Tea’d Greens™ Explained

What Is a Whole-Leaf Greens Infusion?

Most greens are sold ground up. Ours aren’t. We grow young barley, wheat and oat leaves on our farm in Bridesville, British Columbia, then process and dry them whole — so what ends up in your cup still looks like a leaf, not a powder.

It starts with young cereal leaves

Barley, wheat and oats begin their life as green leafy plants long before they form mature grain. We harvest our production crop specifically for those young leaves, before the plant ever heads out into grain.

Clean Green contains only the three young leaves. The other blends add ingredients such as mint, chamomile, hibiscus, rose hips, spices, bergamot oil and roasted orange peel.

From field to dry leaf: what processing actually involves

This is the part most greens brands skip, because most greens brands don’t do it themselves. We do, on our own farm, and it happens in stages:

• Harvest — leaves are cut while still young, before the plant matures into grain.
• Withering — the fresh leaf is spread out to lose surface moisture before further handling.
• Rolling — the withered leaf is rolled to break down its structure, which is where colour, aroma and flavour begin to develop.
• Low-temperature drying — the leaf is dried gently rather than blasted with high heat, to preserve it as a whole, recognizable piece rather than a fragment or powder.
• Classifying — dried leaf is sorted for consistency before blending.
• Blending — for anything beyond Clean Green, the sorted leaf is combined with the blend’s other ingredients.
• Packaging — into loose-leaf cylinders or pyramid sachets, ready to steep.

That sequence — harvest, wither, roll, dry — is closer to how leaf tea is traditionally processed than to how a greens powder is made. The difference in method is exactly why the difference in format exists: a milled powder skips straight from fresh plant material to grinding, while a whole-leaf product is handled the way loose-leaf tea has always been handled.

How an infusion works

Hot or cold water contacts the dried, whole leaf and picks up flavour, aroma, colour and water-soluble components. The leaf is then removed or strained before drinking.

The exact amount of any particular compound that transfers into the cup depends on the ingredient, water temperature, steep time and other conditions. Our BCIT work analyzed dried leaf material, not a standard prepared cup, so we do not use that leaf analysis to claim a specific brewed dose.

What does it taste like?

Young cereal leaves have a light green, fresh character on their own. Each blend then moves in a different direction:

• Clean Green: clean and naturally fresh
• Meadow Mint: crisp and mint-forward
• Serene Green: soft and floral
• Scarlet Sunrise: tart, floral and lightly spiced
• Spiced Chai: warm and aromatic
• Earl Grey: bright bergamot and roasted orange

How to prepare it

For a typical hot cup, steep the recommended amount in hot water for several minutes, then remove the sachet or strain the loose leaves. For cold preparation, steep in cold water in the refrigerator for longer, or prepare hot and chill over ice.