eating leaves

[10/6]

After my shincha leaves begin to loose flavor I put them in a cup with a little tea and chug it down.

Could there be any negative effects?

Does anyone else do this?

[Chip]

As long as you don't choke on them. And you enjoy them.

I often eat gyokuro leaves after using them in all sorts of things. Never thought of drinking the leaves though.

[chrl42]

Eating tea leaves is Hunan people's habit, Mao Zedong always ate tea leaves after drinking.

[10/6]

Thanks, for the warning. aha. I'm glad I'm not alone.

[Beidao]

I do it sometimes and I think it is healthy - I get all the vitamines and stuff, as when drinking matcha. And I love when there's small parts in the bottom of the cup that I can swallow with my last sip... mm, wonderful!

[Salsero]

I haven't been drinking them, but after reading this I might start!

[shogun89]

I eat the leaves form all the different types of teas. Especially the 4 inch long yiwu puerh leaves, yum.

[Yakubovich]

I remember reading a study (which I can't find right now) linking eating tea leaves to some form of cancer.

However, it's just one study, and tea leaves have been eaten for centuries in many countries. Besides, nowadays almost all foods are linked to Cancer in some way.

[Wesli]

It's not a rare thing to munch down on gyokuro leaves in japan. You can sprinkle some matcha on them for added fun.

I don't eat leaves like the posters above, but I do sometimes chew single leaves. It's fun, and it shows you what's really in the leaf.

[10/6]

I remember reading a study (which I can't find right now) linking eating tea leaves to some form of cancer.

However, it's just one study, and tea leaves have been eaten for centuries in many countries. Besides, nowadays almost all foods are linked to Cancer in some way.

ahhh!

[Proinsias]

Cha Doa on munching tea leaves:

http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/12/eating-leaves.html

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

I always swallow the little guys in the bottom of the cup....sometimes I will munch on a few of the intact tender sencha leaves when I am done....since I do most of my brewing in the evening, usually when I am done I empty the leaves out and rinse out my tea ware....and since this is usually at 2-3 in the morning, it is not an opportune time to munch on all the leaves. The study on eating tea leaves doesent make much sense to me for several reasons....the main one being the fact that drinking tea has been proven to help prevent cancers, etc. All of these postive ingredients, if you will, are extracted through heat of water. I dont see what could be left in the leaf after you have already heated it so many times, that could harm you.....people eat collard greens and beet greens which are a hech of a lot harder to digest......keep eating them!

-Nick

[brad4419]

I like eating some sencha leaves but after so many they start to taste bad but I love eating my genmai cha tea. The rice makes it taste good. Im not sure how healthy this is but its good.

[capheind]

Tea leaves are 100% edible, as any Matcha drinker will attest. You can actually buy tea leaf based herb shakers from Dragonwater to use in cooking,

I also often make "Oolong Rice" By tossing some Oolong leaves in with my rice, somehow the leaves steep faster than the rice cooks and I end up with full open leaves when I open the steamer.

I remember, vaguely, that there was an Online tea shop with instructions on how to prepare the spent leaves as a salad, but I can't remember for the life of me who it was.

[olivierco]

I remember, vaguely, that there was an Online tea shop with instructions on how to prepare the spent leaves as a salad, but I can't remember for the life of me who it was.

http://www.maiko.ne.jp/english/chako6e.htm#recycle