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Loose Leaf Tea

16 years ago

My husband and I have hot tea almost daily, and some of our teas are loose leaf. The tin states that the leaves can be put in potted plants after brewing, and I'm curious as to the possible benefits of this. I haven't tried it yet, and I'm not even sure if the leaves would just be tossed onto the top of the soil, or if they'd need to be mixed in. Just wondering!

Chandres

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Comments (5)

User
16 years ago
Benefits: nitrogen

Drawbacks: soluble salts

It's the same with coffee grounds. My Dad dumps his coffee grounds on the Rhododendrons and Camellias in their front yard and they grow and bloom like crazy. But it's not really advisable to do with container plants.
kioni
16 years ago
My mom always used the leftover tea from the night before to water her houseplants and keep them going strong, but I'm guessing she'd have drunk all the tea but 1/2 teaspoon and then added LOTS of water. I thought I would give this a try once, and forgot about my left over tea in the pot for 4 or five days...when I remembered and looked in....yuck...mold had started to grow. I think your tea leaves would do better in the compost pile outside, or maybe collected and worked into the soil around your plants outside. The indoor plants probably don't have the micro organisms required to break the tea leaves down into something they could use, they'd be better off with storebought fertilizer, I believe.
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Comments (16)
I'm with Jim - Keemun Fancy is my favorite black tea, and you can get it from Upton, if that is where you are doing your ordering. I used to buy it in bulk from a tea shop in Venice, close to my old house, but I don't go back there so often now. My other favorite is Yamamotoyama Hoji-cha (roasted green tea), and it is now available in tea bags at the Japanese market that I frequent. I used to buy it loose, but I find the tea bags so much more convenient, with no loss of flavor. I also buy Twinings Variety Pack because it has combinations of breakfast teas and Grey teas, although I prefer Keemun. I haven't seen Keemun Fancy in bags in the U.S., however. I drink about two cups of hot tea a day - one before going to work, and one after I get there. At home, I make tea in a teapot that Sherry sent me, and I use two small mugs of water for one teabag. Lars
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I use an infuser that fits into a mug, I love it. I think Lipton's loose leaf tea is pretty good. Not the bags, ugh, but the loose leaf. I can get another brand of loose leaf tea in the local grocery store called "Swee touch nee" which I also think is pretty good. A far better cuppa than bagged tea, but not as good as you might get from a high end specialty store. "Orange pekoe" is the standard black tea but I think even that comes in grades. A high quality orange pekoe makes a great cup of tea. I'm not a fan of iced tea, so I can't help much. I like a malty tea hot, so I drink loose leaf assam, but I don't think it would make good iced tea. Not sure though, different tastes. Tea offers a lot of taste options other than the ones I've mentioned. Sadly, I can no longer drink my favorite beverage due to my bladder going to pot! Here is a link that might be useful: Mug tea infuser on Amazon
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Comments (24)
Another recommendation for Upton Tea Company. They have an excellent selection and their shipping dept is awesome. The package arrives in two or three days. DH likes flavored iced tea and drinks it all year round, so I order various flavored teas from Upton, i.e., apricot, black currant or mango. I make it in a coffeepot. They sell iced tea makers but I think a coffeepot works just as well. I like brewed hot tea, especially Nilgiri and Irish Breakfast. They have so many types, it boggles the mind! I'd love to try lots of them.
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Comments (10)
Long-time lurker here. I had to chime in because I am a tea freak. My favorite place to get loose teas is from a company called Simpson & Vail. They're based in Connecticut and have been around for a very long time and have the biggest variety of loose leaf teas from all over the world--different tea plantations, all kinds of flavored teas, green, white, black, herbal...you name it. They still send out a catalog and I love to sit down with it and decide which teas I'm going to try next. Prices are not bad for a mail order company, as you can buy teas by the ounce. An ounces last me a good long time. They even have new "literary teas" based on different authors that I haven't tried yet, but plan to. Just thought I'd suggest them in case you wanted A LOT of choices and variety. Edited to add: I should have mentioned that their website is svtea.com. It's not as much fun as the printed catalog for me 'cause it's harder to navigate, but I guess more convenient. One weird thing about their website is when you check out, it automatically assigns the most expensive shipping choice. I always have a small heart attack when I see the total amount due and then remember that I have to change to the "normal" shipping. The one the website defaults to is $20.00 shipping or something crazy like that.
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
I'm sure they're fine in the compost pile, but I'm not sure I would put them directly on plants or incorporate them directly into soils. I say this for more than one reason, but the main reason is that tea is rich in tannins, a by-product of their metabolism, and tannin is known to be allelopathic (a growth inhibitor).

Al
sahm2ae
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you all for your responses. I'm glad I hadn't tried using the tea leaves yet... I'll probably just keep throwing them away since it's about a Tbsp. a a time, so not a significant contribution. I certainly don't need any growth inhibitors on any of my plants!

Chandres
kazari
16 years ago
I've used diluted leftover tea on my household plants, and it works well.

I wouldn't put the tea leaves or coffee grounds straight into the houseplant soil, however... I don't know about the soil not having enough bacteria to break it down properly (it's probably true) but once I tried putting in some coffee grounds. The soil eventually became very rich, but in the meantime it encouraged mold on the surface. It wasn't harmful (could just be scraped off, really, or turned over) but it is unsightly.

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