by Barbara Berst Adams and edited for MEF online use by Amy Rose -
If you plan to grow an herb garden to help your farm profit, consider an area focused on tea herbs. You can harvest the tea crops for sale, obviously. (Tea herbs make a unique addition to CSA shares, for example.) Below we'll profile some of the best herbs to grow as herbal tea.

Another way to profit from growing tea herbs

But you can also grow herb gardens as profitable agritourism draws. An organic herb garden specializing in displaying tea herbs can be a very interesting attraction to get customers to visit your farm and see your other products for sale. Depending on the type of customers you're trying to attract, children can also be drawn to such a garden. Younger kids may like to see Peter Rabbit's chamomile tea. And children's gardening workshops, which can focus on many gardening aspects, could certainly do well with a workshop on growing and harvesting your own chocolate mint iced tea. More on how to grow herb gardens for agritourism below.

Herbal tea vs. "real" tea

Humans and tea go a long way back. Black, green, oolong and the rarer white tea, which all come from an evergreen bush (Camellia sinensis) native to China and India, are popular worldwide. According to legend, tea drinking from this plant originated in China four to five thousand years ago, reaching Europe in the 1600s. Infusions of this plant are considered "real" tea. For the purposes of this article, I'll casually call infusions of any appropriate plant material for beverage purposes, "tea." Another couple of exotic plants out of Africa, rooibos (roy-boss) and honeybush, have recently entered the worldwide tea market. Both are often grown sustainably and distributed through fair trade from their native land of South Africa.

Locally grown herbal tea is growing in popularity

But tea herbs distributed and grown from crops here at home, and even from our own native plants, are also a well-established tradition in the US. Herbal tea was in use in Europe long before black tea arrived. Drinking herbal infusions is believed to date far back into prehistoric times. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). Even animals have been known to put specific plants into small water-holding areas and seemingly wait for infusion before drinking. Growing tea herbs can become a main or additional micro farm crop offered to your customers in a variety of ways, giving them the opportunity to add healthy variety to their beverage menu, whether warming up on a winter morning with a farm-grown brew, or sipping farm-grown iced tea on a summer afternoon.

Growing your tea herbs

Some herbs thrive in full sun, but others prefer partial sun or even shade. Needing only moderate watering, their soil calls for little or no fertilizer, and in fact should not be too rich as to cause excessive greenery that seems to dilute the aromatic oils. Each of the tea herbs has its own special needs and specific plant parts that are used for tea and cooking (for tea, the leaves or flowers are most often used. However, roots, bark and berries are also harvested for herb tea). The specific plant parts and detailed growing instructions are usually described with the purchase of the plant or in any good herbal book.

Teas to grow in the herb garden

The list of herbs one can use for tea is long, with their uses crossing over from pure culinary pleasure to medicinal. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site) Here are some all-time beverage favorites and a few lesser-known varieties you might want to try.

Red Clover. The delicious flavor and growing health reports of red clover are making it popular among tea herbs, and in some cases, an organic herb garden growing this crop would be well received because in certain areas of the country, demand is outdoing supply. Organic red clover seed is often available bulk year-round in health food stores because people also sprout it for salads. It grows easily in just about any garden soil, liking plenty of sun. When harvesting it as one of your tea herbs, concentrate on just the flowers, but it's okay to have a top leaf or two picked and dried with the flower tops. Blend it with other tea herbs or infuse it on its own. Sell it fresh or dried.

The many mints (Mentha spp.) make wonderful tea herbs. An organic herb garden for tea wouldn't be complete without several. A fun, sometimes hard-to-find variety is banana mint. While the common name for some plants uses the word "banana" to describe color or shape, banana mint really has the aroma of bananas. Another fun one, chocolate mint is uniquely attractive. Children marvel over and over at how sniffing a plant growing in their own gardens smells like a chocolate peppermint patty.(This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). The citrus-scented mints: lime mint, orange mint and lemon mint, make especially delicious iced teas. Peppermint, spearmint, and licorice mint, of course, are better-known as candy flavors but make excellent tea herbs for both hot and cold beverages. Mints are usually grown in pots or some sort of contained area because of their rampant ability to spread, and prefer lots of surface space versus depth to their growing area. They are hardy perennials and can usually take partial shade, so remember that when planning our organic herb garden.

A South African native that grows in the US, the scented geranium (Pelargonium spp.), was introduced to Europe in the 1600s where its popularity spread. Although it resembles real geraniums, it is actual not a geranium at all, yet it is in the same botanical family. As far as tea herbs go, the leaves offer even more tea flavors to choose from than the mints, including apricot, strawberry, apple, rose, lemon, almond, licorice, and coconut. Scented geraniums are tender perennials that can be grown in containers and moved indoors or covered in a winter organic herb garden.

German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) have long been infused as tea herbs, dating back thousands of years to the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. It is quite easy to grow in the organic herb garden, usually already well-known to potential customers, and offers a slight apple-like aroma. Although legend says that Peter Rabbit was given Roman chamomile, German chamomile is the most popular variety used as a tea herb, and only the flowers, without the leaves or stems, are used for this purpose.

Two more lemony favorites to grow in the herb garden include lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla), and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). Lemon verbena is a tender perennial said to have the best lemon flavor of the entire plant kingdom, reminiscent of lemon drops, making a great lemonade iced tea. Lemon balm, however, a native to the Mediterranean and cultivated there for close to 2000 years, also has its faithful followers who insist its fragrance is quite beautiful. It is hardier than verbena, and while its top will die back in cold winters, the roots return new growth, making it a good choice for the perennial organic herb garden. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site) Its native habitat also stretches to western Asia, southwestern Siberia, and northern Africa, and it has naturalized in North America and other areas. . Bees love its flowers.

Hibiscus (Abelmoschus moschatus) is a very tender perennial with a delicious tart flavor and ruby red color. The Pharaohs of the ancient Nile Valley drank it, as did many cultures around the world, including those of China, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. Hibiscus grows profusely in Africa (as well as the Caribbean and Hawaii). Here at home, it can be grown in pots to bring inside or covered in winter. The flowers are more often dried and used for herbal tea, with leaves occasionally used, although leaves give it a more 'green' flavor.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is another tender perennial. Not as often thought of as one of the main tea herbs, its flavor as a tea is described as having hints of ginger and quite pungent. Both its leaves and flowers are used for tea. Long ago, people were well acquainted with rosemary which was associated with remembrance, fidelity and love. And it has many folk remedies attributed to it. It can be an attractive addition to the organic herb garden and as a historical plant if you plan to grow an herb garden to give tours to farm visitors.

Although we may think of parsley (Petroselinum crispum) as a garnish, the tea made from its fresh leaves and stems is described as refreshing and healing. Some use the fruits or seeds in tea as well. Opinions on its flavor vary, with those who claim its health qualities are much higher than its flavor qualities. Like many tea herbs, it grows fine in pots but does well in a regular organic herb garden.

There are many, many more herbs to choose from: fennel, pineapple sage, and bee balm (Earl Grey Tea) to name just a few. And remember the organic strawberries, raspberries and roses you may already have growing in your garden or as a farm crop. Strawberry and raspberry leaves make delicious and healthful tea herbs. Dandelion root tea is considered very healing among tea herbs.

Packaging Tea Herbs

There is a variety of ways to package tea herbs for sale.

- They can be sold as individual live potted plants for customers. Many tea herbs can be grown in pots on a windowsill or porch, or on your customer's desk at work.

- Live potted plants can also be sold for customers' own organic herb gardens in themed packages, such as a collection for a summer iced tea postage stamp garden, or as a collection for the customer's own gift garden, where they grow tea to harvest and dry for gifts they give to family and friends. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

- Tea herbs can be offered for sale freshly cut, and handled as you do other perishable crops. As mentioned, a fresh boquet of tea herbs is a nice surprise inside a CSA share package.

- Harvested and dried herbs can be sold bulk as individual plants for sale at your roadside stand, farmers' market, online or through your CSA.

- Or, exclusive specialty blends of tea herbs can be created with your farm's label. For example, one lavender micro farm in Washington State has secured a fair trade organic rooibos tea source, and blends it with their own farm-grown lavender tea herbs.

- Tea herbs make great farmed products to wrap up with other related products into gift baskets, from simple herbal tea samplers to elaborate tea party gift baskets with the inclusion of resale items such as ceramic tea pots and infusers.

Grow an Herb Garden with Tea Herbs for Agritourism

Unique ways to make direct contact with potential customers involves both the traditional farm visit and becoming the "traveling farmer."

For on-farm visitors, larger tea gardens can become healing sanctuaries themselves, where replicas of Japanese tea gardens or historical European herb gardens can be re-created.

In the 18th century, popular coffee houses, which were then considered somewhat rough places where competitive business deals took place, began to give way to high-class tea gardens at the insistence of the ladies. Some of these gardens were almost visions of paradise, with lantern-lit walks, music, dancing, and where exotic landscapes allowed royalty and the common people to intermingle.A well-known tea garden of 1765, Ranelagh Gardens, hosted the nine-year-old Mozart as a performer.

Tea talent: No local Mozart to invite? A small flower farm in Washington State hosts a local harpist every Mothers' Day. Find local talent happy for the exposure in your organic tea garden.

For going off the farm to find customers, you can offer to host tea tastings for a fee. Benefits and other gatherings enjoy such services, especially if their people get to meet the actual farmer.

To find cash retail priced purchases similar to restaurants that pay market gardeners, look for a listing of local tea houses. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). A teahouse the author inquired into even asked for edible flowers along with tea herbs.

Staying safe and legal with your organic herb garden for tea herbs

Stay safe, and keep potential customers safe with whatever you grow. Herb garden farming for profit is different than for hobby. Check into all local regulations on safe food harvest and handling, starting with your local cooperative extension agent. Ask what can and can't be said as far as medicinal claims. These laws change and are different for different regions, so make sure your information is recent and local.

For example, St. John's Wort was reportedly banned in France, while its production continues in other countries. In some cases, you can be allowed to describe health claims if an established research entity has made the claim first, and you quote them exactly and attribute the quote to them. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

The non-profit Herb Research Institute (HRI) may be of help in this area. (See short article in our Mini-Magazine on contacting them). According to the HRI, scientific credibility is essential to bolster consumer confidence in herbs and for the continued growth of the industry. Since its founding in 1983, HRF has served as the central archive of scientific literature on the health effects and safety of botanicals and has developed the world's most comprehensive collection of clinical trials, pharmacology, toxicology, chemical, historical, and horticultural data on thousands of herbal ingredients. HRF's current collection consists of more than 300,000 articles.

Once you dive into the mystery, legend and history of tea herbs, it can be tempting to experiment with making tea from unknown or even well-loved garden plants. But some of our garden favorites, such as the leaf, roots and flower of rhubarb, and those fragrant sweet peas, are considered toxic or poisonous when consumed. Be alert to possible allergies, as well, and stick to the documented tea herbs, as herbal teas from every continent and every culture throughout humankind's history (and prehistory) will provide a treasury to choose from that will last, and enhance, a lifetime. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

For more profitable crops to grow in an herb garden, see this article on herb niche possibilities.