Story
John-the-Tea. The most Russian tea! Before the times when tea from China appeared in Russia, the Russians drank John-the-tea. John (Ivan) was the most common name in Ancient Russia, and we had a lot of John-the-tea plants as well. Now times have changed: there are fewer Ivans, and we have to go to the Russian North to gather John-the-tea plants. It was there, in the Vologda region, where I was learned how to make real Russian John-the-tea. Now I can share with you how to cook it. The plants should be collected in July while flowering. These bright crimson flowers are very nice! Warm sunny day is the best for harvesting.
When enough amount of plants is gathered, we need to take just a few flowers – they are to decorate the tea mixture. For tea we will use the leaves. We separate them from the stems and roll into the balls as shown on the picture. Then we wrap the balls with a clean towel and squeeze until juice appears.
We remove the towel, put the wet balls on a baking sheet and dry it in a cooling down Russian stove or, for lack of a stove, in a slightly preheated oven. Drying time - from sunset till the first star appears.
Next step - we take out our John-the-tea from the stove or oven and put into the containers. It can be stored until the next harvest. Drink on weekdays and holidays, with jam or pies, with guests or your family – just try, it’s very tasty!
Ingredients
John-the-Tea leaves
