Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, is a wonderful plant to grow. Find out what you can do with its leaves, how they relate to the green and black teas we buy in the store, and how you can make your own teas from your CS plant-friend in this article.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve the leaves of Camellia sinensis:
- Make hot tea. Camellia sinensis is the plant that green, white, black, and oolong teas come from. The type of tea depends on how the leaves are processed after harvest. (See the Wilting and Drying section for more information on how to do this yourself.) When prepared as hot infusions, most teas that come from this plant are best steeped for a short time, typically 2-5 minutes, due to their caffeine content.
- Make cold tea. Heat brings out the bitterness of caffeine more, much like how coffee has a very short steep time. Since this is the case, when prepared as cold infusions, teas made from the tea plant are fine to steep for a similar length of time to non-caffeinated herbs, 6-9 hours for green and white teas and 8-12 hours for black tea.
- Make iced tea. Iced tea can be prepared in 1 of 2 ways:
- Method 1: Make a hot infusion with a 2-5 minute steeping time. Add ice cubes to the strained infusion or pour the strained infusion over a pitcher full of ice. Either way, this method requires more ice cubes since the tea starts off hot.
- Method 2: Make a cold infusion as directed above with cold, cool, or room temperature water, either on the counter or in the refrigerator. Add a few ice cubes to bring the tea to a colder temperature or, in the case of a fridge-steeped tea, to retain it.
- Add it to a tea blend. Camellia sinensis complements many other herbs in a tea blend. A few ideas for herbs that pair well with it are as follows. Keep in mind that other herbs in the blend will share the short steeping time of 2-5 minutes, so they may require more herb than normal to give the same flavor as they would if steeped longer as usual.
- Peppermint, spearmint, and other mints
- Ginger
- Dried fruits such as blueberry, cherry, and peach, especially with white tea
- Cinnamon and clove, especially with black tea
- Lemongrass
- Lemon balm and lavender
- Lemon balm and/or lemon verbena, especially with green tea
- Ginger and cloves, especially with black tea
- Rose petals, especially with green tea
- Tulsi and hibiscus
- Make infused oil and skincare products. Tea-infused oil can be further processed into soothing, astringent lotions, toners, and creams like eye creams, either on its own or when combined with chamomile and/or calendula oils. It can also be added to homemade shampoo.
- Powder the leaves and put them in a capsule. This is a great way to get the nutritional benefits of the plant if you do not care for it in infusion form.
- Wilt and dry them. See the next section.
Wilting and Drying Camellia sinensis Leaves
The difference between green, black, and white teas lies in how long they are wilted and dried.
Most commercial Camellia sinensis teas are dried using a dehydrator. For gardeners, dehydrators and ovens with low minimum temperatures are the most reliable drying method for white and black teas. See our Drying and Dehydrating Overview here for more information and recommendations for dehydrators.
But tea leaves can also be air dried, especially for green tea. Bag drying is not recommended for tea leaves.
All tea types involve wilting – spreading them out in a single layer on a screen, tray, or plate with good air circulation – and then drying the leaves of the tea plant.
To make white tea, let the leaves wilt for 48-72 hours and then dry for 15-25 minutes at 180-200°F until crispy.
To make black tea, let the leaves wilt for 14-32 hours. Next, dry for 10-15 minutes at 200-250°F and then another 5-10 minutes at 180-200°F until crispy.
Green tea requires a couple of extra steps. Follow these steps to make green tea:
- Wilt the leaves for 4-8 hours.
- Steam the leaves for 1 minute. This can be done on a stovetop or in a microwave, but the stovetop is generally best if possible.
- Squeeze the liquid out of the leaves. This is often done by rolling them in a tight ball covered in a towel and squeezing.
- Pat the leaves between paper towels to remove any remaining water.
- Dry the leaves. You can do this by air drying them or by dehydrating them at a temperature of 185-200°F. Either way, they should be fully dry and crumbly when finished. The length of time depends on temperature, humidity, and air circulation, especially for air-dried leaves.
And enjoy! You just made your own tea plant tea.
Like most dried herbs, Camellia sinensis leaves retain the best quality and potency for 1 year, although they are still fine to use for longer than that.
Further Reading
Growing Camellia sinensis? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
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