The other day I made some tea with pine tree needles. I made two different cups. One with the whole needles (with the beginning that is attached to the branch) and one without this beginning and I also removed the complete brown needles in this cup (see pics). The first one had a reasonable smell and taste, the second one almost tasted like normal water. We often drink tea made of spruce needles in springtime and then the smell and taste are much more intens. Now I wonder, do needles in winter contain as much vitamines as needles in spring/summer? When drying needles the amount of nutrition is supposed to stay about the same as it is in fresh needles, right? So needles in winter, that are a bit dried out, should contain the same amount of nutrition also? Then why the loss of smell/taste?
First cup with complete needles:
Needles without the beginning:
First cup with complete needles:
Needles without the beginning:
