Ivan tea (fermentation of fireweed leaves) - master class

[naturalife]

naturalife, for do not be offended there is a personal, you could easily write, I am an adequate, reasonable person. In order to create a topic, I need photographs, I don't have them ... after a public flogging and, in general, offensive comments from old-timers and there is no mood to create a topic.

[Semblis]

Semblis, in vain you are so. I have no ulterior motive. Only today I put one jar specially according to your experiment.
I'm sure the girls didn't want to offend either. They simply spoke out for the purity of the topic in a somewhat harsh manner, since some newcomers began to get confused.
It's okay that there is no photo yet, will you still make such a seagull? Here will be an opportunity, take a photo and create it as you can.

Added on Tuesday 26 Jul 2016 10:17 pm

In general, maybe create a separate topic for experiments? And then where to discuss all this? Also incomprehensible ...
Indeed, not everyone can create a separate topic, this needs to be prepared.

[naturalife]

naturalife,

for do not be offended there is a personal

it's not for you this is written above ...

[Semblis]

Semblis, Marina, the truth is born in the dispute. And not everyone succeeds at once. You just have to strive.
No discussion

after a public flogging and generally offensive comments

Rich Russian, be able to use the right words in your speech.

[Semblis]

why on earth to fail ... unfounded statement.

While the site does not have your recipe with a photo of the process and all its stages and comments, how and what you did, everything you are talking about is an unfounded statement. But at the moment, the point is not in unfounded evidence, but in the fact that this experience of yours contradicts the recipe in the subject of which you are writing about it. You are misleading newcomers to this particular topic with such statements, which have not been confirmed either by years of experiments or photos. The author of the recipe first checked everything, spent a lot of time on the theoretical basis of her actions, explained everything, chewed it up, and even regularly answers questions repeated over the years!
And you did not bother to formalize your non-verbal, as you say, experience with a recipe. Here are recipes for practitioners: I did it - if it works out, film it, reasonably with numbers, explain how you did it. Otherwise, all these discussions (in the specific case under discussion!) Are nothing more than unfounded statements!
And you don't need to immediately wash your hands and hide in the bushes if you were once advised to make your own recipe. There are no evil goblins and inadequate teenagers who are not able to communicate in a human way. There are people engaged in fireweed tea, and these people are of different ages and from different places. Among them there are those who appreciate the work of the author of the topic and the moderator and try to make life easier for those who are just embarking on this path. And there are those who shamelessly use the gentleness and politeness of our moderator, which often cannot stop the contamination of the topic with unrestrained, unfounded ideas.
Create your own recipes, there they will not tell you a word across your or anyone else's know-how with withering in jars, scrolls without withering, fermentation at 40 grams, etc. which suits the author - God help! We just do not have enough new interesting recipes with Ivan tea.

there is no public flogging and, in general, offensive comments from old-timers and no mood to create a topic.

Semblis, you will forgive, but I did not think that you will spread the recipe.As practice shows, such touchy people on the forum are raids - they muddy the water, get offended at the first word across and leave in universal grief, not understood by anyone.

A person who is really fired up by tea and experiments and appreciates the opinion of experts, would definitely find time to lay out the recipe for his method, share with colleagues, discuss all the nuances, discoveries, and discrepancies! And the lack of a photo is not at all an obstacle to creating a new recipe! There would be a desire to share with others. But it's easier for you to take offense.
But the author of this recipe found both the strength and the time to share with us, and follow the topic, and write explanations hundreds of times to beginners who did not carefully read the recipe. For some reason, she had enough time and skill to design this recipe and bring people such a wonderful thing as the revived recipe of Koporye tea! Meanwhile, none of us on specials. I didn't go to courses to learn how to lay out recipes, all this is comprehended by trial and error, there is nothing complicated here.

It’s very, very sorry that you managed to SO read our posts with the main idea that you need to make your own recipe and not confuse newbies with your ideas.

I repeat once again that there are no evil goblins here!

And yes, there are busy people here who come to the topic after being notified that a new message has come in order to learn something new, specific recipes, and not reflections on opposite topics.

PS and you shouldn't think that these posts are addressed to you personally! This applies to anyone who makes tea in the opposite way to that described in this recipe.
Create your own recipes, bring a link here, and streams of interested parties with whom you will discuss your method will rush to you, without disturbing anyone and without causing discontent among those who work according to a different scheme!

[Tricia]

Tricia, offer me the so-called "nonsense" to arrange with photographs and a description of the process?
To Lyudmila, the author of the topic, only endless respect! She herself wrote articles on other topics not related to food, I know what kind of preparation is needed, how to chew for beginners so that everything is clear, all the nuances ... And maybe she's certainly offended that this one came, and stirring up the tea here))) But I'm a lighter! If something doesn’t work out anyway, I always look for the best way.

[Tricia]

Tricia, offer me the so-called "nonsense" to arrange with photographs and a description of the process?

I suggest that you fill out your recipe, where you write how you made your tea, why it was so, and not otherwise. Describe the process and outcome, expectations, etc.

You already have interested supporters!

Here you add a link to your recipe and everyone who is close to your ideas will come to you, as the mistress of the method, to share similar experiences!

It's great that you are such an active experimenter! We just do not have enough "fresh blood" in tea topics: everything fell into one mess in Lyudmila's topic, and we would like new recipes and methods so that we can disperse according to "methods of interest."

And please do not be offended by possible harsh statements! We are all living people, someone has a temperament, someone is not in a very good mood, so it was said more sharply than we would like.

And we have so many topics for hot controversy that our hair stands on end: in addition to making tea itself, dry fermentation and storage methods, and we all have our own special experience. And the author of the topic disagreed with me many times on fundamental issues. But this does not turn me away from the topic, on the contrary, I come back again.
And I will be glad to come to the topic with your recipe, discuss new algorithms, options, etc.

[mironirina]

mironirina, Irina, I also realized that from a long fermentation it turns out more astringent. And you can fry harder. I dry for 10 minutes sometimes at 170 degrees at the beginning of drying.

Added Wednesday, 27 Jul 2016 01:38

Here you add a link to your recipe and everyone who is close to your ideas will come to you, as the mistress of the method, to share similar experiences!

Semblis, Marina, indeed, there is nothing to be offended.The girls write everything correctly about the recipe verified over the years, and about the enormous work put in by Lyudmila, and about the fact that she explains the same thing every time in a circle. And when the topic has more than a hundred pages, go find the information you need, especially when it is urgently needed and there is no way to revise all the pages. And to respect the time of other people, in particular, Luda, who now lives in conditions with very poor, and often absent, Internet.
It is not so difficult to create your own recipe and it is much more convenient to collect practical developments in a specific recipe, we have already seen this many times.

Added Wednesday 27 Jul 2016 01:44

Al3X, Alexei, and I want to tell you, based on my personal experience, I came to the conclusion that it smells sour when the leaf is insufficiently wilted. Sometimes it happens to me too. I always wither in tightly rolled fabric. Our area is very humid and not hot at all. Sometimes it happens that a leaf on the outside began to dry out, but inside it didn't wither and then I don't like the smell either. But then I dry it with frying, dry fermentation and the tea turns out to be delicious. I have never thrown anything away. I feel sorry for my work and the collected leaves.

[lappl1]

lappl1, Lyudmila and all the girls good afternoon. So I decided to try making tea. It all started with the fact that my husband and I went to the forest for brooms, arrived at a clearing, which burned out about 5 years ago, there are such good young birches, and there is so much fireweed that the whole clearing is pink. Of course, what kind of brooms we can talk about !!! I collected a whole package, hurried, and it turned out here and there with neighbor's grass, I think okay, then I'll sort it out. We arrived late at 10 o'clock, laid it out on the table, withers, got up several times at night, stirred it up, but since it is hot at home, in the morning at 6 in the morning the upper leaves dried up, and what was in the layer did not wither, I took out the duvet cover, folded it, twisted it and went to work. In the evening we arrived too late, at 10 o'clock, I took the duvet cover in my hands, and it was hot, I was so scared that the leaves burned out. Unfolded, I wonder, part of the casting turned out to be wet, although I did not wash them, but it seemed to wither normally. I tried to sort them out, but it turned out that it was not so simple, something stuck to the leaves, toiled, I toiled, as a result, they began to grind so, with the hope that I did not rip anything terrible along with the fireweed. They ground them on a kenwood, at the beginning the leaves got stuck and it was difficult to push them, then I began to crush their sausage leaves and lower them into a meat grinder, it happened very quickly, kenwood worked without straining. The leaves were milled just like in your photo, with granules. I pressed them down a little, closed the container with a duvet cover and went to bed. it was the beginning of the eleventh, in the morning at 5 in the morning I got up and began to smell, did not smell at all, the mass darkened, got upset, went to turn on the oven, and then I go and once, the aroma of apricot kernels swept by. Apparently my nose did not wake up. The mass smelled very strongly of apricot pits. I laid it out on a baking sheet on parchment, the layer turned out to be thick, and I had only one baking sheet, and the parchment turned out to be a baking sheet, I put it in the oven, and here I started dancing with tambourines, I could not catch the temperature of 100 degrees, then I would come up less 90, I will add, I will close the door, I come 110, 40 minutes I fought so hard until it turned out 100 - + 2.3 degrees.
I stirred it gently with a spatula, but most of the granules disintegrated.

I dried it at 100 for 1.5 hours, then turned off the oven, and went to work, and now I sit and worry about how he is there, in the oven, alone, and there is no one to interfere with him, even if he does not spoil the tea. And so all the time I walked and smelled, then it seems to me that it smells of grass, I’ll get upset, then it seems, no, it smells of apricot pits, and so it goes for 1.5 hours. I have not decided what exactly it smells like.

Now I also looked at the pictures from the master class, it seems that I did not properly wrap the leaves in the duvet cover, I had to distribute and roll them in a thin layer, but I just drove all the leaves into one corner and wrapped the rest of the fabric on top.

[olgea]

olgea, Olya, congratulations on your first tea! I hope he will please
Personally, I try to apply a thick layer on top, so as not to steam. I put some in a frying pan, for example. Or I divide the mass: part of the land, and part of the fermentation I leave. In the morning I dry it (if it's a working day), turn off the temperature before leaving for work, and leave the light on. In the oven, this turns out to be quite warm all day. True, I try to dry the tea as much as possible before leaving (it’s definitely dry for two hours).

Personally, I try to apply a thick layer on top, so as not to steam.

Flax, I understand that, it just turned out a lot, it has been fermented for 7 hours already, and today I will come home again at 10 pm, the mass will be re-fermented during this time? So I was confused.

[Olya]

Olya, yes, of course, at first a lot of doubts, I understand You can ferment at different times. While there is no experience, it is better to often track the smell, but when there is no opportunity for this, then it’s because of the circumstances.
If I know that it won't be possible to track it, I put the dried raw materials in the freezer and then twist / ferment at a convenient time.
Some leaves lay in the freezer until March

If I know that it won't be possible to track it, I put the dried raw materials in the freezer and then twist / ferment at a convenient time.

And I thought that fireweed should not be frozen.

[Ol]

Ol, it is not recommended to freeze a young one when it is very juicy and tender. A mature one can. I ice it and everything works out well. The main thing is to wither properly

freeze young when it is very juicy and tender. A mature one can. I ice it and everything works out well.

Len, thank you very much, I'll know.

Girls, I have a question.
When the tea hangs in a bag and dries up, I had a couple of times that I forgot about it, and it damped a little, as I understood. It's just that when I put it in cans, it did not break, but was elastic. So I left it then, but now I think - maybe I’ll play it out?
Just how? He is in the bank for about 2 weeks. Or leave it like that?

[naturalife]

naturalife, Vera, I put it in the oven under the light bulb, and then put it away for storage. It's always humid here.

So now what should I do - take it out of the can and dry it? So it is possible?

[naturalife]

naturalife, I also dry before removing, if the humidity is high, last year it rained, so I was always reinsured.

Added on Wednesday 27 Jul 2016 10:18 am

olgea, what about the tea?
You need to dry it in a really thin layer so that it does not get steamed, and let the rest of the mass ferment further. And you need to recruit so much so that it could be processed without straining, especially for the first time.
Welcome to our crazy crowd of gulls!

[elena kadiewa]

elena kadiewa, I have another problem, I already put it away for storage, when they were already damp after drying, and for 2 weeks it has already been in the jar.
I ask, is it okay if I pull it out and dry it again?

it's okay if I pull it out and dry it again

And what could be "terrible" in this action? It's scary if the unfinished one gets moldy! Then everything will go to trash.

Hmm yeah...
I have not yet read everything that the old-timers wrote after my last message, but the attitude is clear.
Actually, I tried to do as indicated in the subject, but my fermentation does not take longer than 6 hours - then nitrous oxide (nitrous oxide, pancake ...) or mustiness. Therefore, I have to adjust the recipe with my own experiments. I am also outraged why a lot has been written on the internet about the preparation of Ivan-tea diametrically opposite (and it sounds especially wry-eyed that you need to ferment for 4-5 days, this is the edge of phantasmagorias for me), but you see that I am not the only one like that and not everyone succeeds, how are you.
I probably should open a new thread on my own question. Excuse me for inheriting.
The moderator can clear the topic at any time.
...
I will add:
I read it. Well, what can I say. You know, I am sometimes jarred by the fact that people complain about our government, which, having received levers of control and some new experience, begins to stubbornly ignore the voice of the people. So maybe the reason is in us? We are ourselves ... I wrote that I did as recommended in the recipe, and I didn’t succeed (read my messages carefully, and then hint newcomers), so I ask questions, and you criticize. Not good.
...
Thanks to those who wanted to help.

[Al3X]

Damn, what is it, here's a person offended ...do we really behave this way, or do they simply not understand us? I was surprised and am surprised at Lyudochka's patience.Al3X, sorry if something is wrong.

I read it. Well, what can I say. You know, I am sometimes jarred by the fact that people complain about our government, which, having received levers of control and some new experience, begins to stubbornly ignore the voice of the people. So maybe the reason is in us? We are ourselves ... I wrote that I did as recommended in the recipe and I didn’t succeed (read my messages carefully, and then hint newcomers), so I ask questions, and you criticize. Not good.

Alexei! You are right, there are many recipes for making tea on the Internet, but not all of them get what you want. This recipe has been worked out by the author to the smallest detail and on the first page there are links to frequently asked questions, including for beginners why tea does not work. And yet, if you read the topic carefully, the same questions are asked.
By fermentation. I did different things, from 3 to 24 hours, I don’t have a gas analyzer, the tea turned out in all cases, of course of different taste, but the tea GOT IT! Maybe you need to climb less into the jungle with chemistry and politics, but just do everything carefully (without analysis yet)?

Well, what about the tea?

Flax, I just can't dry the tea in the oven, I don't have enough time, I dried it for an hour in the oven yesterday, went to bed, got up this morning, turned it on for an hour, now my daughter periodically just mixes the tea, in the evening I want to take the drying from my mother and dry it already there. I hope nothing will happen to him from such a long drying.

And you need to recruit so much so that it could be processed without straining, especially for the first time.

And I saw a whole package in Lyudmila's master class, and decided that less is impossible. Now I have already begun to imagine how much volume can be obtained

Welcome to our crazy crowd of gulls!

Thank you so much!!!!!!

I wrote that I did it as recommended in the recipe and I didn't succeed

I will answer with the words of Konstantin Sergeich ... "I DO NOT BELIEVE!"
A more detailed description of the technological process (moreover, with different variations to choose from), like the author of this topic, is difficult to wish for.
Tea cannot fail! Moreover, not once or twice, but constantly, as I understand it.
Last year, in a parcel there were leaves cut off from the mother bush, wrapped in ordinary filter paper for almost 5 days! I twisted them in a meat grinder (without choosing quality or not), fermented for another 12 hours. And the tea turned out as a result!
So ... read the recipe from the beginning and look for the catch.
And you just don't need to be offended. This is a non-constructive approach

I tried a convenient drying method for myself. Scroll tea in the evening. Ferment overnight. In the morning, 1.2 in the oven before work. Dry in the evening.

Dry in the evening.

I also planned so, but all these days we come home at 10, only have time to put the children to bed and most quickly, because in the morning you have to get up at 5 o'clock. Therefore, next time I will probably hold it in the oven for 1.2 hours at 100, then dry it and calmly go to work.

[Radushka]

I'm surprised at Lyudochka's patience

I, too, wrote a letter in a personal with a request to delete my comments with an apology that I got into someone else's topic without thinking that different forums have their own traditions.
Radushka,

And the tea turned out as a result!

what does it mean, what color, smell, what infusion, what taste, what is important?
For example, I am not satisfied with the smell of sourness from the oven, although the girls write that it is so good ... The fabric of which you need to cover the leaves, dries constantly, you need to rinse and cover again, after a few rinses, the fabric already devil knows what it smells like. Notice people are adults, they know how to read, they distinguish the dials on the clock, but the bad luck does not work, as according to the recipe.

And you just don't need to be offended.

Of course, you need to get the full program, but you don't need to be offended, where you noticed the construct on page 201, it's just amazing.

Girls, remember last year Leshka? Which tons of Ivanushka worked on watch? Damn ... He had special conditions! And he adapted to them. And everything worked out for him!

Well, we are not geniuses of tea making! And not certified specialists!
And there was never sourness, especially from the oven, only the aroma of drying tea. And what would you like to do? Especially ferment? How?
Therefore, you need to look for errors in your technology.
We give advice, as we can, sorry, it's hard to please everyone, and I'm not going to.

Especially ferment? How?

Do you need ensiling? I'll find

Do you think it is necessary?
well come in a personal!
maybe something will come out too. ..

Girls, I’m still thinking, why did my tea leaves fall apart? Grind well through a meat grinder, sausages. Maybe I pressed hard when I put it on fermentation, because after fermentation I pulled a whole piece out of the cup and jerked it gently with my hands to spread it on a baking sheet.

[Radushka]

Radushka,

I wrote that I did it as recommended in the recipe and I didn't succeed

I will answer with the words of Konstantin Sergeich ... "I DO NOT BELIEVE!"

Then I am a masochist.
...
My problem is that I do not know what to strive for, because I have not tried the DIVINE (as some people call it, which I have no doubt about) Ivan tea. I am attracted by what people say about him: wonderful aroma, mind-blowing notes of fruity smell and taste, honey tint and so on. I want to do just that, and I strive for this.
I make tea, but it goes through the sour smell stage, which annoys me, you know? Well, a healthy drink cannot smell disgusting. After drying, there is a pleasant aroma, but remembering about the sourness somehow drinking this does not really pull. Maybe I find fault with many people like that? After all, people under public opinion sometimes ignore their failures and do not show them, saying that everything is OK with me too. I could also keep silent, because I have tea, as it were, and you can even sell it: black color, tea leaves are not rotten, good smell and even brewed without the slightest turbidity and has a pleasant appearance. Even for the purity of the experiment, he gave it to completely strangers to try - they say that it is better than Chinai or Indian.
With big setbacks, more experience is gained. I am not offended, if it were not for the stoic desire to achieve the goal, I would have given up this occupation long ago. The one who allows himself it takes offense. And, as I see, some old-timers were offended, for which I asked forgiveness.
...
Good luck with business.

[olgea]

olgea, Olya, no need to crush the granular. I just knock with the bottom of the vessel. It compresses itself a little. We ram and oppression put only a cut or a whole sheet

[elena kadiewa]

elena kadiewa, Radushka, thanks for the constructive! Notice I wrote "girls write" and not "elena kadiewa, writes ".

Girls, I’m still thinking, why did my tea leaves fall apart? Grind well through a meat grinder, sausages. Maybe I pressed down hard when I put it on fermentation, because after fermentation I pulled a whole piece out of the cup and jerked it gently with my hands to spread it on a baking sheet.

I do not compact the granules after the meat grinder, just knock the saucepan lightly on the table and that's it. They do not lie on a baking sheet in a lump. And Ivanushka has good granules.

I just knock with the bottom of the vessel.

Now that's yeah, but I crushed it, it seems so good, since it retained the shape of a cup after fermentation. And this will greatly affect the quality of tea that there are no tea leaves?

[Nadyushich]

Nadyushich,

Added Thursday, Jul 28, 2016 01:37 PM

And this will greatly affect the quality of tea that there are no tea leaves?

I laugh ... you'll see for yourself. You can tell us. You can even take a photo of the result.

will not be affected. The main thing is correct fermentation and not mess with drying

Alexei! Everyone has different tastes and smell.Have you set the bar too high in your imagination? Here are some who made tea and also smelled sourness, and then it left ... And after a few months this tea was unrecognizable, and honey and fruits appeared ... Maybe you are too picky and hurried, have patience and let your tea stand and you won't recognize him in a few months ...

For example, I am not satisfied with the smell of sourness from the oven, although the girls write that it is so good ... The fabric of which you need to cover the leaves, dries constantly, you need to rinse and cover again, after a few rinses, the fabric already devil knows what it smells like. Notice people are adults, they know how to read, they distinguish the dials on the clock, but the bad luck does not work, as according to the recipe.

I don't like whiners! If something does not suit me in the recipe, then I just take it and silently do it in my own way!
I don’t wither, I have leaves in the fabric! I dry in a pet bag, I don't dry roasted teas, but I dry them in a dryer, I don't ferment usually for more than 3-4 hours, I don't ferment strictly at a temperature of 22-26 degrees, and usually I increase it to 32-36! You see how many NOT. But this does not mean that the tea turns out to be tasteless, it means that in three years of tea-making I have gained my experience and my methods! What I sincerely wish you too!

[Irina]

Irina,

I have not yet read everything that the old-timers wrote after my last message, but the attitude is clear.

Dear Alexey!
The old-timers answered you the way you asked the question!
She returned for several. page back, looked at your message.
On page 197 you wrote very briefly about your tea, which didn't work out. And, probably, they thought that the old-timers - telepaths and all the other nuances (and in making tea everything is important, right down to the mood and pure karma) will think out themselves.
It is not clear where you are from in your profile. The region where the fireweed grows and where the tea grower lives is also very important.
12 Ivan-tea fails is a serious result. And it seems to me that it says that you have a lot of recipes in your head that have merged into one mess.

If you are, after all, an adult person and can abstract yourself from our attempts to put things in order in the subject, convince novice experimenters to draw up new recipes and not confuse others, and not that you took it all upon yourself, although it was in your defense that they wrote comments urging not to confuse the newcomers, I am ready to discuss your experiments with you in a constructive manner.
Only first I want to say that your here this post also does not add enthusiasm to the old-timers:

Looking at this forum, I was happy to see a meeting of professionals in the production of Ivan-tea, but now I am at a loss: really no one will say what is my mistake? Or not. I asked a simple question (on page 197) and for people with experience, answer it, I think there is no problem.

You are perplexed that you were not answered. Are we here with you on contractual wear, when the fulfillment of desires / order must be on time? This is a free volunteer forum where people share their experiences with others in their own free time. And the fact that this topic is so popular suggests that yes, here they can help, and chew, and explain what's what with respectful communication. We are all pioneers, Komsomol members who have grown up here, ready to spend our personal time, tearing it away from families, preparations, country hardships, and just from the usual rest - to lie with a book on the sofa. And I would like to see the understanding and patience from the beginners that we cannot just throw everything out and bring everyone to chew for the hundredth time ...
This is the lyrics.

If you, Alexey, are still in the mood for a constructive dialogue and want to find mistakes and make yourself delicious tea, please answer, plz, on the trail. questions:

Do you smoke?
Are there allergic rhinitis that distorts the perception of odors?
Is there a chem. production that interfere with odors to perceive?

1. What region do you live in. What is your weather, humidity like?
2. Do you collect fireweed accurately? It would be nice to have a photo of what you are collecting.
3. What leaves, plant parts do you collect.
4.What time of day, in what weather conditions do you collect?
5. In what container do you collect, do you ram?
6. How long do you carry / carry the leaf to the house / place where you dried? In what condition are you bringing the sheet? Does the leaf smell on the way than, if so?
7. Do you choose foreign herbs, living creatures when withering?
8. At what temperature does wilting take place, in what room?
9. Is there always one withering time? How does it feel? Do you carry out a test for a "lump of leaves" and non-crunchiness of the veins? What does the leaf smell like to you when withering?
10. How do you deform the fermentation leaf? Meat grinder? What are the grates? Manually? To what extent is the batch? Cleanliness of dishes and grinder - are they used for meat and other products?
11. When the leaf is deformed, is there juice, how much of it, is it chomping? What does the raw material smell like? Does it get hot? Check with a thermometer, not with the palm! Is there 23-28 grams.
12. In what containers (composition), in what layer, at what temperature inside the raw material and outside in the air fermentation takes place. How many hours and why exactly this time? In the sun, in the shade, in the dark? In what room, what is the humidity there?
13. What is the raw material to the touch during fermentation? What smell? If sour, is it closer to sorrel, apple or mash? Try to tell in more detail.
14. Drying in which appliance? At what temperature? Sc. minutes, what layer of raw materials, how many stirring?
15. Air drying? In what? What is the time, in what room / place?
16. Dry fermentation where, in what, how long?

17. What tea do you like to drink, taste preferences: black, green, strong, with sugar, etc.
18. What tea are you trying to get: black, green, strong, delicate, etc.
19. Do you strive to preserve the healthiness of Ivan tea to the maximum, or do you just prepare a delicious drink according to your taste for constant use?

20. When was the last time you said sincere thanks to the Master of the Forest?

Well. Something like this. In order for me to be able to advise you something, I need answers to these questions, plus, perhaps, some more. But this is my personal attitude to tea!
I don't consider myself a guru. The only thing I can say is that in two years of tea making, not a single batch has been lost.
Otherwise, I simply cannot imagine how to diagnose your failures.

If you are still interested, let's work what I can, I will advise.

answer, plz, on the trail. questions:

Well, you give it, Nastya! Just a dissertation!

[Tricia]

Tricia, AnastasiaMany thanks for the QUESTIONS! I think, one way or another, everyone has to make tea, respond to them by developing their own technology. Vaughn, Yanka makes tea, despite the violation of his own perception of smells!
Oh

thanks to the Master of the forest

I also want to insert my penny ... ANY harvesting of plants cannot but be accompanied by a sincere gratitude to the plants for sharing their OWN BODY with us! Often to their detriment. I know that, for example, it is generally necessary to harvest medicinal plants by performing certain rituals. Otherwise, everything will remain mere grass. And dough-wine-beer ... it's better not to start making if you're in a bad mood. Will not work!

Then I am a masochist.
...
My problem is that I do not know what to strive for, because I have not tried the DIVINE (as some people call it, which I have no doubt about) Ivan tea. I am attracted by what people say about him: wonderful aroma, mind-blowing notes of fruity smell and taste, honey tint and so on. I want to do just that, and I strive for this.
I make tea, but it goes through the sour smell stage, which annoys me, you know? Well, a healthy drink cannot smell disgusting. After drying, there is a pleasant aroma, but remembering about the sourness somehow drinking this does not really pull. Maybe I find fault with many people like that? After all, people under public opinion sometimes ignore their failures and do not show them, saying that everything is OK with me too. I could also keep silent, because I have tea, as it were, and you can even sell it: black color, tea leaves are not rotten, good smell and even brewed without the slightest turbidity and has a pleasant appearance. Even for the purity of the experiment, he gave it to completely strangers to try - they say that it is better than Chinai or Indian.
With big setbacks, more experience is gained. I am not offended, if it were not for the stoic desire to achieve the goal, I would have given up this occupation long ago. The one who allows himself it takes offense. And, as I see, some old-timers were offended, for which I asked forgiveness.
...
Good luck with business.

Alexey, while rolling a healthy post for you, did not see yours.

Tell me, why do you need Ivan tea at all? )))
Somehow you refer to him with a certain disdain, as to the over-advertised and askomine product. It seems that on everyone's lips, a craze for him and you on the wave decided to do it too, like everyone else? ))) Like goji berries, which will save everyone and rejuvenate instantly ...
From personal experience, so that without voice: I began to make and drink Ivan tea to support the kidneys. Pharmacists will shower me with slippers, but I know for sure that for all the diuretics I drank according to the strict recommendations of doctors, etc., I had pains, allergies, discomfort and many other things. Ivan tea helped me. This is my personal lead from which it all began.
And then I just liked drinking it. Without glamorous ahs and sighs, without bragging to relatives and friends - we just silently make tea with my husband and drink, enjoy. We do not advertise to anyone, we do not impose our tastes on anyone.
That is why all the processes of making tea evoke positive emotions in me.
And you write about a disgusting smell, about sourness! You even use words with a negative connotation ... With this attitude, you will not succeed, unfortunately. If you need tea and is dear, change your attitude - be calmer, take the sourish fireweed smell for granted - this is its peculiarity, you cannot get away from it. Try to avoid irritation - as a result, the tea will not smell sour. With your negativity you simply start the process of destruction, no matter how heresy it sounds !!!
Put on a mask, do not sniff the leaf then if the smell irritates you, but you are ready to move on.

Regarding the honey, fruit, etc. flavors of fireweed.
Do you really expect that, in fact, out of nowhere, the grass will suddenly sprinkle with honey? This will not be so obvious! Can you smell paprika or chocolate in dry red foreign wine? No? This means that you do not expect all the described blissful smells in fireweed. You will either smell pleasant or unpleasant.
If you smoke or often eat commercial sweets, teas with flavors, then it is even more difficult to catch all these fireweed transformations of the smell.

I would advise you to rest a little, calm down, deal with household chores that annoy you and only then proceed to making tea.
It seems to me that the problem is not in technology or unrestrained algorithm, but in the fact that something oppresses you and does not allow you to relax. I apologize in advance for the uninvited psychoanalysis, but I think this is very important when preparing tea.

Oh, I reread your post, Alexey, once again and came across the words about selling ... is your main goal - to sell this tea? If not, then why are you using the sales opportunity as an argument for the goodness of tea ?? !!

Medicinal and super-useful plants can smell so much, I assure you !!! But at the same time, be almost a panacea! So your attitude to the smell of willow tea is just your taste preferences, which can be changed if you wish, or rather, your attitude to the smell can be changed.

And dough-wine-beer ... it's better not to start making if you're in a bad mood.

That's for sure, my dad makes wine, it lasts for 15 years. We help to pick berries, yesterday we picked bird cherry, you should have seen how he walked around the trees and thanked them for the opportunity to do his favorite thing.

[Tricia]

Tricia,

what does it mean, what color, smell, what infusion, what taste, what is important?
For example, I am not satisfied with the smell of sourness from the oven, although the girls write that it is so good ... The fabric of which you need to cover the leaves, dries constantly, you need to rinse and cover again, after a few rinses, the fabric already devil knows what it smells like. Notice people are adults, they know how to read, they distinguish the dials on the clock, but the bad luck does not work, as according to the recipe.

Now I brewed a white pink one, did it a month ago, what can I say about it? Strong, full-bodied, tart, tasty.But I cannot describe the aroma and taste. It tastes very good to me, but I cannot compare it with anything, and whether it is necessary, anyway the other person will perceive the taste in his own way.
And about the diapers .... this year I use old bedspreads, in them the sheet does not dry and withers well. When I remove the sheet, the cover is damp and smells very good. I don't rinse it, but just hang it on the balcony to dry. There is no nasty smell, only aroma. I wash at the end of the season.
It seems to me that the attitude with which you are doing something is very important, and if it is not there, then it is better not to do it, or even you can get poisoned ...