Tea Eatin'?

[kkthxby3]

In the same vein of my t34 sm0k1n' I find myself now more curious about just eating the leaves as that sounds easier than the other idea and after coming to this curiosity I realize the sm0k1n' idea was actually the eating idea just misdirected.

Anyway, I read a review about one of the green teas and how the reviewer just eats the leaves and someone else mentioned this in another thread of mine so.. Do tell.

The other night after brewing my Foxtrot I was thinking what it would be like to just eat the little flowers and what not as opposed to having to throw it all out (I really hate having to throw things out even if it has already served its purpose). So any thoughts?

[spot52]

I went to a tea cupping with the lady from http://www.lightofdayorganics.com/wp/index.php. She recommended tasting some of the "spent" leaves. I tasted the silver needles and liked it.
I also go to a tea shop that makes earl grey cookies, and each cookie has two pressed leaves on top. Very tasty cookie.
Matcha is very similar too, because you ingest the powdered leaves.

I think it's fun and encouraged to experiment...unless your tea view is very rigid, I still recommend having fun with it.

Cheers!

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Spent Gyokuro Leaves + rice + dash of soy sauce = awesome

[xuancheng]

I haven't really tried it, but I bet eating a lot of leaves on an empty stomach would give you a stomachache.

[Janine]

There is a lot of cooking done with spent leaves. You can use green tea to stir fry shrimp for example (esp lungjing but why not try it with other teas?)

Grace Fong makes a very distinctive tea snack for sale at Imperial Tea Court which is green tea walnuts. These are walnuts coated with green tea powder and I think stir-fried to caramelize the green tea powder with a little sweetness/sugar added. They are delicious.

You can come up with all kinds of ways to use spent tea leaves... put them in broths/soup, to cook with rice, etc. I would even think they'd be good tossed into salads (sparingly?) or allow them to marinate in the oil for salad for awhile before tossing onto salad altogether

[kkthxby3]

Hmm, thanks for the ideas, love cooking so this'll give it all a new twist.

Cinnamon Kitty -- That sounds pretty delicious, love rice and always looking for new ways to spice it up. Will have to order them leaves the next time.

[wyardley]

Not useful for your own spent tea leaves, but the Burmese eat fermented tea leaves which are delicious. I've usually had them in a salad. Worth seeking out if you're in an area where there are Burmese restaurants or markets.

[Beidao]

I ate gyokuro leaves with tea once and it gave me the worst nausea of my life, so I don't think I will dare doing it again.

[Faramir1976]

I already tried eating some spent Sencha and Silver Needles. The taste is really nice.. I wouldn't recommend eating the strainer empty but some to finish off your cup is to be recommended.
Just bought some matcha mixed with genmaicha... eating and drinking all in 1. Yumm.