How we Grow and Preserve our Own Tea

This post describes how we grow and preserve our own tea, and also my own journey of ‘tea’ discovery. Before embarking on this explanation, however, let’s quickly look at why tea is so important.

What is tea and why is it so important?

Tea is actually only formally recognised as ‘tea’ if it contains leaves from the Camellia Sinesis bush. This includes black and green tea which are actually the result of different methods of preparing the leaves. Most tea is grown in Asia. Having said this, ‘tea’ can be made from other things, though the correct term should then be tisanes if it is not made from the Camellia Sinesis plant. However, few people know or care to make this distinction, and I will be referring to the more vernacular term in this post.

Tea as most people refer to it, can be made from a variety of leaves, fruits, and herbs to which boiling water is added. It constitutes the second most popular drink in the world, after water. But tea isn’t just a drink. It has become ritualised across the world – from the humble ‘afternoon tea‘ we celebrate in England, through to the more elaborate ceremonies seen in places like China and Japan.

When researching for this post I came across some fascinating articles discussing the ritualistic connotations of tea. I have included a couple of the links above, but as this isn’t the purpose of this post I won’t discuss them here. What I will say is that it is fascinating how throughout the world tea holds such a central role in custom, culture and community life.

The English love their tea

There is something that I have noticed about virtually every English expat who I have met here and that is their craving for English teabags!  I must admit that when we first ventured over here sixteen years ago we too yearned for this particular beverage.  In fact, we made it a priority whenever we came over that we brought with us a copious supply. Let’s face it, English people are weaned on tea; it is synonymous with nurture and comfort.

When we actually ventured to move  here full time, it became a stipulation to any of our guests to also bring with them a generous offering, particularly of the Yorkshire variety.  After living here for a number of years, however, our supply ran out. With no more guests on the horizon, I began my quest for a replacement tea, or “chai” as it is known here!

Commercial quality tea

Even before leaving England I became aware of the sub standard quality of many tea manufacturers’ none biodegradable packages of tea. One only has to sample loose tea, and in particular ‘gun powder’, to begin to understand that the standard supermarket variety is not the most pure or ethical of products.

At this point in my tea journey, however, I sought to replace our English teabags with teabags that appeared on the shelves here. Tea bags here tend to be made from mint, the Bulgarians seem to like mint chai. I wasn’t impressed. Mint doesn’t preserve well when dried, and the tea bags were no exception. I next sampled a commercial lemon tea which comes in small sachets and contains a sweetener. Having reduced my sugar consumption radically a few years previously, this sickly brew left me feeling nauseous.

My tea journey begins in earnest

Then we were presented with some “Bulgarian tea” by a neighbour. It was literally a handful of dried twigs and leaves, and we weren’t quite sure what to do with it. But, spurred on by our neighbour’s enthusiasm for its life giving properties we gave it a try. This is when my tea journey began in earnest. We now know that this is actually Sideritis Scardica and it grows on our mountains. It is also known as ‘Greek Mountain’ tea (Northern Greece was once part of Bulgaria) or ‘Shepherds’ tea, and its health properties are immense. We steep the tea in a pot with an integral strainer, and then sometimes add a little honey. It is now our standard breakfast tea in winter.

How I began to grow and preserve our own tea

Once I realised that ‘tea’ doesn’t have to come in tea bags, I was liberated! I began in earnest to grow and preserve our own tea. Firstly I tried making fresh mint tea which is a far cry from the dried variety in the limp tea bags they sell here.

Mint

Mint must be the easiest thing to grow! We grow three different kinds of mints in three different locations in our garden. The key thing is to stop the mint from spreading where you don’t want it to. Here is a link on how to take care of mint. We don’t preserve it, because as I have said, it doesn’t preserve well. But it makes an excellent fresh cup of tea and you can vary the flavour with the different varieties of mint. You can also add lemon. It’s also very good just to add to a large jug of cold water with lemon and ice cubes. Very refreshing in summertime and of course very good for you.

Lavender

Before moving to Bulgaria I would never have considered making tea from flowers! But here is another delicious tea renowned for its stress relieving properties. Lavender grows in abundance here, just like France, and we have a considerable amount of it in our garden. As with most herbs you can either use it fresh, or dry it out and use it for winter. You can also mix it with chamomile for the perfect caffeine free relaxing bedtime tea. Here are some recipes for lavender tea.

Sage

Again, this isn’t something that I would ever have thought of using for tea! However, it is extremely popular here in Bulgaria. Once again, we grow it in our garden and then dry the leaves in the Sun to use it in winter – often as a breakfast tea.

Ginger

I also discovered that we could grow ginger root in pots, and I began to incorporate ginger tea into my daily routine. I sometimes experience digestive issues, and ginger tea is especially helpful for digestion.

Fruits and berries

Then a friend introduced me to grapefruit tea, and I realised that I could also grow and preserve our own tea from our many fruit trees. You can of course mix different varieties of dried or fresh fruit. We dry our fruit in our sun oven.

Certain fruit needs to be boiled for a little while if you want the full flavour. Rather than just pouring hot water over a few pieces. This is also true of citrus peel if you are thinking of making tea from orange or lemon peel. Experiment with how long you need to leave it to get the strength of flavour you prefer. Just simmer on a low heat, or on a trivet over a tea light.

Chamomile

The next exciting step in my journey was the realisation that our village is surrounded by wild Chamomile in early June. It is now an anticipated part of our yearly homesteading ritual to pick these aromatic blooms and dry and store them to drink throughout the winter when fresh herbs are in short supply. I simply remove the flowers and then give them a good rinse before leaving them to dry in the sun. I cover them with some muslim to protect them from insects.

It was the next tea I discovered, however, that stole my heart completely .

Bulgarian Rose Tea

I would never have guessed just how delicious a tea made from roses could be until I was proffered a cup in a traditional ‘pazzar’ in Nesebar. The tea was served in delightful little teacups – which I now possess 😊 and contained a variety of dried rose petals with honey. I think that it was a combination of the heavily scented atmosphere and the novel sensation of being given tea in such an exquisite fashion – but this was one of those memories I will always hold dear.

As we live in the Valley of the Roses I couldn’t be better placed to grow and preserve my own tea from rose petals! One of my favourite ways is to make iced rose tea – see the recipe in the link above. But it is literally rose petals and ice left to infuse in the fridge. No hot water is required and it makes a really refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day – as well as looking really pretty if you serve it in a glass jug. Just use a tea strainer to serve.

Brewing herbal tea

This proved to be a more complicated issue than I first supposed when I came to research it. I will try and simplify. A rule of thumb is that delicate leaves – such as mint, take less time to infuse than woody leaves and stems such as sage. However, and here is the important part, you can actually leave herb tea infusing for a very long time. It doesn’t make it bitter like shop bought teabags tend to taste if you leave them brewing for too long. We actually leave our herbal tea infusing all day and drink it cold. What you are actually doing is just getting more nutrients from your leaves.

The healing power of tea

Probably the most rewarding thing of all from my new found knowledge is the realisation that tea can serve to heal and strengthen our bodies rather than just provide part of our fluid intake. I have already mentioned that the ginger tea helps my digestion, and the chamomile really does help me to sleep. But there are many more benefits.

Though I have listed a few recipes in this post, this really is a fascinating subject and I would encourage personal research. To grow and preserve our own tea has now become an integral and enjoyable part of our homesteading journey.

Known as the Bulgarian “tea master”, and more commonly “the healer”, a man by the name of Peter Dimkov wrote a book in three volumes called ‘Bulgarian Folk Medicicune’ Dimkov presented the ancient knowledge about the natural healing properties of the many herbs here, and how they could be used for making tea. For more information:

https://www.m.padmalaya.bg/en/herbal-tea-bulgarian-herbs/

Useful Equipment if you grow and preserve your own tea

One last word, moving away from tea bags means that you will need other equipment. The tea pot at the top of this post comes with an integral strainer. You can also buy small tea strainers to place over a cup. Below is an individual strainer cup given to me as a present. And these two small strainers are from IKEA. You can also make your own reusable tea bags using muslim.

Making the tea in a glass teapot or jug really adds to the experience as you can see the colourful flowers through the glass. 😊