Everything Else > Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles
Help Me Help My Neighbor Start A Tea Garden in Florida 10A
SpeciesOfSubstance:
To add on to Ilex vomitoria (yaupon), Ilex paraguariensis (yerba mate), but also Ilex guayusa (guayusa) would probably do well in Florida.
Bet you would do well with a Camellia sinensis var. assamica of some kind. A tea garden is hardly complete without actual TEA! ;)
Valeriana officinalis (valerian) is an excellent tea. It is always one of the first plants I recommend to anyone in their home garden. Smells a little strange if you are not familiar, but the taste is deeply comforting, and the effect is extremely soothing. Excellent for issues with sleep, anxiety, and certain inflammatory conditions.
It also is an effective counteragent to caffeine due to its specific flavanoid content (as is Matricaria recutita, common chamomile, and Scutellaria sp., the skullcaps.)
Galatians522:
For what it is worth, I did not care for the taste of Yerba Mate. It tasted like a mix of dried grass and green shrub clippings. One cup was my first and last. However, some people love it. I would advise tasting some before planting. Apparently, Yapon outscored Yerba Mate in a blind taste test conducted by University of Florida. This may be due to the milder flavor and lack of tannin in Yapon. Neither was scored very high by the majority of the tasting panel.
On the other hand, I keep a jar of wild foraged Silk Bay leaves in my spice cabinet. The taste is hard to describe other than to say that the sweetened brew tastes like "Christmas Spice." I could see a blend of Yapon and Silk Bay becoming a very popular native tea option. Really, I think that is the key for native teas. They must be blended. That way you get the caffeine from Yapon and the tasty flavors of Silk Bay. I rank it equal to the teas that I made from cinnamon and allspice leaves. Cinnamon/Yapon would probably be another good blend, but that is pure speculation.
On another random note, some other tea options would be Elder flower (made from elderberry flowers) and Pandan tea (which is made from the pandus plant and is popular in Thailand. Also, has anyone tasted Okra seed coffee? Some people apparently like it quite a bit.
roblack:
I mix Yerba mate leaves with other stuff (Ceylon cinnamon, holy basil, lemon grass, hibiscus, passiflora, mint, turmeric, ginger, galangal, noni leaf, piper nigrum, etc) and it tastes fine. Not making a thick drink like the traditional one, just adding it to the mix. Helps with allergies and the sniffles.
Coconut Cream:
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I made up a list and I will go over them with her to figure out what she wants (probably everything). I already have some Pandan Leaf planted so I can give her some slips to get that one going. Thank you everybody who took the time to reply :D
BP:
This thread is very interesting to me. Any of these types grow in 8b well? Or, what kind would you rec for me to zone push with
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