Labrador tea comes from a plant that grows in the northern regions of Canada in the Newfoundland and Labrador provinces. Hence it’s name. There are three types of Labrador Tea. They are Northern Labrador Tea, Bog Labrador Tea and Western Labrador Tea. Interestingly enough in Labrador itself the tea is called Indian Tea.
The Labrador tea plant grows best in wetland areas. It is in the heath family of plants. The Labrador tea plant has very aromatic leaves. it makes a very good high quality and tasty tea. The Athabaskan people (indigenous peoples of North America) and the Inuit people (a people from the Arctic regions of Canada, Denmark, United States and Russia.
The Labrador tea plant is a very slow growing shrub. It grows low to the ground. It has evergreen leaves that are smooth on top with edges that are fuzzy white to red brown underneath and they have a wrinkled appearance.
The white flowers are quite tiny and they grow in clusters.They are fragrant flowers that has a sticky surface and they attract bees and other insects.
The tea also has many medicinal purposes. It has been used for helping those with weak blood, the common cold, tuberculosis, stomach ailments of all kinds, dizziness, heartburn, kidney problems and hangovers from excesses alcohol consumption.The leaves are chewed by some people just for their delicious flavor. Some people like to use the tea as a special marinade sauce in which to soak beef overnight to enhance flavor and also give the beef a wonderful well seasoned taste.
The Northern Labrador tea plant grows in peat type soil, mossy areas, shrubby areas, and lichen tundras. The Bog Labrador tea plant grows in bogs, rocky slopes and wet shorelines. The Western Labrador tea plant grows in the bogs and the wetlands of Western North America, in British Columbia, California all the way to Colorado.
Since this plant is slow growing it is best to only pick the leaves and not break off the branches. The fact that the tea shrubs grow in large patches allows you to pick and harvest leaves from a lot of different shrubs at once. That makes it easy to prevent over harvesting the plants. The Labrador Tea plants are all evergreen, which means they can be harvested all year long.
The tea from these plants is quite enjoyable and has been used for many years. It is not well known outside the regions in which it grows however.
