The preparation of the willow-tea

1. Stage

It takes three and a half days to prepare Ivan-tea. Gather immediately leaves separately, flowers separately. Next, sorted, washed and spread out on a blanket in a layer of about 5 cm for a day, periodically turning it upside down. There is a process of drying (so that the leaves become soft).

2. Stage

As soon as the leaves are wilted, we start to twist the "sausages" with our hands and put them in a pan in two or three layers. In this photo you can see how "wilted" the leaves are.

3. Stage

This is about the handful I take for twisting. We twist and squeeze the leaves until we hear a "smacking" sound. So the leaves have juiced and we're on our way to fermentation.

4. Stage

Here's the result. We put the "sausage" in the pot.

5. Stage

This is what the "sausages" look like in the pot. The tea starts to smell fruity. It is better to spin the "sausages" in the evening, so that by morning the tea has gone through the fermentation process.

6. Stage

We cover them with a wet cloth, close the lid and leave for about 8-12 hours to ferment. It took me about eight hours. The tea begins to play with colors, honey notes appear. We must not "skip" the time, otherwise the tea will ferment and the taste will be spoiled. During fermentation, we periodically look into the pot and smell the tea. Toward the end, the smell will become richly honeyed.

7. Stage

Once the fermentation has passed, we take out the "sausages" and cut them on a clean board into pieces, about 1 cm wide. We gut our pieces into paper trays and put them in a well-ventilated place in the attic. Drying in the attic took exactly two days. And if you're in an apartment, you can dry in the oven, but with the ventilation turned on at 50-70 degrees with the door ajar. Drying in the oven takes about an hour and a half. As soon as the leaves start to break, the tea is ready! But the leaves shouldn't get crumbly! If you over-dry the tea, we spoil its taste. All this time we just dried the flowers of willow-tea on a paper tray in the attic. Approximately two to three days. Also, if the house is hot, you can dry at room temperature. If there is no such a possibility, you can also dry in the oven with the door ajar and the ventilation at 30 degrees for half an hour. This is what our tea looks like before drying.

8. Stage

And so-after...

9. Stage

And this is in a jar. The outcome of 2 kg turned out 1 liter jar of dried tea. By the way, the strength of taste and aroma of dried tea gains a month after harvesting under a tightly closed lid. After a month flavor becomes richer, playing with different colors!

10. Stage

Here's more of our tea)))It's a pity the Internet can't convey its flavor!

11. Stage

And this is in the brewed form.) By the way, brew better in a thermos! I wish the Internet could convey the taste! I hope that you liked the recipe! Gather, drink our native Russian tea! It has the same taste as imported teas and has no equal for its benefits!