Bounties Of The Land Episode 21: How To Make Yapon/Holly Tea, The Most Caffeinated Native Plant In North America!

in health •  7 years ago 

Greetings and welcome to a new Episode of Bounties of The Land!

In this episode I show you a super healthy, sustainable and maybe even free alternative to coffee and green tea!

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A couple weeks ago I shared with you a very valuable and entertaining episode of Bounties of The Land which featured a native plant to North America of which most all of you have seen before. It is most common knowns as Holly though the native name is Yapon.

If you want to read about all the health benefits and such for this awesome plant you can check out my previous article. I recommend it as there is a lot of value there especially if you want to try making this tea!

Though the main interest most people will have in this plant is that it is the highest concentration of caffeine of any plant native to North America! We know how much people love caffeine!

It does not have the same concentration as coffee however there are MANY health benefits, it is far more sustainable and potentially even free! It also taste quite good!

# So here is how to make it!


Here is the link to the episode where I discuss all the health benefits of this delicious tea!

First off harvest some leave like I did in the last episode. Then for best taste roast them in an oven (easiest) at about 150 degrees until they get slightly brown instead of green but more importantly are crispy enough to be able to crumble up.

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These ones are just starting to brown, but are still green. I am doing them in a pan because I use a wood burning stove field with salvaged trash wood so while it takes longer as is in more danger of burning sustainably trumps just about everything for me!

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Now they are starting to get brown. You can roast them even more, the more you roast them the more of a roasted flavor the tea will have in the end. Though they do need to be roasted enough so they are crispy and can be crumbled by hand.

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Here is what it looks like after roasting and crumbling.

Then either use a french press as I do here or choose another loose tea making tool.

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Then get some hot water (assuming you know how to make hot water) I of course make mine on the wood burning stove or rocket stove fueled by salvaged trash wood.

Then add it to your cup, pot or in my case, a french press.

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Then wait about 8 minutes for it to steep, the finer the grounds the less steeping, wrap a cloth around it or put it in a warm place so it doesn't cool to quickly while it steeps.

Once the tea chunks fall to the bottom its getting close to done as they have been fully saturated with hot water and are releasing their medicine!

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The tea will get to be a nice golden yellow similar to a green tea when it is ready! Then pour it and enjoy the medicinal health benefits plus a caffeine boost!

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If you like green tea then you will probably quite like this. It has a nice flavor and is less bitter than coffee or tea and also less acidic, plus all the nutritional benefits make it a healthy and sustainable alternative. Now it does not have quite as much caffeine as coffee or green tea but its pretty close. Plus because its so healthy you can drink it often!

I hope you enjoyed this Episode of Bounties of The Land. I feel it is very valuable to share sustainable, healthy and even free ways to thrive!

You can check out another winter time recipe post I did on how to make eggnog coffee here!

***I wish you all the best on this day and the days to come. I am now doing 50/50 posts because SBD is so high atm, but I will be powering up all my SBD to continue my perfect record of powering up 100% of every steem I have earned here, so as to increase the value of $teem for us all. ***

I appreciate your support and am grateful to be here on Steemit. I welcome any feedback you have to offer, and if you felt this post contained valuable content please give an up vote!

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sounds very exiting but how much it will take to make this

Only maybe 6 leaves or so is enough for one cup. Its FREE!

That's a new one for me! I had no idea! Thanks @quinneaker!

Also, looks like you'll get to that 70 rep soon too! Congrats (in advance)

Hey @papa-pepper !
Great to see you tuning in. Yes this really is quite exciting as caffeine is one of the most desired consumer substances on earth!

I am sure you can find some and make some great use of it! Happy to share some knowledge with someone who has so much and who appreciates.

Thanks for the congrats, its been a lONG time coming and I am only falling further behind you each day LMAO.

CONGRATS TO YOU!!!

That is some really tasty tea...and healthful! It's so awesome that you can just go out the back door and get some, bring it in and do some Steeming whilst it roasts over your sustainable fire. Your engagement in life is always so multi faceted and always beneficial to the earth and mankind. Another brilliant episode of BOTL! Way to put this knowledge into action!

Yes how awesome to drink one of the most desired consumer substances "caffeine" and still do it sustainable healthfully and for freee!

Perfect alchemy! As you do so very well!

My neighbor has one of these trees and it hangs into my yard so I can just reach out to pick the means to make this drink! very cool, I had no idea I could make tea from these leaves.

Yea!
How exciting! Give it a try and if you like it make a big batch at once so you have the leaves anytime you want a drink and all you need to do is pour hot water!

Application of BOTL! Love it!

Yea!

Nature is awesome! What a lovely, tasty tea.

Yes nature provides all and this is not only delicious but nutritious with the caffeine power!

Sweet gif!

GIFS are for GIVING!

💖

Great post on such a beautiful plant! This is super synchronized as we just got back from a few days of searching out the plant in the wild. We did find some and are excited to try the tea out. How does the taste compare to mate?

Your specimen looks slightly different than those we found, I wonder if there are variations by bioregion. You’re in TX right? I’ve heard it grow super abundantly there.

Glad to have a fellow steemian on board with Yaupon!

Yea man i am sure there are slight variations, did you check out the post with the video where I harvested it and talked about the plant?

Great to know you spend some time outdoors and enjoy foraging! Pretty rare these days haha

Wish I could watch it, my internet is too slow... I've gotten a few sideways looks when I got my hat full of greens or am knee deep picking watercres in January. Foraging feeds the soul and body.

Hahaha yes I know exactly what you mean!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Well done!
Like your style and efforts here on Steemit!

Epic!! I am always making teas out of herbs collected. I am definetly gonna add this to my collection. A few other great herbs are Blackberry Leaves, Nettles and Pine Needles.

Yes those are all great medicines but they do NOT have caffeine!

True I did not think of that! That is definitely bonus considering the love for it!! I am personally super high energy naturally so I use it sparingly when truly needed. Yapon is my go to from now on!

@quinneaker thank you for shared this healthy and new taste of tea. Your posts are always for my best support.

I appreciate the support.

This great homesteading .
I like it.
Thanks for sharing this post......Resteemit..

Great to hear!
Thanks for the feedback!

Very good postinganya

Thanks

Gonna make this tea recipe and also the eggnog coffee!!! Thanks @quinneaker ...great information and instructions!

Great to hear!
Thanks for the feedback!

This very nice post i appreciateyour food thanks for sharing this natural ..Best of luck ..

Your welcome

You got a 0.81% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @saramiller!

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I totally want to try this now I love caffeine

hahaha yes caffeine is awesome and this is just about as sustainable and healthy of a source your gonna find, plus it could be totally free!

Valuable information

THANKS

Keep uploading such posts

I willl!

Yeah i really enjoyed it.. So easy to make fresh organic tea.. I ll cheq your article for its benifits.. Greeting for your sweet kids

Hope you do and thanks for the comment of blessings.

I love kids and pray for them by the depth of my heart always.. No need of thanx.. They are as close my heart as my own.. When i saw your post all of your kids pics move before my eyes.. One with happy birthday.. on table for dinner and the one in which bany was without pnts on your land.. Haha last one was very cute.. I think he was not your son.. Or was he?

Yes children are very important especially to me. @qiqi-power @noki-power and yes my sun @qinoku

To all parents actualy there kids are an apple of eye.. Ok thanx for telling.. He is cute

This post has received a 2.90 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @saramiller.

Great boss big love hhh

Love~*~

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Awesome, l I'll have to try it come summertime. I do love my coffee though, and I'm a little disappointed you didn't include the recipe for hot water lol ;)

hahahahahahahahahaa

lovely

hahahaha doubtful ur a cash expert with a 5 rep! LMAO

Post informative to knowledge, thx bro

INDEED

Super cool! Do you know how much caffiene it has? I'm assuming more tha coffee?

Something about green tea for example makes me feel so much better than coffee, even though it has way more caffiene, maybe it's from a purer source- cant get much purer than picking the leaves yourself though!

Yup its way healthy, sustainable and free!

can't beat that!

Woah, super interesting! I might just have to try it. I love to wildcraft stuff.

Yes wildcrafted or wild harvested is the best!

cool

💖