

those would probably sell really well as a artisinal, country style product emphasizing locally grown plants. Tisanes are labeled by what part of the plant they come from, so you could utilize everything with little waste.

[Texasgal]

12. I really like making peach ice tea

in the summer when I can get hill country peaches.

I chop them and stick them in a sun container along with several bags of tea ( Usually whatever I have on hand ) I'll add a cup of simple syrup and let it sit for a few hours outside. I then strain and add ice cold water! BOOM! Best summer drink on the planet!