A practical, approachable guide to growing herbs and flowers to make your own tea. Includes a fascinating global history of tea. Plants and flowers each get their own page of information on how to grow, harvest, and prepare the best tea, as well as helpful properties such as medical benefits and flavors. Photographs accompany each page.

Growing Your Own Tea Garden is the perfect book for any tea lover who also has a green thumb. Jodi Helmer explains what plants are commonly used in tea, how they should be harvested, and where they might grow best. She also provides information about different health benefits that tea might have. I am an avid tea drinker who doesn't have a green thumb or the space to garden, but this book inspired me to one day make an attempt. Full of beautiful photographs, this is an excellent choice for gardeners or tea lovers who want to try to grow their own tea supply.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Growing Your Own Tea Garden by Jodi Helmer is an incredible book on the art of tea. When I tried to pick a category to put this review under, it was tough because it is listed under Home and Garden, as well as Cooking, Food & Wine. The book certainly delivers on all of these areas. There are fantastic resources on choosing plants for your tea garden, garden designs, best practices and then you move into making the perfect cup of tea with lots of incredible recipes.

Before getting into the actual content of the book, I must say that this is one of the most beautiful books I have seen. The photography is breathtaking. I started out wanting to dive right into the history of tea, but I couldn’t stop myself from flipping through the pages to see more and more images of what I wanted to bring into my home.

The content is very robust. I learned so many things in reading about this history of tea. Everything from the history of the tea bag to how tea spread across the world. Once I enjoyed that I moved onto learning about the plants.

Choosing plants for your Tea Garden
This section is broken down into five categories:

Classic tea
Leaves
Flowers
Fruits
Roots
Included in this section is a plant hardiness zone map, so you can figure out what options you have based on where you live. You start by learning about white tea, green tea, black tea, and oolong tea. I found the “sip” section in each of these to be very interesting because she explains how to steep in tea (temperature, time and straining). Next you learn about the plants in the other four areas (leaves, flowers, fruits and roots) that you can plant in your garden.

This section opened up my eyes to all the different kinds of plants you could use. My mind was used to thinking of herbs like mint, chamomile or lemon balm and citrus fruits. There are SO many more possibilities! Tufted violet, red clover, dandelion, lemongrass, staghorn sumac, and chicory just to name a few. She even talks about growing stevia which you can use as a sweetener in your tea.

Garden Design
I loved the section on garden design because she has developed different kind of gardens with specific plants. For example, her Sleepytime Tea Garden includes echinacea, lemon balm, lavender and chamomile. She shows a layout of how many plants and how to space them. How about the Headache Tea Garden which includes chamomile, tufted violet, peppermint and trumpet honeysuckle. There are so many options, I am putting them down in my gardening journal to make my plans.

Recipes
This is my favorite section. So many recipes have me dreaming of my first homemade cup. And these recipes aren’t intimidating, take for example the peppermint raspberry tea. It’s just raspberries and peppermint and water and you steep it overnight. The next day you decide if you want it warmed up or over a glass of ice! There are sun teas, iced teas, more traditional teas.

There is something for everyone in this book. Whether you are a tea lover, or a person that enjoys an occasional cup. Making your own tea and knowing it’s benefits will help you to live more healthy. This book will make a great addition to your library, and it would also make a wonderful gift for someone special in your life.

after reading this book i cant wait to start my own tea garden and cant wait to put my knew tea knowledge to use!

What's better than reading a bio about different teas while slowly sipping a huge mug of hot tea yourself?

Well, a lot of things - it was a pretty nice experience for me nonetheless. This is a basic guide to different plants that are possible to transform into tea/infusion, and there are also a couple of tips for tea brewing and recipes so you have some ground you can star off. There was a time while reading about the leaves and fruits and roots and plants when I felt more and more bored with the (otherwise very vague and not too long) botanical descriptions, but she I started to think I should put it all away, the book suddenly turned to other stuff: the actual tea making. And that saved it for me all the way! I'm not sure I will ever grow my own tea leaves on the window seal, but it's nice to know that I probably could.

I have always loved tea and love the idea of growing herbs and plants that I can use to make my own. I loved how informative this book was especially when it comes to growing specific plants and how to use them to make tea. What is helpful is that the number of photographs and illustrations that are so beautiful and perfect for this book. Even if you aren't that interested in tea or making tea, the visual components of this book will win you over. I loved reading this book and looking at the photos; this is one that would be perfect to add to a collection on gardening or herb uses or even just a nice addition to a collection of coffee table books. Even though it is pretty and well-designed, it is also highly useful.

What an informative guide to growing, preparing, and enjoying your own homemade tea! You will learn about the history of tea, in which zone you can grow certain types of tea, and how to care for the tea plants.
You will discover that tea can be made from flowers, leaves, fruits and roots. How would you like to grow and make tea harvested from ginger, mint, strawberries or even dandelions?
You can even make tea that will make you healthier, lower your blood pressure and help you to sleep better!
Enjoy perusing through this book and growing and sharing your own homemade tea!

This books starts by giving a brief and easy to follow history of tea, and what you can expect to find with each sub category of tea. The growing sections are helpfully divided into what part of the plant you use to make the tea, and I found some new ideas listed, along with some old favourites. More focus is placed on making the tea than growing the plants, and I feel some of the difficulty is understated with some plants. I would love to use Yaupon holly to make tea, but that usually requires growing a tree instead of a plant, and a difficult one to obtain even the seeds for in Canada. (I have so much disappointment in practice and passionate love in theory for this plant!) I like that Stevia was included in the book as it is easy to grow, easily available at places like Wal-Mart, and a good sweetener. The instructions for saving and storing tea ingredients were well explained, as well as proper preparation and foraging warnings. This is a helpful start to creating your own tea garden but be sure to temper your expectations when thinking about the ease of obtaining, growing, and maintaining the plants based on your location, experience and space.

This is an informative book full of ideas for growing your tea garden. The intro covers the history of tea, including the history of the tea bag. The next chapter covers the types of plants for the garden including a brief history of each plant and tips for optimum brewing. The subsequent chapters cover garden designs and present the best practices for growing a tea garden; you will also find combinations of plants to brew tea for specific purposes.

The book is filled with gorgeous photos and illustrations making it easy for the reader to follow. The author shows you how to make to make the perfect cup of tea using different tools such as the kettle, french press, and a tea-ball strainer; the best temperature for brewing a specific tea. As a tea drinker, I'm keen on growing my tea garden using this book as a guide. Can't wait to try out the recipes in this book! Definitely recommend this one

Many thanks to Jodi Helmer, NetGalley and CompanionHouse Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I drink lots of tea and also love to garden so this book is right up my alley! I loved the simplicity of this book and that the author gives a wide variety of herbs and such that you can easily grow in most gardens. I also love the brewing tips (I would hate to go through the whole process of growing tea to only ruin it by seeping it too long!). I was also really surprised that parsley can be made into a tea, I would have never thought to try that, but now I can't wait to try a cup!

I was worried that this book was going to be all about tisanes, not a fan, and was pleasantly surprised to find actual tea included! Sadly, I can't grow it in my yard, but the brewing and info on teas was appreciated! Nice to learn what the varies tisanes and teas can be used for medicinally, too. I only knew the folk uses of two from my own family. May need to add a few more to my medicine cabinet! Good read- resourceful!

What a fantastic resource! Specific information on a range of plants to grow for using in tea, along with instructions on how to harvest and prepare the plants and many different recipes. Really excited to try some of these.

This was a wonderful resource for tea lovers. I had no idea that it is so viable to grow the elements of tea in my own garden! This book includes a history of tea, tips for gardening herbs (soil plays a huge part - a major takeaway for me!), recipes, and brewing methods. This is a must read for tea fanatics.

A fascinating introduction to the world of home-grown tea and tisanes, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of knowledge and advice gathered in this book. Whether you're restricted to your windowsill or have plenty of garden space to work with, Jodi lays out the diverse options available to you in an easy-to-follow format.

This book feels well-researched and reads like a true labour of love for tea time. I found it to be engaging and idea-sparking in a way I did not expect.

Jodi's notes on the effects of - and cautions about - each plant will be quite helpful to readers with specific health concerns or preferences. She always encourages common sense, which is reassuring to see.

I never realized how many different plants could be made into tea infusions, and I'm now eager to start my adventure in tea-growing and brewing!

This is a very informative book on both tea and growing and making your own tisane. There is a very interesting history of Camellia sinensis tea which includes what and how white, black, green and oorlong tea come about.
The rest of the book explains about herbal teas or tisanes, there is an extensive catalogue of flowers, leaves, roots and fruit that can be brewed into teas, each with a photo, growing information, herbal benefits, and parts to use. The book also has a wonderful information of on brewing and mixing.
All in all this book has some very interesting information - even if you don't fancy making tea or tisane from your own plants, it has some interesting the history or growing information for the gardener.

Love this book! I was recently informed that I was allergic to black tea, come to find out it is due to how they process and mass produce the tea. I am so excited about this book, to be able to grow my own tea is a game changer. Growing tea and processing it seemed impossible and daunting, this book simplifies it to the point where I am confident I can do it. I feel so informed, this book will be a great go-to reference as I start my tea garden.

Nice book, I found here the history of tea, the types of tea. The author is telling us what part of the plant to use for tea, sometimes the steam, the flower or fruits. But not all the plants presented here you can grow in your own garden.

I'm no gardener and the idea of processing tea seemed so complex I've always left it to the experts and bought my teas. This book made me feel like I could do both myself. The wording was clear and concise, easy to follow. The descriptions of the flavors of each plant made my mouth water and left me eager to try.

"Growing Your Own Tea Garden" is a very basic, short gardening book about growing herbs to make into tea. The author started with a brief history of tea, then she included entries for numerous plants that can be used for tea. She covered true tea and herbal teas made from the leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots of various plants. In each entry, she provided very basic planting information, the plant's uses and health benefits, and how to brew it into tea. She suggested some combinations of plants for making your own teas and for planting together in your garden. She also briefly gave some basic gardening advice, basic tea brewing advice, and advice on drying and storing the herbs. This book would be most useful for those new to growing herbs or those looking for new types of plants to use as teas.

I drink several cups of tea a day and would love to grow some of my own tea. I only drink black tea with milk, but some of my family enjoy green tea. Plenty of useful and interesting information in this book. My daughter has a huge garden and loves to grow plants/veg that is different from the norm. I am sure she will be interested in this book. Recommended.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers. This is my honest review.