TeaChat

Hello everyone
I just made the switch to loose tea From bag tea and am loving every minute. Currently enjoying my variety of black, green, and white teas from adagio before exploring oolong and more.

I've been reading this board since joining and am loving all there is to learn. Its exciting to have this huge world of tea ahead of me with countless things to try!

I was wondering what does everybody do with their used tea leaves?
I'm thinking of starting a little garden because I just hate throwing the leaves out.

The worms in my worm bin seems to love the tea leaves. They disappear into compost faster than most everything else that goes in there. Eventually, of course, it all goes back to the garden.

+1 either my composte bin gets them or my Chickens do.

Worms and chickens.. Never would have thought of that lol

good for acidifying the soil a bit, esp stuff like roses

I usually let it dry, then place around the house, in the garden, and some into a big bag for future uses

Lately I have been thinking of ways of making some kind of art with them, still trying to nail down how to preserve the color of the leaves long term after gluing, so I can make a painting from different colors of tea leaves using all the assorted shapes/styles/colours etc.

Roasted kukicha would be great for wooden structures like houses, grass/bushes of course would be chinese green's etc, fence could be buds from silver needles, just some ideas in my head, possibilities are endless with all the colors and shapes the tea leaves provide

Cool ideas! Would love to see pics if you do them. I once thought about making mini wooden boxes for a small sample of each different tea Im trying but I don't think they will hold the scent very well.

teaisme wrote:good for acidifying the soil a bit, esp stuff like roses

I usually let it dry, then place around the house, in the garden, and some into a big bag for future uses

Lately I have been thinking of ways of making some kind of art with them, still trying to nail down how to preserve the color of the leaves long term after gluing, so I can make a painting from different colors of tea leaves using all the assorted shapes/styles/colours etc.

Roasted kukicha would be great for wooden structures like houses, grass/bushes of course would be chinese green's etc, fence could be buds from silver needles, just some ideas in my head, possibilities are endless with all the colors and shapes the tea leaves provide

CupofTree wrote:Would love to see pics if you do them

Some day I'm full of ideas that will never reach fruition

CupofTree wrote: I once thought about making mini wooden boxes

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-vintag ... 56486104ef

Wooden boxes (that are not scented) are great for storing certain teas that would benefit from a short airing out before brewing, or to use as a transition storage vessel, ie. from vendor bag, to box for short period, then into airtight ceramic canister for longer term storage. I have found this method very useful for teas that come in those non resealable vaccumed bags often used for balled oolongs. These bags often have a slight storage/manufacturing smell to them which the wood (or clay of you have) box/caddy helps to tone down.

teaisme wrote: Some day I'm full of ideas that will never reach fruition

Yep thats me as well hah.

Cute little box too thanks for the link. it's much nicer than what I was thinking about doing. I didn't know some teas could benefit from being aired out. Very useful to know!

teaisme wrote: Lately I have been thinking of ways of making some kind of art with them

That reminds me of a tea scoop I saw over the weekend. It was a tea leaf done in decoupage right onto the little wooden scoop - really pretty, and done correctly, as you could barely tell wood from leaf, and it was almost seamless.

@ cupoftree: Used tea leaves - I was wondering the same thing, as unfortunately I live in an apartment complex. When I'm at the boyfriend's house, we either compost it, or just put them in the yard. Maybe the apartment management folks will let me pour them at the base of the shrubbery... Welcome to the site, and hope to see you more around the forum. Which teas have you sampled so far, and which ones are on your "to drink" list?

Peace, love, and tea!
~Jess

Hi. Always a great topic. It has been covered *many* times:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=7722
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=97216
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&p=208962

Lerxst2112 wrote: Welcome to the site, and hope to see you more around the forum. Which teas have you sampled so far, and which ones are on your "to drink" list?

Peace, love, and tea!
~Jess

Thank you for the welcome
So far from adagio I've had Forest Berries, English breakfast, Coconut, chocolate chip, Pomegranate Green, and I'm drinking their Irish breakfast right now. I still have apricot green, vanilla green, silver needle, and black dragon pearls along with some herbals to try from them in the cupboard. My fav that I've tried so far has been the Irish and pomegranate green. I also have a black gunpowder I really like from the tea shop I go to.

I plan to move onto oolongs next and eventually explore matcha and Pu'er and such. Theres so much to try so ill take it slow and make sure to enjoy everything. But for now it's mostly my plan to find a favorite Green and Black.
I live in south Florida unfortunately and will have to switch to iced tea soon so I want to create a perfect iced tea as well. Obviously this place isn't for me and I plan on moving to Washington or Oregon hopefully soon.

Oh and that wooden leaf scoop sounds perfect, I'd love one like that.

BioHorn wrote:Hi. Always a great topic. It has been covered *many* times:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=7722
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=97216
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&p=208962

Hello. Thanks for the links, very interesting! Love the comment about the healthy vermin and the tea leaves disappearing from the driveway overnight haha

Welcome CupofTree to the forum.
+1 to Biohorns links.

I hope to see you posting throughout the forum, and telling us what you are drinking in TeaDay!

Bottums up!

debunix wrote:The worms in my worm bin seems to love the tea leaves. They disappear into compost faster than most everything else that goes in there. Eventually, of course, it all goes back to the garden.

I just got a worm bin and this is very true. I feel much better not throwing out so much tea and the soil is wonderful! (My worm bin is in the kitchen... because NYC means no yard though we do have roof access and a big garden out there where it gets too hot for the worms)

Blessings and welcome!

Our tea leaves head to the compost bin and are currently being reincarnated in the form of strawberries, peppers, chard, etc. However, we have recently set some aside after pouring to dry in a bowl on the counter. Our hope is to put these in a mesh bag beneath the hot water spout when making a bath, a healthy tea bath.