Cassie Liversidge’s Homegrown Tea Planting, Harvesting, Blending Guide

Fun facts emerge from every painting, photograph, and profile in the attractively organized, thoughtfully written Homegrown Tea. The introduction follows black, green, oolong, and white tea ancestry in China to:

• harvesting the freshest, youngest parts in the morning -- before sunlight and winds compromise medicinally beneficial oils -- for same-day drinking or drying;
• presenting in bags (invented in 1908 by New York dealer Thomas Sullivan’s wife as silk-enclosed samples) and teapots; and
• rinsing and serving in 176ºF/80ºC water.

Five chapters give information on benefits, cultivation, harvest, preparation, and service of:

• black, green, oolong, and white teas from respectively oxidized, non-oxidized, and semi-oxidized leaves and hairy soft bud tips; and
• tisanes from flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, and seeds. 

Flowers highlight tisanes from:

• chamomile;
• honeysuckle;
• jasmine;
• lavender;
• roses;
• saffron;
• violets.

Fruit is behind tisanes from:

• blueberries;
• lemons;
• myrtle;
• rose hips;
• strawberries.

Leaves jumpstart tisanes from:

• bergamot;
• black peppermint, garden-mint, ginger-mint, lavender-mint, spearmint, strawberry-mint;
• blue, pink, white hyssop;
• green/true cardamom;
• lemon balm;
• lemon-curd, orange, variegated-curd thyme;
• lemon-grass, lemon verbena;
• manuka, mountain-pepper/pepper-leaf;
• New Jersey tea;
• pineapple-sage, tangerine-sage;
• raspberries;
• rosemary;
• scented geranium/pelargonium, stevia, sweet tea vine;
• tulsi/holy basil.

Roots keep tisane-lovers happy with:

• angelica;
• blue-dandelion/chicory;
• ginger;
• licorice/sweet-root;
• purple coneflower.

Seeds lead tisane-lovers to:

• bronze, burgundy, green fennel;
• Chinese/Japanese parsley, cilantro, coriander;
• fenugreek/methi.

An appended chart mentions as houseplant-raising tea-/tisane-makers year-round:

• cardamom, cilantro;
• ginger;
• jasmine;
• lemongrass, lemon verbena, licorice;
• mint;
• sage, scented geranium, stevia, strawberries, sweet-tea vine;
• tea, thyme, tulsi. 

Appendices navigate:

• acknowledgments to Bee Happy, British Saffron, Burgon & Ball, Cocker Roses, Creative Authors, Glenburn Tea Estate, Herbal Haven, Mountain Gardens, Plants 4 Presents, St. Martin’s Press;
• air-drying, airing-cupboards, dehydrators, low-temperature radiator-drying, oven-drying [212ºF/100ºC], sunscreen-drying;
• bag, plant, seed suppliers;
• bibliographies;
• sun teas.

An index offers user-friendly follow-ups to:

• hardiness (below 5ºF/-15ºC), semi-hardiness (to 5ºF/-15ºC), tenderness (32ºF/0ºC);
• medium (80% loam, 20% humus);
• nutrients (bone-meal, chicken pellets, comfrey juice, fish blood/bone, nettle tea, seaweed, worm tea);
• planting (depth twice seed length);
• propagation (semi-hardwood or softwood cuttings);
• transplants (spring);
• treatments (egg-shells against slugs and snails, garlic-spray or insecticidal soap against greenflies and whiteflies, milk-spray against mildew).

The culturally enriching, educationally entertaining guide provides the wherewithal to enjoy Homegrown Tea. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

allure of glass tea set: herbal tea in a glass teapot and cup
Restaurant Le Point De Vue in Omihachiman, Shiga prefecture, Japan: 663highland, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LE_POINT_DE_VUE11n4000.jpg

True teas reference leaves from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), while herbal teas designate herb-, spice- or other plant-based decoctions or infusions.
a tea/tisane blend of green tea, hibiscus flowers, orange peel, red raspberry leaf and rose hips; Saturday, July 9, 2011, 09:59: Violette79 from Brooklyn, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hibiscus_Delight_tisane.jpg

Chicory (Chicorium intybus) is an edible herbaceous perennial; coffee and tea may be made from its roots; its flowers and leaves feature colorfully in salads.
Chicorium intybus drawn from life; E. Blackwell, A Curious Herbal (MDCCXXXVII 1737), Plate 177: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLib), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/8252810500/

Subtle sweetness and nuanced fragrance of jasmine tea accounts for its popularity not only in China but also worldwide.
glass teapot of jasmine tea on a black granite surface: Peggy2012CREATIVELENZ, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/73230975@N03/6617766097/

Vietnam's enticing teas, such as green, lotus-scented green, jasmine and white, add interesting aromas and flavors to homemade teas and tisanes.
Ô Quý Hồ tea plantation, viewed from top of Ô Quý Hồ Pass; Lai Cai and Lai Chau province borderlands, northwestern Vietnam: Nguyễn Kiếm Anh (Kiếm Anh), CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Đồi_chè_Ô_Quý_Hồ.jpg

Liversidge, Cassie. 2014. Homegrown Tea: An Illustrated Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Blending Teas and Tisanes. New York, NY, U.S.A.: St. Martin's Griffin.