Homegrown Tea: An Illustrated Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Blending Teas and Tisanes

by Cassie Liversidge

Overview

Homegrown Tea explains how to grow a large variety of plants in your own garden, on a balcony or even on a window sill could become your tea cupboard. It shows you how to grow your tea from seeds, cuttings, or small plants, as well as which parts of the plant are used to make tea. Liversidge lays out when and how to harvest your plants, as well as information on how to prepare the plant, including how to dry tea leaves to make tea you can store to last you throughout the year. As a guide to using tea to make you feel better, there are nutritional and medicinal benefits. Finally, there is an illustrated guide to show how to make up fresh and dried teabags and how to serve a delicious homegrown tea. It is sustainable way to look at a beverage, which is steeped in history and tradition.

Sample drinks include well-known plants such as rose hips, mint, sage, hibiscus, and lavender, as well as more obscure ones like chicory, angelica, apple geranium, and lemon verbena.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250039415
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	376,539
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

CASSIE LIVERSIDGE was born in the UK and studied Fine Art at Plymouth University. She grew up on her parent's plant nursery where her love of gardening began. Her debut book, Grow Your Own Pasta Sauce came from a desire to share her passion for eating home grown food and living in a more sustainable way. She lives and works in London with her husband and two sons, but spends two months of the year in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Leaves

The Tea Plant 3

"White Tea 9

Green Tea 12

Black Tea 16

Anise Hyssop 21

Bergamot 27

Cardamom 33

Hyssop 39

Lemon Balm 45

Lemongrass 51

Lemon Verbena 57

Manuka 63

Mint: Ginger mint, Strawberry mint, Lavender mint, Spearmint, Black peppermint, and Garden Mint 69

Mountain Pepper 75

New Jersey Tea 79

Raspberry 83

Rosemary 89

Sage: Tangerine Sage and Pineapple Sage 93

Scented Pelargonium/Scented Geranium 97

Stevia 103

Sweet Tea Vine 107

Thyme: Lemon Curd, Variegated Lemon, and Orange 113

Tulsi/Holy Basil 117

Seeds

Cilantro/Coriander 123

Fennel 129

Fenugreek 133

Fruits

Blueberry 141

Lemon 147

Myrtle 153

Rose hip 159

Strawberry 165

Flowers

Calendula 173

Chamomile: Roman Chamomile and German Chamomile 179

Honeysuckle 185

Jasmine 189

Lavender 195

Rose 201

Saffron 205

Violet 211

Roots

Angelica 219

Chicory 225

Echinacea 231

Ginger 237

Licorice 243

Further Plant Advice 249

Further Tea Advice 259

Quick Plant Reference Chart 263

Index of Plants 265

Recommended Sources 269

Acknowledgments 271