T E A , MYSELF,AND I

Timeless, refreshing, and sublimely simple, tea is an age-old elixir that offers abundant bliss and health benefits. Drawing on the regenerative essence tea exudes in every situation, urban flower farmer Lisa Barrett, founder of Wildly Sown, imparts her insights on why and how we can incorporate tea into our daily routines. Boil the kettle, grab your shears, and settle in around Lisa’s kitchen table as she spills the tea on the advantages of each sip, the mindfulness of the production and preparation of the drink, as well as several recipes to create your own, home-grown brews.

As Lin Yutang discerned, ‘there is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life’. Perhaps it is the memory of summer in now-dried herbs, or the time carved out to fill a strainer and wait for the water to colour, or the pause while observing the curling steam in weak winter light.

The flavonoids, the chemical compounds that give plants their flavour and aroma, are what make tea not only a cup of calm but one of restoration. These chemical compounds act as antioxidants, which help keep our DNA safe from free radicals produced by our cells during metabolism (and from simply living in this impactful time and space). If you can brew a mug from the plants in your organic garden, enjoy the hydration and aromatherapy with a friend, or take a pause to be mindful of a few lines by Mary Oliver while you sip — trust me, you’ll be all the better for it.

Brewing in my cup this morning are these tendrils of poetry:

‘It is a serious thing / just to be alive / on this fresh morning’

There is a delightfully long list of plants that can be tea’d, each with their own benefits:

Herbs

Use the leaves of thyme, rosemary, lemon verbena, lemon balm, feverfew, mint, sage, fennel, artichoke, and passion fruit.

Flowers

Viola, lavender, chamomile, calendula, and dahlia

Seeds

Fennel

You can use either fresh leaves and flowers, or dried. Fresh leaves harvested in the morning have a higher essential oil quantity, while drying leaves allows you to have them available all year round. To dry leaves and flowers, hang them up in a warm and dry spot, or spread them out in an oven (place on a baking tray at below 80 degrees Celsius for two to four hours with the door open). Use a tea strainer to make it easier to remove remaining sediment, and allow boiled water to cool slightly to 90 degrees Celsius before pouring it over the leaves. This ensures that maximum nutrients and less of the bitter flavour are retained. Leave it to strain for five to ten minutes, waiting less time for dried tea material and longer for fresh.

Make your own:

Steeped in Revitalisation

Lemon verbena, lavender, and lemon zest tea

This combination is anti-oxidant, anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, and helps with digestive upset, insomnia, and colds. For one cup, use two tablespoons dried or fresh lemon verbena leaves and lavender flowers, mixed, with half a teaspoon of lemon zest. Pour freshly cooled boiled water over, leave to steep for six minutes, and add a spoon of honey if required.

Flowers of Wellbeing

Feverfew and lavender tea

Feverfew helps relieve muscle spasms and can combat the widening of blood vessels that occurs during migraines. Add one tablespoon fresh lavender and one tablespoon feverfew flowers, or half a tablespoon of each if dried, to a cup of just-boiled water. Steep for five minutes, strain, and cool. Don’t let it steep for too long as it will become bitter. The lavender will add a little sweetness.

Simply Soothing Blooms

Chamomile or calendula tea

For calming the tummy, blend ten fresh chamomile flowers in a mug of boiled and slightly cooled water and strain after five to ten minutes for a delicious cup of gentle apple-flavoured tea. You can try this with calendula too (three to five fresh flowers are sufficient). Both these flowers grow well in the cooler months, so you can plant seedlings and enjoy them this season and into spring.

With the wealth of wellness that can await you in even the simplest of gardens, personally curated and produced teas are an achievable comfort and source of health for every home this winter.