Tea in the wild?

[Deleted member 1143]

Hi all, was wondering what everyone did for a nice cup of tea whilst in the wild? I know theres the obvious ones like pine needle, elderberry, nettle etc. but does anyone go to the effort of taking a flask and fresh-(ish!) milk? I know its not very lofty wiseman like but I dont think that anything can beat a nice cup of PG tips to relax with - what solutions can you guys come up with?

Thanks - Jack

 

[TheViking]

Cocoa for me and if it's available with a spoon of sugar and milk, but I never carry it on longer expeditions, for example to Sweden. Last thing you would wan't there is extra weight. So in the 'wild' I drink it as it is, also the easiest. Have a look at this thread. It might be of some help. :biggthump

 

[jakunen]

Quite simple. A t-bag, one of those little milk cartons you 'acquire' from hotel rooms, and a small stove. Fresh brew tea is far better than thermos stuff.

 

[tomtom]

powdered milk and earl grey for me :rolmao:
tastes fine in tea..


you will find most people round here arnt very lofty wiseman like!

 

[jocc]

Tea bag, powder milk, no sugar, an old bean can as a pot and a wood fire

what can be better

John

 

[Bob Hurley]

A tea bag and water just off the boil, no milk or sugar. I prefer coffee, but it's a lot more bother.

Many of our evergreen trees in the U.S. yield a nice tea from the needles/leaves, white pine especially. Most places here in the Smokey Mountains wintergreen ("teaberry") is abundant, the leaves make a good tea and the berries are good to eat plain. There's wild ginger here and there, and sassafrass root bark is good but you have to dig up the sapling to get to it so I don't. Birch bark peeled green from small shoots makes good tea and is refreshing just to chew as you walk, like a woody chewing gum.

 

[Moine]

Orange Pekoe tea bags. I love that tea (I know, it's got nothing so special, but I just grew up drinking it...). Brown sugar cubes and a film vial filled with powdered milk for sundays

David

 

[jakunen]

There's nothing wrong with BOP. Its a great tea!

 

[Gary]

Lift Apple tea and a thermo of hot water - works for me!!

 

[whitebuffalo]

Being half American I like coffee, its easy when its black :biggthump

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Whoever started this business of 'roughing it' is either a masochist or hopelessly misguided. We don't fly airplanes standing up, so why make bushcraft needlessly difficult. The old canadian survival regulations even listed tea in the kit. A brew up can be just as emotionally needed as a traumatised child holding to a teddy bear. I located chinese brick tea in a re enactor catalog. It is a valued piece of my survival kit. I won't discuss which blade geometry best shaves it either

 

[Moonraker]

65% Ceylon BOP and 35% Earl Grey, my personal mix I have drunk for 25 years from here:

Gillards of Bath, England

The best tea you will ever taste whatever the blend (especially the EG. The Mango scented tea is heaven too) and a lovely old family business with the luxury of being able to order it online from France

Another favourite is freshly picked wild mint tea especially in the hot summer. Served very hot with lots of cane sugar, like in the Middle East; very refreshing. Also the whole village picks lime tree flowers for tisanes and wild camomile.

 

[martin]

Black tea with a spoonful of honey or Twinnings Blackberry and Nettle.
For foraged teas I like Pine needles or Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata). But the Ribwort needs about 4 days to dry.

 

[RovingArcher]

I carry coffee singles, cocoa and tea.

 

[Brian]

Hi,

I used to take powdered tea but decided it wasn't the real thing and didn't taste that nice, so I now take Blackcurrant and Apple tea bags. I find it very relaxing waiting for the tea to infuse sitting next to a fire under the stars, need I say more.

Brian

 

[BIG-TARGET]

Earl Grey and the great outdoors just goes together!! ack:

 

[Snufkin]

I always drink tea black no sugar anyway so it's no hassle for me.

 

[BIG-TARGET]

Quite a few here may consider this blaphemy/herecy, but I like "Sweet-n-Low in my Earl grey!!!! :biggthump

 

[nomade]

Chriskavanaugh wrote:

"...as emotionally needed as a traumatised child holding to a teddy bear..."

This is also what tea in the wild and elsewhere is for me...well a foreigner totally addicted to the British "cuppa"..

I hate tea bags, will never surrender to them, don't understand how the British could so easily give up on tea leaves! :rolmao:

So tea for me is infused organic tea leaves, milk, no sugar.

In the wild I indulge to this little tea ceremony: a drain the right size staying in a mug and then removed. The leaves thrown out, no harm to the environment. Then powder milk because of its light weight.

Alternatively, organic green tea leaves: got myself used to not having milk with these.

I have tried pine needles: do you have to crush them first? Just broken in tiny bits doesn't seem to give much taste/colour to your drink. Does anyone know more on this?

 

[nomade]

Chriskavanaugh wrote:

"...as emotionally needed as a traumatised child holding to a teddy bear..."

Chris this is also what tea in the wild is for me...well a foreigner totally addicted to the British "cuppa".. :chill: :cup:

I hate tea bags, will never surrender to them, don't understand how the British could so easily give up on tea leaves! :rolmao:

So tea for me is infused organic tea leaves, milk, no sugar.

In the wild I indulge to this little tea ceremony: a drain the right size staying in a mug and then removed. The leaves thrown out, no harm to the environment. Then powder milk because of its light weight.

Alternatively, organic green tea leaves: got myself used to not having milk with these.

I have tried pine needles: do you have to crush them first? Just broken in tiny bits doesn't seem to give much taste/colour to your drink. Does anyone know more on this?


Coffee in the wild: although a good morale booster, only if local supply of water is unlimited. Otherwise not a good idea as coffee makes you thirsty. I am surprised to see coffee as part of survival kits in some survival manuals (Lofty's? I think I have seen this in his )