Hi, back in February I started some tea seeds, and out of 10 seeds two plants grew. They were going kinda slowly when I gave them to my family to take care of while I was overseas this summer. They fertilized them and the plants grew like crazy, but then they over fertilized them and one of the plants shed all its leaves. The other is barely making it. Whether they'll survive I don't know.
Anyway my family members were astute enough to keep the leaves, and they put them in a bag where they've been sitting for about a month or so. They've been turning from green to brownish and I finally figured it would be good to sear 'em and make some damn tea out of 'em. So that's what I did. Seared 'em individually on the stove and then cut them up into bits. Steeped 'em for a couple of minutes at near boiling.
And what came out of them was the sweetest, lightest tea I've ever tasted. The only thing I can compare it to is silver needles buds, but these aren't buds, just leaves. It's so sweet it's like like I put a packet of sugar in with the tea. Not bad overall.. I thought it would be undrinkable. But it's rather pleasant.
I think the main reason they're so sweet is that I didn't actually dry them. I seared them, getting the vast majority of moisture out, and then immediately shredded and brewed them.