Pine needle tea

[woodchips]

I made some pine needle tea the other day and enjoyed and would like to make it whenever I am out and about and see a pine tree.

So what I am wondering is any tree with needles safe to make tea out of or are there some to avoid. My evergreen tree identification skills are non existent, they all look the same to me at the moment, but if I am likely to get ill drinking tea from certain needles then I will obviously learn to id them a little better. Perhaps I should do this anyway as they do stand out in winter time.

For starters I imagine yew needles are a little dangerous to make tea with, any others I should be aware of?

 

[led]

[Oops, just noticed you already mentioned Yew]

 

[andyn]

I guess that for Pine needle tea it is best to stick to Pine needles but spruce might have a similar taste I guess.

But i wasn't overly impressed by pine needle tea so tried so others that i heard about - I think that there are probably hundreds of infusions you can make from the wild. I would imagine most of them were used for medicinal purposes in the past (and present)

The ones i have tried are:

Yarrow Tea is very good, a supposidly clears a cold up fast too amoung other thing. But you shouldN'T drink it regually as it makes you sensitve to the light.

Rosehip tea is nice too.

and Blackberry leaf tea is another. a small handfull of the young leaves

Sure there are lots of others.

 

[Klenchblaize]

What a distcusting sounding tipple but probably the perfect accompaniment to roast Capercaillie were such legal! Why would anyone want to consume creosote??

Cheers

 

[dommyracer]

Its cracking with a bit of cinnamon added. Been trying to think of a wild alternative that would perform in its place, but my knowledge isn't up to that.

If I was in Jamaica, I would use allspice. But then its unlikely I'd have any pines...

 

[woodchips]

Thanks Andy I will try the other options you mentioned. Although I did try blackberry tea a while ago and I found it made a cloudy liquid with quite a drying nature so I didn't drink it, does that sound familiar to you I am wondering if I missed a trick or had the wrong type of blackberry, come to think of it it was just a bramble and I am not sure if there were blackberrys on it, but I was under the impression it was the same plant.

Klenchblaize, I would imagine Creosote would be quite poisonous so I agree, cant imagine why anyone would want to try that and not very bushcrafty, maybe if stuck in a timber yard for long periods of time it might be contemplated.

Thanks for the tip on the cinnamon Dommyracer, I will give that a go, sure I have a few sticks kicking about in the kitchen draw.

 

[John Fenna]

Clover head tea is OK, raspberry leaf tea is good - and good for period pains (or so I am told - the top one tho has to be god old nettle! Most herbs make some kind of tea - medicinal or refreshing or both - but I am more of a coffee drinker andacorn dandylion root or cleavers all make good substitutes for this - I have even heard of wild parsnin root coffee but have yet to try this.
John

 

[surfpirate]

I too am not sure of id of the right pine to use for teas, so would appreciate some tips. Andyn was right about Yarrow though i love it. Blackberry (bramble) leaf is excellent too, it shouldn't be cloudy though are you sure you used the right plant?

 

[Toddy]

Pine needles aren't all alike
Look for the ones with two needles for real pines......this is the clearest illustration I can find
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~iany/patterns/needles.htm

If you're not dependant on the tea for vitamins etc, it's possible to make tea by just roughly stipping off the branches and boiling for 20 minutes, strain and drink.
It's very good added to green tea or Yunan, kind of enriches the flavour when it's cold out

Cheers,
Toddy

p.s. aren't the images on that site excellent ?

 

[nooky]

Toddy, That website does have some great pictures. Thanks.
Andrew.

 

[surfpirate]

Thanks for that Toddy, yes some pretty cool photos there!!

 

[woodchips]

Blackberry (bramble) leaf is excellent too, it shouldn't be cloudy though are you sure you used the right plant?

I boiled the leaves in the kettle for a while, was this where I went wrong? I did collect the leaves by torch light so I cant be 100% sure I got the right plant, , it was prickly though.

Nice pictures Toddy, good resource for tree id, I find the pictures in my book hard to work from sometimes, are those the pine needles of the scots pine? I don't really know what I used last time for pine tea, but I will look more carefully next time round
How would I make the tea if I wanted more vitamins?

 

[andyn]

Thanks Andy I will try the other options you mentioned. Although I did try blackberry tea a while ago and I found it made a cloudy liquid with quite a drying nature so I didn't drink it, does that sound familiar to you I am wondering if I missed a trick or had the wrong type of blackberry, come to think of it it was just a bramble and I am not sure if there were blackberrys on it, but I was under the impression it was the same plant.

As far as i am aware Bramble is one of the varieties of blackberry. I would pick from the bush variety though rather than the gorund creepers. The leaves need to be young (spring time - but the leaves can be dried for later use too I have read), once strained I sweetened mine with sugar, but have discovered squeezable tubes of honey since then LOL

 

[dommyracer]

Fellow BCUK member Aaron gave me a tip for telling the difference between Pine Spruce and Larch at the Xmas moot.

It relates to the way that the needles grow out from the branch.

"Pines in Pairs
Spruce in Singles
Larch in Lots."

 

[g4ghb]

Fellow BCUK member Aaron gave me a tip for telling the difference between Pine Spruce and Larch at the Xmas moot.

It relates to the way that the needles grow out from the branch.

"Pines in Pairs
Spruce in Singles
Larch in Lots."

great aide memoir!

is there one for firs? - the only one i can reliably identify is Douglas fir..... (two pale lines on the underside of the needle and smells citrusy when rubbed)

 

[dave k]

As far as i am aware Bramble is one of the varieties of blackberry. I would pick from the bush variety though rather than the gorund creepers. The leaves need to be young (spring time - but the leaves can be dried for later use too I have read), once strained I sweetened mine with sugar, but have discovered squeezable tubes of honey since then LOL

Remember to always pick from above dog-pee height!

 

[Long Stride]

Don't know about firs but was always told,

" Never sit on a Sitka "

Its a Spruce with rigid needles

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

I made some pine needle tea the other day and enjoyed and would like to make it whenever I am out and about and see a pine tree.

So what I am wondering is any tree with needles safe to make tea out of or are there some to avoid. My evergreen tree identification skills are non existent, they all look the same to me at the moment, but if I am likely to get ill drinking tea from certain needles then I will obviously learn to id them a little better. Perhaps I should do this anyway as they do stand out in winter time.

For starters I imagine yew needles are a little dangerous to make tea with, any others I should be aware of?

Let's see...
I've drunk;

-White Pine tea
-White cedar tea
-Hemlock (the tree, not the plant!)
-Fir tea

Never cared for the fir, and I figured spruce wouldn't be too nice...

 

[falling rain]

There are loads of wild teas and tisanes available out there. Some I've tried that spring to mind are nettle, chamomile (heads when the petals start to droop is the best time to pick) ground ivy (very good for the chest) Yarrow, water mint and mint, rose hip. There are loads more. Toddy's your lady for the expertise on all the good things in them all, and what they can do for you.