Teatime, Forever!: Trying various tisane of leaves in late autumn, 1

In autumn last year, I told you my adventures with tea made of several wild grasses (here, here, and here). Recently, I had a chance to join tisane tasting group to know more about possible leaves that can turn into tisane. I’ve learned that some leaves can have milder flavor when they are infused while fresh. Some others can have richer aroma if we microwave them. And there are grasses that can turn into tisane with flagrantly robust taste when we roast them just before dunking them in hot water. This week and next, I tell you the new list of wild tisanes I’ve experienced this time.

1. Japanese Loquant (Eriobotrya japonica)

According to this site, loquant leaves contain many active ingredients such as Dextrin, Tartaric acid, Amygdalin, Tannin, and Saponin. As amygdalin turns into hydrogen cyanide after reacting with gastric acid, having too much of it is always no-no. (About this, the thinking of Japanese National Institute of Health and Nutrition is here.) Having said that, poison can sometimes border with good medicine. Loquant leaf is an ingredient for traditional Chinese medicine, believed to have bactericidal and analgesic actions. Inevitably, the leaves of loquant are commercially sold and consumed widely. They are normally dried. In contrast this time, I had a chance to taste tisane of fresh loquant leaves. The leader of our meeting, Ms. Ohki, said their leaves are the most effective in late autumn to early winter when they flower. We collected them at this best season, washed them well to remove fluff from the back, julienned and infused them like standard tea leaves. No need to decoct. Yeah, if we have to take it as medicine, we would need to cook them more. But simply to enjoy its flavor, it’s better to take this approach, Ms. Ohki said. Tisane of loquant leaves is “red” like English tea, but its taste is far less strong that Brits’ kind. I thought it is too modest to claim the character as medicinal tisane … With its traditional fame as mild painkillers, it seems to me this tea is famous among terminal cancer patients. Hmmmm ...

Loquant leaves and its flower.
The flower smells sweet.
If you have a chance to encounter them
from late November to early December,
please enjoy its flagrance.

2. Strawberry Geranium (Saxifraga stolonifera)

This leave is famous among wild grass eaters. Though it’s a bit hard to eat them row, they can be a very good ingredient for soup, tempura, boiled side dishes, or even to decorate Humburg steaks. The leaves can also be tisane. Simply julienne them and pour hot water. It has a very gentle flavor. I would say, my cup emitted flagrance of early winter forest. The other day, Mr. Hideshige Uchino of Nagaike Park 長池公園, Hachioji City, told us when we find Strawberry Geranium in forest, the chances are the place once had a human settlement of some kind. Yeah, it’s very versatile wild edible plant year-round. According to this site, the leaves can have antibacterial and diuretic effects. Ancient people used them for their home medicine … Corollary: please do not over consume them.

Strawberry geranium has very pretty flowers
in late spring to early summer.

3. Alehoof (Glechoma hederacea subsp. Grandis)

It too is very well-known traditional medicinal herb in Japan. People dried the leaves and infused tisane to treat convulsion of babies. I don’t know how such usage connects to actual ingredients of it (; for scholarly discussion, here). Folk medicine often relates the effect of alehoof tisane for controlling blood pressure. But Japanese Ministry of Health, labor and Welfare warns taking too much of it as medicine could have bleeding in digestive organs, and interactions with prescription drugs. The key here is, “too much” consumption. Actually, tisane made of fresh alehoof has similar smell of mint tea. Ms. Ohki baked cookies with julienned alehoof leaves. They had minty flavor. Among these 3 tisanes made of fresh leaves, this alehoof drink had the most characteristic flavor for me, but not so strong as fresh mint tea. I suspect normally people consume alehoof tisane with dried leaves, which could make the effect of ingredients stronger. You see? Dried herbs have stronger smell. Having small cup of fresh alehoof tisane once for a while won’t do much as long as you’re healthy enough, I guess.

Washed alehoof leaves for our teatime.

Alehoof has long flowering period
starting from April to early autumn.

A cookie with alehoof.
We concluded we could use more leaves.

We also tried fresh mugworts and semi-dried goldenrods (flowers and leaves). Last year when I posted my adventure with them, I tried completely dried version of them. The cups yielded strong, or bitter, taste (my posts on November 12, 2020 and December 4, 2020). In comparison, their not-completely-dried tisane leaves did not give us such impact at all. Of course, it could be a matter of amounts of leaves infused in a pot. Ms. Ohki is doing research for the best tisane from leaves of forest. Her spoon should have done the magic ... Learning wild leaf teas is profound … Next week I continue with the theme with other leaves we tried. I had an eye-opener experience. Please stay tuned!

Autumn mugworts

Semi-dried glodenrods

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