Autumn Nights 3: Tea with Japanese clover

 

Japanese clover (Lespedeza) is one of the seven beloved flowers for Japanese fall 秋の七草. Manyoshu 万葉集, the oldest Japanese compilation of waka poetry from the 8th century, has this famous waka by Yamanoue no Okura 山上憶良:


The Seven Flowers

Of autumn are

    Japanese clovers,

    Pampas-grass,

    Arrow-root flowers,

    Dianthus,Patrinia scabiosifolia,

    Thoroughwort,

    Baloon Flower

秋の野に　咲きたる花を

　　指折り（およびをり）

　　かき数ふれば

　　七種（ななくさ）の花

　　萩の花　尾花葛花　撫子の花

　　女郎花　また藤袴

　　朝貌（あさがお）の花



You see? Japanese clover comes first in the list. The flower becomes a part of school emblem for Tohoku University in Sendai.

As a pioneer plant, Japanese clover can thrive in newly constructed cut slopes for highways or the like. Beautiful survivor is found all over Japan, garden, strolling path, etc. Until the 1950s, their leaves were also used as winter feedstuff for livestock. i.e. It is not poisonous. Then, this August super-popular distillery for fruits brandy, Mitosaya Botanical Distillery, released a tisane blend with green tea, chamomile, mint and leaves of Japanese clover. As this is the thing of Mitosaya, the tea was sold out in just a day or so. I could not get a hold of it. Well, Mitosaya’s product is gone, but I have my strolling courses in Yokohama’s forests. It was the time when Japanese clover started to have full blooms. Bingo! I made Naomi-version of herbal concoction with Japanese clover. This week, I tell you how I’ve made it.

First, harvesting. It is a pioneer plant that extends vigorously. The entire plant is supple and difficult to be torn-off. BUUUUUT, the top of stems is tender enough to be pinched by human fingers. Bonus: their pretty pink flowers are at the heads as well. I collected the delicate tips of Japanese clover. One of my senior forest instructors told me, as a pioneer plant, when an end is removed it starts to branch out from the middle and has another tip for an offshoot. Impressively strong. I could go easy to collect the flowers, then.

Japanese clover often hangs from the end of mantle vegetation.
 They look like hair ornaments for Geisha girls in kimono.

A tip of Japanese clover.
 They are to be tisane.

Next, I washed the collected leaves and flowers gently with tap of water. I noticed there came subtle sweet aroma when I swashed the tips in a bowel of pure water. I returned the forest and smelled Japanese clovers without tearing them. I pinched the heads again and sniffed it. They were damned silent in these methods. The plant emitted such scent only with a gentle massage of transparent water. That was amazing. My expectation rose.

The cleaned Japanese clovers were then dried in the shade. It did not take much time until they became ready to be tisane.

Dried tips of Japanese clovers.
 The color of flower remains. 😊

Taking a cue from Mitosaya, I blended the dried Japanese clovers with chamomile and Gyokuro green tea. The potion of each ingredient was like 1 to 1 to 1. The taste for the tea is like of gentle, slightly sweet flavor. Interestingly enough, both chamomile and green tea were not so self-assertive as they stood alone in a cup. Instead, they cohabited peacefully with Japanese clover as mediator. I love this tisane. As I’ve collected the plant in a “consultation with forests,” my stock for this tea is not much … I’ve decided to sip it little by little this fall …

A Japanese clover tisane mixed with chamomile

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