After seeing dandelion root coffee pop up quite a lot in some of the foraging sites that we follow, I thought I would give it a try.

One thing we have in abundance is dandelions, so I dug up a few smaller roots and gave them a scrub.

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I then roasted them and left them to cool, before putting them into the mini chopper to get them fine enough to put into the cafetière.

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I am really not sure how people can enjoy this quite disgusting beverage. It is a cross between tea and coffee, very bitter even with sugar in. If you need a coffee fix you could try it, but it’s definitely not for me.

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So with the failed dandelion root coffee in mind, it didn’t deter me in looking for other types of teas.

After a bit of reading online I came across the tea plant Camellia Sinensis, which of course we don’t have. But, we do on the other hand have a very large Camellia Japonica bush in the back garden. So after a very small google search, it turns out you can make tea with all Camellia. So I went and picked a few leaves.

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I wasn’t really sure what do with them so made it up as I went along. I dried them out in the oven, then crumbled them up to resemble tea leaves and dug out my teapot.

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I decided to go full on foraging and sweetened the tea with the dandelion honey I had made a few weeks ago.

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It was really pleasant, light and floral. The tea also is meant to boost your immune system, which is great, and the Camellia also has the added bonus (for me) of having caffeine in it 😁.

That’s all for now, stay safe and stay well.

Kiera and Tony