Ivan tea (fermentation of fireweed leaves) - master class

Lyudmila, about the weather - for sure, it pours several times every day. About the smell - I'm not complaining, I like that it exists But I'm afraid that it will become moldy.
I read somewhere here on the forum that completely dried tea in a can starts to smell in a month or two. If earlier, it means not finished. And it smells in my pillowcase and in the jar as soon as you put it out of the pillowcase So I twitch.

Thank you so much!
In the morning I'll go to break and rustle the granules !!!

[Bobcat2]

that completely dried tea in a jar begins to smell in a month or two. If earlier, it means not finished.

Bobcat2, no, you read something wrong ... After 1 - 2 months, it already acquires a decent smell. And so, tea begins to smell much earlier. Do not worry you so. Everything will work out! Hang it up where the stove is, it will dry in a couple of days.

[Bobcat2]

Bobcat2, My tea doesn't smell only when I remove the tray from the dryer. I put it to cool ... I start pouring the cooled one into the pillowcase, it already starts to smell. Not strong, but ... it smells.

[Radushka]

My tea doesn't smell only when I remove the tray from the dryer.

Radushka,

Lappl1, Radushka, thank you, calmed down!
It turns out that everything is going fine.

The only thing that pleases is that the leaves of growing Ivan-tea turn yellow very quickly. For 5 days such a noticeable difference, although he still blooms and blooms. Maybe because of the constant rains ...

[lappl1]

lappl1, Lyudochka, but I got good tea this time, I will experiment more. Thank you!

[kil]

kil, Irisha, well, you're smart! You can't fail! I'm very happy for you!

The only thing that pleases is that the leaves of growing Ivan-tea turn yellow very quickly. For 5 days such a noticeable difference, although he still blooms and blooms. Maybe because of the constant rains ...

Bobcat2, it's just time to end the fireweed season. Although in August and even in September we found willow-tea meadows - young shoots that later crawled out of the ground. Therefore, this year we started making Ivan tea very early - from mid-May ...

[pavel1963]

pavel1963, thanks for the photo! Everything looks very good! The sausages turned out great! But it seems to me that if there were more leaves, it would be better. Or I just didn't understand how many leaves you had.

Hello. I did not weigh the leaves, but about + -500g. I think one more time to dial a little more, I found a clearing, there is generally little sun there should be good leaves.

[pavel1963]

I did not weigh the leaves, but about + -500g.

pavel1963, yes, not enough ... It is better to take 1 kg of leaves for one batch. But nothing, there is still a little time, do ...

And I liked the fireweed tea so much! Either I tasted it, or fermentation goes on and the aroma appears in it. Delicious, fragrant, so tender.
And the batch that I grinded in a blender seems even tastier to me. It turned out as small-leaved, it is not brewed very dark, but it turns out to be delicious.
In general, I realized what everyone praises Ivan-tea.

[mumra]

In general, I realized what everyone praises Ivan-tea.

mumra, (smile)! so glad for you! Thank God that you also understood that Ivan tea is cool!

[day!!!]

Girls about the smell.
The most successful and delicious tea for my taste immediately after drying, I smelled like bread crusts. I dried it in the oven + let it rest for 2-3 days in a parachute made of paper, on which the tea was dried. I was upset then, because the dry tea clearly had a yeast hue. Not obvious, I didn’t flick in my nose, but I was. So this tea is through day!!! lying in a tin can smell of raisins! Straight sweet, black, fragrant! And in a week we already started drinking it - awesome aroma, rich color, slight sourness! I'm so pleased with myself, I wish I could repeat the same, eh.

Nastya, unfortunately, is very difficult to repeat tea. Each tea comes out with some nuances. and sometimes completely different, although it seems that they cooked the same way.

[Luda]

Luda, yes, that's why I wrote that "eh", because.there is little hope. But we are in vests and do not give up! Out of 10 experimental "swims" I identified patterns and now I will adhere to one technique, making corrections for leaf coarseness, humidity in the house, temperature, etc. The main thing is that I have caught the algorithm and patterns I need.

[Nastya]

Nastya, you would share with us your algorithms and patterns ... I am sure that everyone will benefit from this. And your observations are very interesting to me.

Wow, until the process has been run in to the end ... It's not comme il faut to spread the "raw" algorithm ... Once again, I collect-hang-dry in completely different conditions and with raw materials from another area, but with the same sequences, wait for drying and odor on dry fermentation. I promise I will bring the report, but in a week and a half, that is, after the next experiment.

Nastya, we will wait! Knowing your approach to the process, I feel that we will have a fun and useful reading.

Oh, this Nastya! She knows how to incite! And how delicious it does!

Oh, this Nastya! She knows how to incite! And how delicious it does!

Aha, Lenusik! Nastya is a pleasure to read.

guys ferment granulated ivan chaeks want either 6 hours or 8 hours
the question is what taste at fermentation for 6 hours and what at 8 hours?))

[Wozik]

I ferment for 20 hours. Maybe even 24. I don't know what Lyudochka will write, I would advise you to try both the short 6-8 and the long 20-24 fermentation in order to compare and determine the difference in tastes. Wozik, if before you had 20 hours, try 6 hours. It is difficult to catch the nuances in one hour, it is better to try the minimum and maximum fermentation period, and only then vary it for one or two hours.

was a 15 hour granular and an 8 hour sheet

it's time to end the fireweed season

Look at my grounds fresh is worth it.

And I also ask for help, who recognizes the plant, yesterday I found many of these in the meadowsweet thickets, like a bush growing, what is it?

there should be no more than 1.5 liters of mass

Good day! made yesterday on your advice, in three plastic buckets from under the jam. Especially in the forest I went with a small package, so that I would not kick extra leaves in excitement. I found thickets of meadowsweet. Although the topic does not have very good reviews about tea with meadowsweet, I still grabbed the "bouquet". I wilted the fireweed for 12 hours, twisted it, fermented for 10 hours, the smell, as always, is weak, herbaceous, and then, for the experiment, I put the mass in a slow cooker for two hours, at 60 degrees, and then in the dryer. There was not enough wet tea - only 4 trays in the dryer, so that I would not drive the equipment in vain, I crumbled meadowsweet flowers into two more trays, put them to dry on top of the fireweed tea. It turned out great. Small meadowsweet flowers dried up and fell, so to speak, to the lower floors. The tea is excellent! The aroma of honey is from meadowsweet, the strength of the infusion is after steaming in a slow cooker, color is ruby, very dark. Apparently, all the same, my strong point is flavored teas. Already done with oregano, with lemon balm, with orange and grapefruit peels. Oh, hold me, seven, tomorrow I'll tear a torn to the clearing for the fireweed, I'll think of something else.

[Wozik]

Wozik, well then it's up to you.
Svetlana, good lands, boHats! I don’t know the plant

Yes, beautiful meadows in the photo. I would like to ask you dear forum users. I've found small meadows of Ivan tea. So there ivan tea does not bloom as amicably as above in the picture. 2-3 plants bloom and the rest do not. And also Ivan's tea which blooms with him leaves for some reason all in dots, so to speak, speckled. Can you collect them? And Ivan-tea, which has already bloomed and has a lot of downy sticks that have not yet opened, is it possible to collect leaves from such Ivan-tea

[Wozik]

Wozik, almost the same taste! 6 and 8 o'clock is a slight difference for our tea.

Thank you all for your feedback. Grind in a meat grinder, about five kg came out. Set to ferment.I will make a 6-hour village, Ivan tea is also six hours and 20 hours granulated Ivan tea. All chat are granular.

[Wozik]

Wozik, good luck in making tea.
Gulchatay! Show your face, boys , open your names. , it's more pleasant to communicate.

Dried for 12 hours, periodically interfered, until the crunch disappeared. Juicy granules. Sour scent. Fermented for 4 hours. More could have been.
The granules are strong. The smell of tea.

The taste is pleasant, the color is beautiful.

One half of the tea just wilted, and the second, after drying, was sent to the freezer for extra 2 days. Fermented for 5 hours.

The smell of tea. And dry.

Crumpled in small batches with my hands. The smell was sour, like sorrel. Fermented for 17 hours. I rammed it, but forgot to put oppression.

The smell of tea. Not sealed leaves are visible. The taste of the tea is normal, slightly lighter than granulated, it does not smell like silage.

[svetn]

Look at my lands Ivan-tea (fermentation of leaves of fireweed) - the master class is fresh.

svetn, straight from the tin ... I have one too. But the sheet became much rougher. And the point is not that it is more difficult to process it, but that the tannins in such leaves by this time are sharply reduced and the tea turns out to be different, as the Chinese write - low-grade. The optimal time for making Ivan tea is the end of May - mid-July. But we, of course, do it to the bitter end. Tea does not come out the same as from younger leaves.

And also Ivan tea which blooms with him leaves for some reason all in dots, so to speak, speckled. Can you collect them? And Ivan-tea, which has already bloomed and has a lot of downy sticks that have not yet opened, is it possible to collect leaves from such Ivan-tea

wasabi, I have already answered part of your question. And specks are traces of biting insects. I don't collect them. but if you do not have others, then you can collect, so as not to be left without tea.

Grind in a meat grinder, about five kg came out. Set to ferment.

Wozik, I hope you did not ferment in one container? The volume is too large. it is better to divide into several parts.
Lyudmila, a wonderful photo report, however, as always! Thank you so much!

I poured everything on the floor uphill and ferment)) joke
of course not just one, in a basin, three liters in a saucepan and two liters in a saucepan.
and two bags (currant and apple tree) about 60 grams, I don't know what will come of this fermentation, I'm trying.
15-hour caramel or nepoymi tea showed a slight sourness, got a little upset, wanted without sourness, leafy strongly sour, so I thought that I already have sourness))

[svetn]

svetn, Svetlana, and you are from Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region or Krasnoyarsk region! I’m about your bush), The flowers reminded me very much of a spirea, most likely it is. Judging by this plant, you are from Siberia).

[Wozik]

15-hour caramel or nepoymi tea showed a slight sourness, got a little upset, wanted without sourness, leafy strongly sour, so I thought that I already have sourness))

Wozik, dont be upset. It is too early to draw conclusions. To avoid acidity, you need to ferment granulated tea less. Now you fermented until 8 o'clock. It's enough. Until 12 o'clock, there is no sourness, if everything else is done correctly. For a leaf, you can even more - up to a day or more.

I can and should be on you)
Here I fermented the leaf for 8 hours and there is a strong acidity, why?

Wozik, do not be discouraged. It is too early to draw conclusions. To avoid acidity, you need to ferment granulated tea less. Now you fermented until 8 o'clock. It's enough. Until 12 o'clock, there is no sourness, if everything else is done correctly. For a leaf, you can even more - up to a day or more.

it turns out it's not vitamin C, but raw materials sour?

I can and should be on you)

Agreed! And me too.

it turns out it's not vitamin C, but raw materials sour?

In 8 hours it will not have time to turn sour.I don't even know why. It would be nice to know how you made all the tea - in stages ... Maybe it's badly dried, maybe you put a lot of raw materials in a bowl, maybe the temperature is high during fermentation? In general, it is too early to draw conclusions. Wait ...

straight from the tin ... I have one too. But the sheet became much rougher.

Lyudmila, I'm not overjoyed at "my" clearing, well, absolutely everything there is provided for by nature. In the center of the clearing, at the beginning of May I collected Ivan's tea, it began to grow there early, and now I wander near the edge of the forest, there fireweed is still forming buds, the shadow from the trees, young, tender leaves, and I collect them.

[Svetlana]

Svetlana, I agree that in nature, as a rule, everything is harmonious. I am very glad that you have a reason to be happy! God grant that this joy will last forever. And from tea, including.

withering for about 40 hours, why is it so long? The sheet is quite hard, after 24 hours it was not ready yet. Transferred for another day, worked. Fermentation 24-25 hours, double linking in a meat grinder. I haven't drunk yet, I don't know the taste. The tea smells like something sweet.

[Loksa]

Loksa, tea looks

Svetlana, and you are from Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region or Krasnoyarsk region!

Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Thanks a lot for the tip, indeed, spirea! I looked at the photos on the Internet.

[Lyudochka?]

It rains a lot here, almost every day. This leaf was collected on a dry day-evening, but it rained earlier in the afternoon, perhaps for this reason it wilts for a long time.
At the expense of drying. I have a minimum temperature of 30 degrees. And sometimes the temperature outside is also 30 degrees (but not here), so I dried for 20 minutes in the oven, and then in the dryer at 30 degrees overnight while I slept. And it still smells. I thought, on the street in a pillowcase, tea is being dried for an indefinite amount of time, which means that at my minimum in drying, I can arrange a street for him with the wind ?! : crazy: dry the night. What do you think, Lyudochka?

[Oksana]

I thought, on the street in a pillowcase, tea is being dried for an indefinite amount of time, which means that at my minimum in drying, I can arrange a street for him with the wind ?! dry the night. What do you think, Lyudochka?

Oksana, in a dryer at 30 *, of course, you can. But not all night. It's a lot. Overdry. A couple of hours, or even less, is enough. I don't like the dryer for one reason - the fine fraction of the tea spills out.

Nights for everyone, dried tea, 8 o'clock ivan dried ok
8 hour village ok
8 hours apple and currant approx, only green currants
But twenty o'clock Ivan burned out completely, for the first time he put a baking sheet at the bottom tag, in a minute he started to smoke at a hundred degrees
By the way, rustic weak in tea leaves, light brown

[Wozik]

Wozik, Misha, well, now a more positive report. The village will still be infused. And the oven, apparently, you need to adjust for tea. Either put bricks underneath, or unglazed tiles.

[Leaf Grinding Tool for Loose Tea]

Leaf Grinding Tool for Loose Tea





Author - kulibin (nickname),
Here's what he writes:

Today I picked 2 more packets of leaves, along the way I came up with a device so as not to rub the leaves with my palms, it is time consuming. I took the first 2 boards that were already sawn off in the sheds, sawed off 3 bars, also the first one that came across. I sawed the ribs with a grinder, with a thick disc for metal, after about 1 cm, half a centimeter deep, at an inclination of 45 degrees to get teeth. I nailed the bars, that's all the production, it took 15-20 minutes. In time, it turned out much faster, easier and better than if I rubbed it with my palms. The leaves were rubbed easily, without prior drying, even into porridge. smile.gif Maybe someone can use this method.

Followers of this method recommend laying the leaves not in an even layer, but in piles. They say that grinding is better this way:

I have already become an ardent fan of the Kulibino machine tool. The machine allows to carry out processing of any level - from slightly dented to crushed into dust. The selection of pressing the upper "ruble" occurs for the first or second load.And - a slight subtlety - the leaves must be laid in a bunch, and not scattered in a layer - then a sausage is immediately formed, and you roll it a little by pressing it 10-15-20 times. The leaves are whole. The effect is like manual processing, only 100 times faster and more efficient! Py. Sy. I had only a simple saw at hand - neither an electric, nor a grinder ... But it worked and it works !!!!

By the way, the principle of leaf rolling is practically the same on industrial rollers.

Yes, and that report is good, I like all the tea made before.
This one burned out to zero, tomorrow I'll throw it out, it's too lazy to go out.
Is it clear about the village, the tea leaves will darken? a little
I write from the bodies, that's why it's simple

[Misha]

This one burned out to zero, tomorrow I'll throw it out, it's too lazy to go out.

Misha, do not throw it away! I also received some coals once. I threw out the completely black ones, and drank the rest with pleasure.

Is it clear about the village, the tea leaves will darken? a little

Not much, but it will darken. In general, you have tricked something with technology. I always have very dark tea from a pure apple tree. And this one should be dark too.

One man from the same forum (nickname scrofula) corresponded with Sokolov I.A., a historian, candidate of historical sciences, professionally engaged in the history of tea and the tea trade in the Russian Empire. He published this correspondence on the issue of Koporye tea. Copied it here. For lovers of Ivan tea, I think it will be interesting to read it.

...Goodnight. Found your work "Tea and Tea Trade in the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries". I ask you to assist in finding information on Koporsky tea. The reference or complete information is in your work. Faced with the fact that there is neither packaging nor cans of that time from this tea, although it almost did not supplant black Indian. Can I and under what conditions receive a part of your work related to Koporye tea. Thank you in advance.

Sokolov I. A. Good day! Hello. There are quite a few publications on Koporye tea, although they are mainly of a chemical nature. Candidate of Kh. n. Sadovskiy A.S. You will not find packages of Koporsk tea because it was used to falsify Chinese teas and therefore tried to ban its circulation in the Russian Empire (without much success). As for other tea surrogates, that is, pre-revolutionary packaging. Some of the materials that could (without entering into conflict with publishers and magazines) be posted on the Web are available on the Academy educational portal. I'll throw off the link now 🔗

The link has a couple of articles concerning tizans - Koporye tea, in particular. Some of the books are the monograph Tea and the Tea Trade in Russia: 1790-1919. ; Russian and foreign tea trading companies in the tea market of the Russian Empire ....; etc. are available only in paper form. If you buy in Moscow, the cheapest place will be in the Nina Book Gallery, Metro Kropotkinskaya (building of the Institute of Russian Literature, basement in the courtyard). Or a publishing house. In other places it is expensive. Now we are working on tizans, including Koporye tea. What can be uploaded will be uploaded in social networks, at the academy. ed. In addition, a large cycle of lectures is planned for the Institute of Confucius (2, 3, 4 weeks of November) - there these issues (Koporye tea, tizans, etc.) will be discussed

... thank you very much. It turns out that the supply of Koporsky tea to England is just a legend for promotion in our time. It's a shame. But despite this, he is more than popular now. We have prepared for ourselves this season and do not even remember about black.
I don’t remember exactly about England, but Koporye tea was exported to Germany - they tried to limit its turnover in Russia, but it was exported. There are no data on export volumes. Yes, you can quote, drop links to the Academy. ed. There you may be interested in the article "Tea Doubles", there is about Koporye. Nothing remained in Koporye - the Germans went to the Great Patriotic War there, after them there is nothing interesting anymore.

In the early Soviet period, when they were closed from the outside world, they had to look for a replacement for tea and, in addition to the development of pre-revolutionary plantations in the Caucasus (Georgia / Adjara / Abkhazia / Krasnodar Territory / Azerbaijan), they began to actively develop the production of tizans - carrot tea, fireweed, badan, raspberry and so on. All these, in fact, surrogates went not only to the countryside (included in the obligatory assortment of the general store), but also drank in cities actively, for lack of normal tea. In general, even before the Revolution, tea significantly pressed tizans / surrogates. Ivan tea, for example, was drunk for religious reasons (some of the directions of the Old Believers, for example), completely poor villagers, the peoples of Siberia (again, if there was no money for good Chinese tea).