What is tea? Tea is the leaves of various plants fermented in a special way. What is fermentation? This is fermentation, the transformation of a raw product into a fermented product under the influence of various enzymes. In Rus', it was Ivan tea that was consumed in large quantities, which is why we are talking about it.
First you need to find a place where there is a willow-leaved fireweed plant, its Russian name is Ivan-tea. There is a lot of it, you know it for sure. He grows like this
It is better to collect any herb, including fireweed, far from cities and roads, less harm, more benefit. For such a task, I climbed into a remote corner of the Smolensk region.
Fireweed is collected from May to August, using fresh plants that have not been eaten by pests.
It is very good to collect fireweed when it is not yet blooming, in May-June, its leaves are young and tender.
In this case, we do not ferment the top 4-5 leaves and dry them separately; they will make green tea, so herbal, it’s for everyone.
Since we are already at the end of July, to make tea we will need flowering, non-branched plants from which it is convenient to pick leaves. We break off the stems at a height of about fifty centimeters. We remove the flowers and dry them separately, then add a little to the tea for beauty. We throw away the pods, the stem can also be brewed, they say it’s good for men. We pick leaves from the stems.
We carefully remove the grasshoppers
I put the collected leaves in a three-liter jar and leave for a day.
This is what the leaves look like after they have been in a jar for a day and are fresh.
They have dried a little, have fermented, they can now be brewed, it turns out something like this
Edible, but this is not the tea that you and I need. We are moving on. We take a meat grinder and begin to scroll the leaves from the jar. In our village conditions it looked like this
I warn you, it is difficult to grind the leaves with a manual meat grinder.
The result of our work
We actually take these funny pellets to ferment. To do this, we wrap them in a lump and compact them in fabric, thick linen or cotton, possibly in several layers, to limit the flow of air into the tea and, accordingly, prevent mold. If your pellets are very dry, you can sprinkle them with a little water.
We tie our bag and put it in a dark, cool place on a wooden stand. We have started the fermentation process. Now it all depends on what you need. Your bag sits for a day - you get red tea, two days - black, three - very black or pu-erh, I haven’t tried it longer, they say it will go stale :)
After two days my tea looked like this
We separate the lump into pellets with our hands and lay it out to dry. I dried my teas in the dryer
If you do not have a dryer, then after fermentation, be sure to heat the resulting tea at 50 degrees in the oven for 40 minutes. This will stop fermentation and prevent mold from forming. After the oven, you can air dry the tea; this will take more than one day. You can also dry the tea in the oven, lowering the temperature to 35-40 degrees, if your oven allows it.
And drying is actually the last stage. After it, you get this kind of tea that you can brew and drink. It turned out granular :)
Then you can sew a beautiful bag or take a beautiful jar and pour the resulting tea into it. Then take out a spoon, pour the tea leaves into a beautiful teapot, brew it with spring water, pour yourself a cup, cut off a piece of delicious pie, sit back and enjoy life while sipping your tea. Here, whoever likes it as they like.
The currant pie is delicious, I recommend it.
That's the whole story about fireweed. You can also ferment raspberry leaves or strawberry leaves (just not garden leaves, of course). Raspberries turn out beautifully and tasty, I tried them, but it’s even more difficult to twist them than fireweed; I haven’t gotten around to strawberries yet.
For tea science, I thank Sergei Burnin from St. Petersburg.
Herbal teas are becoming increasingly popular in the modern world. Thanks to the biologically active components present in medicinal plants, regular consumption of herbal drinks has a beneficial effect on our health, slows down the aging process, improves the quality of life, energizes us and gives active longevity.
One of the most famous teas in Rus' is a drink made from a perennial belonging to the fireweed family - angustifolia fireweed. This tea is better known to most of its contemporaries under the name blooming Sally, butcher or Koporye tea(Koporye is a village located near St. Petersburg in the Leningrad region, which gave its name to the world famous Russian tea). You can find out in more detail about the history of the origin of Koporye tea and why it was undeservedly forgotten in the 20th century from our article.
Various types of fireweed
The beneficial substances present in the plant, in particular tannin, bioflavonoids, antioxidants and pectin compounds, have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect on the human body as a whole, and the gastrointestinal tract in particular, due to which aqueous extracts from fireweed are often used in herbal medicine in the treatment of gastric diseases ( ulcer, gastritis, colitis, enterocolitis, etc.).
Drinking Koporye tea improves the emotional state, relieves the effects of stress, normalizes sleep, increases endurance, gives strength, fills the body with energy, relieves migraines, heals the genitourinary system of men, prevents prostate diseases, and has a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin, hair and nails. You can find out more about the healing effects of the plant in the article.
Where can I get Koporye tea?
Interested? Then let’s look together for the answer to the burning question, and where to buy Ivan tea, so useful in all respects for children and adults.
Prepared large-leaf fireweed tea
- The easiest way is to search in tea stores, pharmacies, on supermarket shelves, or order from online stores that specialize in supplying various elite varieties of teas, tea and herbal infusions, and fermented drinks.
- Second option - collect the medicinal plant yourself, if angustifolia fireweed grows in your area, and dry it at home using the technology described below.
- And the third - the most labor-intensive - on the local area or your own dacha.
So the choice of whether to buy Ivan tea in a store or prepare it with your own hands, as always, is yours.
According to reviews from experienced herbalists, homemade Koporye tea, collected with prayer and prepared with love, is much healthier for the health of all family members.
When and where to collect angustifolia fireweed?
The perennial plant consists of erect, densely leafy stems reaching a height of up to 2 meters (the average height of angustifolia fireweed is from 0.5 to 1.5 m). The peduncle is located at the end of the stem, the flowers are pink, faded pink, less often whitish, collected in sparse apical racemes, the length of which ranges from 10 to 50 cm.
Ivan tea is harvested from the beginning of flowering until mid-autumn. The most useful raw materials are those collected at the initial stage of fireweed flowering, and then dried, fermented and fried. On average, the plant blooms for about a month. In the southern regions, flower clusters bloom at the end of June, in the middle zone - in July, and in the northern regions - in August.
If you are harvesting a plant for medical purposes, then the ideal day for collecting raw materials is July 7th. Since ancient times it has been believed that everything.
Ivan tea on the edge of the forest
The plant prefers dry, well-lit areas. Most often, fireweed infests forest edges, clearings and clearings; it can be found on railway embankments, and sometimes the crop grows in burnt or cleared forest areas. Fireweed, like all medicinal plants and forest products, is collected only in environmentally friendly places located at a distance of at least 100 m from highways and industrial facilities.
In recent years, many summer residents, having learned about the medicinal properties of the plant, grow it in the garden, front garden or vegetable garden in order to prepare it for the winter as a tasty and healthy herbal drink. We have devoted a separate article to this topic. And now we’ll talk about how to properly collect, dry, roll, ferment and fry the collected raw materials.
Have you decided to make your own Koporye tea? Then you need to learn the basic rules, the exact implementation of which will allow you to fully enjoy the delicate floral-herbal taste and the undoubted benefits of the brewed drink at any time of the year.
Blooming fireweed on a hillside
Rules for collecting plant materials
Go to the forest or field for fireweed only in sunny weather, since excess moisture that accumulates in plant materials during periods of heavy rainfall and high air humidity, as well as from dew in the early morning at dawn, worsens the subsequent fermentation process.
It is better to pick leaves from a young plant that is at the very beginning of flowering: it has buds that have not yet opened or flower clusters that have just opened. Only such juicy and delicate raw materials make it possible to produce the most healthy tea worthy of noble nobles and royalty.
Collection of Ivan tea
Collect raw materials from the middle to the top of the stem, after removing yellow, wilted and dry leaves. Just clasp the plant with your palm just below the inflorescence, squeeze it loosely into a fist and stretch it down to the middle of the stem. Place the torn leaves in a clean bag.
Tip: if you want to prepare Koporye tea with flowers, then the leaves and flowers must be collected separately, in different bags. The leaves are fermented, the flowers are simply dried in a dry place.
Collection of fireweed flowers
After you bring fireweed home, immediately spread the raw material in a thin layer on canvas, burlap or sheets of cardboard. Leave the plants in the open sun for about 5-6 hours so that some of the moisture leaves the raw material and all the living creatures crawl out. Don't forget to turn the greens several times. By pre-drying the fireweed before fermentation, you will preserve all the beneficial bioactive components in fireweed tea.
Drying fireweed leaves
Preparation of raw materials for fermentation
Before fermentation, which means that the prepared fireweed fractions are placed in a dense mass in a dry and clean ceramic, enamel or glass container, covered with a rough damp cloth and kept in a warm place at a temperature of +25-27°C, for example, near a stove or oven from 12 to 15 hours, the plant material is rolled into lumps or thin sausages.
To do this, grab several leaves at the same time and quickly roll them between clean palms or lay the leaves on a clean table surface, rolling the raw materials into balls with the palms of both hands or a rolling pin. You can use a rolling pin if your hands are tired or you are afraid of calluses.
Preparing angustifolia leaves for fermentation using a rolling pin
If there is a lot of workpiece, then you can use a manual meat grinder to speed up and facilitate the process of preparing leaves for fermentation. Remove the knife and grate from it.
We pass the leaves of Ivan tea through a meat grinder to simplify the process of preparing for fermentation
The fireweed leaves after the meat grinder don’t look photogenic, but your hands are intact, and the aroma lingers throughout the whole house - just a fairy tale!
The entire rolling stage should not exceed 90 minutes, since the plant material will subsequently be fermented unevenly.
The process of fermentation and processing of Ivan tea takes place without access to air. It is for this purpose that the rolled leaves are placed quite tightly to each other, trying to fill the selected container to the top, and the top is covered with a damp, dense cloth that limits the penetration of oxygen inside. A press is placed on top to compact the leaves as tightly as possible.
Place Ivan tea leaves in a bucket for fermentation
Why is it necessary to ferment Ivan tea?
The fermentation process is an integral stage in the preparation of Koporye tea leaves. Only properly fermented plant materials, and then properly fried or dried, will provide a deep and rich taste of the drink, and will also increase all the main phytonutrients of the plant.
In addition, during fermentation, the pyrrolizidine alkaloids present in the plant, albeit in small quantities, which have a toxic effect on the human body, decompose. That is why it is allowed to drink pre-fermented fireweed tea every day, although fundamental research has not been conducted on this issue.
Completely dried herb, which has previously undergone fermentation, acquires completely new flavor and aromatic shades, notes of flowers, berries, and fruits. In addition, this tea not only preserves all the beneficial substances that have a healing effect on the human body, but also increases it several times.
Some summer residents who independently prepare Koporye tea claim that the drink from raw materials lovingly collected, rolled between the palms, kept warm overnight and dried in the oven acquires a pronounced aroma of olives, forest honey, meadow flowers and the taste of strawberries.
Fermentation
So what is the fermentation process and what benefits does it bring to the finished Koporye tea?
After rubbing between the palms, cell sap is released from the damaged tissues of fireweed leaves and flowers - a green liquid saturated with enzymes. Under the influence of heat, the released enzymes are converted into simpler, water-soluble substances - proteins and starches, which have excellent bioavailability.
When in contact with boiling water (brewing), these compounds quickly turn into water, so fermented Ivan tea is brewed in a matter of minutes, and plant materials intended for medicinal purposes, for example, for preparing an infusion, do not require boiling.
The wet plant material, crumpled into balls or lumps, is left to fully ferment for 12-16 hours, covered with a thick and damp, preferably linen, cloth, after which they change color from juicy green to brownish-brown, and then roasted in the oven at a temperature approximately 100°C or simply dry in open warm air without exposure to sunlight.
If the air temperature is 20-22°C, then the tea fermentation time can be increased to two days.
Drying of fermented raw materials and its subsequent storage
Ivan tea is dried using a Russian oven, electric dryer, oven or stove.
The most convenient way is to fry the plant material on baking sheets in a slightly open oven, in which the temperature can be maintained at about 100°C. Frying time ranges from half an hour to one and a half hours and depends on the characteristics of the electric or gas appliance.
Frying fireweed leaves in a frying pan.
You can fry the tea on the stove in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Roast Ivan tea on the stove after fermentation.
Or you can dry it flatly without heating in a warm and dry place, for example next to a stove.
Drying Koporye tea at home on a stove.
Ivan tea flowers are not fermented; they are collected separately from the leaves and simply dried without heating in the open air.
Harvesting medicinal plants: drying flowers of willowherb and meadowsweet
The twists or balls must be constantly stirred to prevent burning and drying out. Properly dried Koporye tea has matte tea leaves. They break easily, but do not crumble into dust. In appearance, such raw materials resemble classic large-leaf black tea interspersed with green tea, and of very high quality.
After the oven is turned off, the tea is slightly cooled and transferred while warm to glass jars, which are covered with plastic lids. The prepared raw materials are left to ripen in a closed container for a month (do not open until the end of aging).
Tea prepared according to the described method retains its taste and medicinal qualities for 18 months from the end of the ripening process. Store it in glass or tin jars, cardboard boxes, closed. Fermented fireweed is used for tea drinking and tea ceremonies, as well as for therapeutic purposes.
So, a short time-bound algorithm for preparing Ivan tea at home looks like this:
- Collecting leaves and flowers in the forest before noon.
- Dry in the open sun until 19-00.
- Twisting tea leaves by hand from 19-00 to 20-30.
- Fermentation of raw materials in enamel containers near the stove or stove for 2-3 days.
- Drying/frying the twists on a baking sheet in the oven or over a fire with constant stirring until ready, which can be determined solely by the appearance of the tea leaves.
- Packaging in glass containers.
- Tea ripening for a month.
How to brew Koporye tea correctly
Brewed Ivan tea with rosehip petals
Ivan tea is a unique drink with a delicate taste and amazing aroma that every gourmet can appreciate. Fireweed, which has previously been fermented, is used both as an independent raw material and in combination with other plants.
Since Ivan tea goes well with many herbs, you will have to experiment to find the tea composition and proportions of each type of plant that will fully suit your taste. Usually mint, oregano, meadowsweet flowers, St. John's wort, strawberry leaves, raspberries, fresh and dried sea buckthorn, rose hips, blueberries and other berries are added to Koporye tea.
Koporye tea brewing technology no different from regular black or green. It is better to use soft spring or well water for the drink, which must be purified. Before preparing the infusion, the teapot must be rinsed with boiling water.
The proportions for preparing Ivan tea are as follows: for every 0.25 liters of hot water, take 1 teaspoon of fermented leaves (with or without a slide, depending on what strength of tea you prefer). The infusion time of the drink is from 10 to 20 minutes. Tea is served with sweets, pastries, candies, and dried fruits. If you want to sweeten the drink, use natural bee honey, which greatly enhances the healing properties of the infusion, or sugar.
The photo shows 4 types of tea from angustifolia fireweed. From right to left:
- 1 cup - fresh leaves brewed without drying or fermentation,
- 2 - simply dried leaves without fermentation,
- 3 - fermented Koporye tea, dried without heating,
- 4 - fermented Ivan tea and fried at 100% temperature on the stove.
As you can see, the color of the brew is different, although strictly the same amount and brewing time were taken. But our family members were divided on the taste. I liked option 4, my husband liked 3, and my children liked 1. In my homemade preparations I keep fermented green and fried, and in the summer season we drink all the fresh leaves.
But there is one important thing difference between Koporye and regular tea. Ivan tea can be brewed several times over three days and allowed to brew, while secondary brewing of black or green tea is not only not tasty, but also harmful to the body. Significant savings!
They write that you can consume the fireweed infusion for 5 days, but from my own experience I know that it is better not more than three. If you want to stretch out the brew longer, it is better to put the kettle with the drink in the refrigerator.
Soothing tea recipe
After a busy day filled with stressful situations and bustle, it can be very difficult not only to relax, but also to fall asleep. A cup of Koporye tea with peppermint and honey will help you calm down, relieve tension and get rid of overexcitement.
Rinse the teapot with boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of fermented Ivan tea, add a few fresh mint leaves crushed in your hands or a pinch of dried ones, pour 0.3 liters of hot water over the herbs, wrap the container with a towel and let the drink brew for 20 minutes. Add a tablespoon of meadow or highland honey to slightly cooled tea and drink it slowly before bed.
The same infusion will help strengthen the nerves and become calmer for those who need to relieve tension before important events, a performance or an exam. Moreover, unlike synthetic sedatives, the effect of increased drowsiness from drinking tea is not observed.
According to reviews from fans of herbal teas, fireweed is an excellent drink, pleasant and refreshing, depending on whether it is drunk hot or chilled. Yes, yes, in the summer heat, many summer residents quench their thirst with cold Koporye tea, adding fresh berry juice or ice cubes.
How do you prepare angustifolia fireweed in the summer? Share your valuable experience in the comments, because the technologies for fermentation and drying of plant materials may be partially or completely different from what we described. Let your life with Koporye tea become much brighter and richer!
How to make your own tea? And one that guests will admire?
It's pretty simple. Moreover, options are possible - green tea, black tea - both loose leaf and finely chopped leaf.
This article is about green fireweed tea.
Fireweed (aka Ivan-tea) is known to everyone - it’s in the photo. Look for it in the fields, in former fires. Now, in June, it can be seen from afar thanks to its bright blooms.
Let's go collect fireweed. Prepare a large bag.
We collect leaves that are strong, green, and juicy. You can tear off the fireweed with its trunks (the entire upper part of the stem) - but this is a barbaric method, and besides, it practically does not save time, as personal experience shows. You still have to pick off the leaves at home. So the most competent approach is to pick a couple of handfuls of leaves from the trunk, maybe also a handful of flowers. Then you will have tea, and fireweed does not suffer - it continues to grow; the loss of a few leaves and flowers is not so bad. But next year you will be able to pick tea in the same place again.
Practice shows that two adults, while walking, in less than an hour collect a bag of leaves, which is enough for a 3-liter jar of fireweed, and this amount of tea is enough for a whole family for three months. So don't rush into anything.
Arriving home, we begin processing the leaves.
(In the photo on the right is a 3-liter jar in which the tea was fermented, on the right in the photo is dry green tea taken out of the oven after drying, on the left is a tray prepared for drying in the oven).
If you want the most “correct” tea that has not interacted with metal, work with your hands. Take a few leaves and rub them with your hands until you get something like a lump. Place the resulting mixture in a jar and compact it tightly. And so - everything that is collected. It's also not as long as it seems. The same 3-liter jar - about an hour and a half of work. You can grind the leaves in a meat grinder or grind them in a blender. Then you won’t get loose tea, but loose tea.
Fermentation determines what kind of tea you get - green or black. Fermentation time depends on the ambient temperature. The hotter it is, the faster all processes are.
So, in order for the tea to turn out green, fermentation must take place on average 6-12 hours. The tea can be left in the room or taken out into the sun. The tea in the photo was collected in the evening during a walk, stood in a jar overnight at a temperature of about 22 degrees, the next morning, starting at 9 o’clock, it began drying in an electric oven (at 100 degrees without convection, 120 with convection - each tray is about hours). The result is green fireweed tea with fireweed flowers. You can dry the tea in the sun by spreading it in a thin layer. BUT: do not repeat the mistakes: tea fermented in a jar acquires an irresistible musty taste. It only becomes noticeable when brewing. So don't use a jar! Ferment the tea in a tight pile on the table or wrapped in a cloth.
You need to ferment tea without the help of a jar (there is an opinion that tea “suffocates” in a jar - tested from personal experience - really suffocating!). This is done like this: we put the tea not in a jar, but wrap in cloth(preferably flaxseed) - make a dense lump of tea. You can put such a bag in the sun (I sometimes wrap tea in an old black T-shirt and keep it in the sun all day), or you can put/hang it in the shade, for example in the attic. You can simply make a bunch of tea (the more, the better - the fermentation goes better) and leave it on the table for a day or night, or even for a day.
Drying tea after fermentation is also possible in the shade: in the sun, the structure of the tea changes slightly (much like the structure of the skin changes when tanning).
Experimentation allows us to obtain many different types of tea. Try and choose which tea you like best.
Making black tea from fireweed
If you want black tea, fermentation should take longer, up to several days. Note that it is fermentation that makes black tea from green: in the oven, no matter how much you fry the leaves, they will not turn into black tea. The leaves should be kept in the jar almost until the moment they begin to ferment. However, still don't wander! If the tea has fermented (you will understand this by the smell), you can also dry it and drink it, but it acquires a peculiar taste. The tea in the jar should become dark, it will smell delicious - then it’s time to dry it. Advice - tea after a long fermentation must be actively dried- either in the oven or in the sun. If you leave it to dry on its own, in the shade, it will most likely become moldy. You can dry it in the attic, spreading it in a very thin layer - but only if it has not fermented. If it has fermented, only the oven or the sun will save you, but few people like such fermented tea, so you can simply throw it away and start a new experiment.
Midsummer of tea falls on summer time. The plant is considered an excellent honey plant, for this reason only leaves are collected. This allows you to avoid getting into the substances, which with their characteristics will not improve the taste of the drink. So, Ivan fermented tea - how to make it yourself.
Collection and preparation for fermentation
- Tea should be collected in clean places, not paying attention to plants located along the roadway. The weather should be dry and sunny. It is recommended for collection in the first half of the day, after the dew has disappeared. And you should not use barbaric methods - mowing, uprooting, etc.
- The plant should be held with your left hand below the inflorescence, with your right hand, not very tightly grasp the stem and draw from top to bottom. After this procedure, it remains in the fist and is simply poured into a bag.
You need to collect enough to process it in one go. They are washed if there are aphids on them. - After collecting and washing, it must be dried. For this purpose, it is laid out in the shade on a clean cloth. A few hours are enough to dry. If the raw material has been washed, the drying time increases. At the same time, to avoid overdrying, it is necessary to stir. If burnt leaves appear, remove them. They can be distinguished by their brown tint and unpleasant odor.
Drying is also allowed in bags, but you should not get carried away with it. The leaves should remain in them for no more than twelve hours.
After drying, the leaves are prepared for fermentation, which is performed in two ways.
Ivan fermented tea: fermentation methods
- The first is considered more difficult. The foliage, previously dried, must be rolled up. At this time, their tissues are destroyed, thus beginning the fermentation process. Many experts advise rolling each sheet between your palms.
- It is more convenient to roll a large amount of foliage at once using a glass cutting board with a ribbed surface. For this purpose, take a few leaves and roll them into a “sausage”. The method is similar to rolling out dough before cutting it.
- During such actions, the foliage becomes dark green. During the rolling process, it is allowed to add various herbs to the fireweed to improve its taste.
- Place the rolled sausages in a pan, cover the top with a damp towel and place in a warm place. The fermentation process lasts about three hours if the temperature is sufficient for this. With a properly organized process, the smell of grass gradually turns into a pleasant aroma of fruit.
- The drying process begins. The sausages are removed, cut into slices, and poured onto baking sheets. It is best to dry in a Russian oven or on a heater in a bathhouse. An oven preheated to ninety degrees will also work.
This method is good if there is not a lot of foliage and you do all the operations at once.
- The second method is easier. The withered leaf is passed through a meat grinder. The resulting mass is placed in plastic bags, which are placed in a warm place. All further actions are similar to the first method. The mixture prepared in this way resembles granulated tea, and when brewed it is more rich.
Many have heard the name of this plant - Blooming Sally, whose official name is Fireweed angustifolia. It actually makes good tea, which can completely replace black or green tea in your daily diet. I first tried making it last summer and have been drinking it every day for over a year now. I won’t write anything about the medical properties of Cyprus angustifolia, because... it is easy to find on your own, you can only note that it does not contain caffeine and, on the contrary, has a slight sedative effect, which, however, does not interfere with vigorous activity and does not cause addiction.
Just as tea tree leaves, depending on the degree of fermentation, can produce tea ranging from white to pu-erh, this is also the case with Ivan tea. A short fermentation period gives green tea with a light color, a longer fermentation leads to a dark color, and the appearance of dry tea will be practically indistinguishable from large-leaf black tea.
There are different ways to prepare fermented Ivan tea, but I will only describe the one that I use myself. In the classic method, which I do not use, the collected leaves are withered, rolled, fermented and dried in the oven. They wither to make it easier to curl, so that the leaf does not break, so that there is less water in it, etc. When twisting, the cells of the leaf are torn and the leaf is moistened with cell sap. The leaf should darken and become moist. The more cells are damaged, the better it will go. fermentation- transformation of the properties of the product under the action of enzymes, which is the whole essence of the process. If you simply collect the leaves of Fireweed angustifolia, dry it and then brew it in a teapot, the result will be the most unimpressive. Of course, you can drink such a decoction, but only for medical purposes, since the medicine does not have to be tasty, but it will be difficult to classify this process as tea drinking.
As a result of fermentation (oxidation, fermentation), products acquire new properties that are not contained in them in their pure form. For example, in winemaking, grape varieties are used that are unremarkable in themselves, but during the fermentation process they acquire exquisite shades of taste and aroma. Wine can be made from the same grape variety for either 5 or 5 thousand euros - depending on the acquired qualities: color, taste, bouquet, aftertaste, balance, density, etc. It’s the same in our case: successful fermentation will give the best taste, color and aroma of tea, but if it’s unsuccessful, everything will be “so-so.”
The disadvantage of the classical method is that it is difficult to achieve high-quality curling of the leaves; they are not completely wetted by the juice and ferment less well. The tea turns out inexpressive.
2. The leaves are twisted by hand, 5-10 pieces at a time until juice is obtained. Then the resulting twist is divided into leaves and placed in an enamel or stainless steel container. It is necessary to separate the twist for subsequent drying at room temperature so that it passes in time and the sheet does not over-ferment and become moldy.
3. Cover the container with leaves with a lid or bag. It is “correct” to cover it with a damp cloth so that there is access to oxygen and, as it dries, moisten it again, but I did not notice any difference, which may be explained by the subsequent drying method. You can leave a small gap for air circulation. If the leaves were passed through a meat grinder, then immediately go to point 3, i.e. We don’t freeze or roll anything, but put the ground leaf in a container.
4. After about 12-24 hours for rolled leaves and after 0-12 hours for “meat-grinder” leaves, we lay them out for natural drying somewhere in the shade in a draft. It can also be done indoors using a fan. With natural drying, the fermentation process will continue until it is completely dry. Dry until the tea breaks. A good result is obtained if the sheet is immediately laid out to dry after the meat grinder, but only in a natural way. You can speed up drying on the second day using a fan, sunlight, and gentle heating. It is also desirable that the resulting product is almost dry after two days of drying, otherwise it may become acidic and moldy, and the brewed tea will not be aromatic and cloudy. Choose your optimal fermentation time based on your taste and conditions. Therefore, for the first time, do not do too much. Find the method that gives you the best results and replicate the process in larger batches.
5. We break the dried tea with our hands for ease of storage and brewing, place it in iron or glass jars, etc. You can keep the jars open for a few more weeks. This item is optional, because some people like tea with long, curled leaves. But, it seems to me, ground tea is more compact to store and easier to brew at the rate of a teaspoon per person.
You can brew directly in a mug or in a teapot. If everything goes as it should, the rolled tea after drying will have a subtle aroma of dried fruits or prunes - whichever is closer. The aroma is subtle and if you brew it in a thermos or even in a teapot with boiling water, it can disappear. Therefore, I brew in a mug, and if in a teapot, the temperature should be slightly lower. In general, it is recommended to brew black tea at 90 degrees. We put the kettle on and when it almost boils, the water turns white with many bubbles, turn it off and brew. I prefer rolled tea, but the process is more labor intensive. “Meat grinder” tea also has its advantages. If fermented for two hours and dried quickly at room temperature using a fan, it will have an apple or kiwi flavor. Unfortunately, this scent does not last until winter. Therefore, you can add black currant and raspberry leaves to Ivan tea, grind everything together in a meat grinder, ferment and dry. In a word: there is a huge area for experimentation here. The main thing is not to forget the process parameters so that you can recreate it if you like the result.
The fermentation and drying time depends on the air temperature. Many recipes advise drying tea in the oven, but I didn’t like this method: a significant part of the aroma is lost, passing into the air when heated. And temperature treatment is unlikely to have a positive effect on the benefits of dried plants. There is also a method of drying in the sun: it is quite fast, but also raises doubts from the point of view of preserving useful qualities.
Ivan tea is sold, but much more expensive than the average black tea. In addition, when you harvest yourself, you have the opportunity to weed out diseased and dry leaves, as well as leaves with cobwebs and insect larvae. The leaves are collected by moving the hand along the stem from top to bottom, resulting in a bundle of leaves in the hand.
Ready-made tea gains flavor and aroma over time. Last year's tea tastes better than "young" tea.