Tropical Plants for Making Tea
We have many plants for making tea here, they include the following list.
At one point I purchased seeds of actual green tea plants, but was unable to get them to germinate. Apparently they will grow in the tropics, but the tea from hot-weather green tea plants (Camellia sinensis) doesn’t taste as good as when it’s grown at elevation, since the ideal climate is the tropical mountains.
There are a lot of other plants that you can make a tea out of if you want to try really hard, after all, you can soak just about any plant in hot water and get some of its taste into the liquid. However, these are the plants that we have that are most suitable to making a tasty tea:
Chamomile (Manzanillo)
Used primarily as a sleep aid, it’s a popular one around the world.
Cranberry Hibiscus
These burgundy-colored leaves are reminiscent of cranberries. They are sour, so great mixed with a bit of honey, or try stevia to see how they combine.
Flor de Jamaica
This flower is very similar to Cranberry Hibiscus, and is cherished for its amazing tea throughout Costa Rica.
Ginger
One of the healthiest plants, ginger root is super tasty in just about everything, and has great healing properties too.
Lemongrass
The long leaves of the lemongrass plant are easy to make tea with. Just cut a few of them and tie them in a knot. Then boil them in hot water a bit and drink.
Hibiscus
Hibiscus flowers are known worldwide to make a great tea. One local hairdresser also claims that hibiscus tea, applied daily, can reduce or reverse male pattern baldness.
Juanilama
The leaves of this plant are apparently great for digestion and relaxation, and it’s recommended to take a glass of juanilama tea after dinner.
Mint (Menta)
Mint leaves are a great tea and can easily be combined with other teas.
Spearmint (Hierba Buena)
Hierba Buena is most know for making great mojitos, but this herb is great as a standalone tea or mixed with others on the list.
Stevia
Last but not least, stevia is an incredible plant, far sweeter than sugar, but it can have a bitter aftertaste. The great thing about it for tea is that it can be mixed in with almost any other tea on this list to sweeten it.
Of course, you can make any of these into ICED TEA also. Plus, try blending them… how about a tea made from lemongrass, ginger, and stevia? With this list of plants suitable for tea, there are a lot of combinations to try.
In addition to these, we have many medicinal plants such as bitter melon or dormilana (sensitivity plant) that can be made into a tea for use in medicine.
