'Chamomile Tea' Produced

Flower Tea Produced Following two years of research conducted by the Tea Research and Application Center (ÇAYMER) in Rize, flower tea has been produced by collecting blooms from the tea plant. The product, establishing itself in the sector as a distinctive flavor, holds significance for Turkey—one of the world's largest tea-consuming nations—in developing new applications for the tea plant. Turkish tea, traditionally produced and consumed as black and green tea, has seen new products added to its range in recent years, including white, oolong and matcha teas. Additionally, tea powder produced alongside cold tea has also found a place in the food sector. [caption id="attachment_146020" align="aligncenter"] Image Source: AA[/caption]

"We are selling it at TRY 5,000 per kilogram"

Teoman Küçükmustafa, General Director of ÇAYMER, stated that they are conducting research to develop different flavors for Turkish tea. Küçükmustafa emphasized that work on producing tea from tea flowers, which has been ongoing in laboratory conditions for the past two years, has yielded results, noting that they produce 1 kilogram of dried flower tea from approximately 6 kilograms of fresh tea flowers. Reminding that they produced 20 kilograms of flower tea from tea flowers harvested last year, Küçükmustafa said, "This year we aim to produce 50 kilograms of tea flowers if there is demand."

Emphasizing that tea flowers are harvested in October and November, Küçükmustafa continued his remarks as follows:

"We put the products we produced last year on sale this year. We had both domestic and international online sales, and we had no products left in stock. This year our producers are taking a much warmer approach and bringing us quality tea flowers they collected from their own fields. We subject the new products we receive to various processes under laboratory conditions. The collected tea flowers are dried using a special drying technique. After being dried to specific measurements, they are prepared for consumption. Particularly microbiological tests and mold analyses are performed. Health tests are also conducted to prepare the tea flower for consumption." Noting that this health-valuable product can only be produced in limited quantities, Küçükmustafa stated, "We are selling flower tea at TRY 5,000 per kilogram. We have not yet determined pricing for the coming year. We generally package our production in 40-gram and 25-gram packages. We can increase or decrease according to special requests."  

A natural source of healing

Havva Er, a senior chemist at the center, conveyed that tea is very rich in antioxidants and that the same properties have been identified in tea flowers.

Drawing attention to the fact that scientific research has shown that tea flowers contain high amounts of nutrients affecting the immune system, Er made the following statements on the subject:

"Clinical research conducted on tea catechins and luteolin has determined that they demonstrate antioxidant, anticancer and antiviral properties. In this respect, tea flower is consumed as a natural source of healing."

Er, noting that flower tea is being produced for the first time and in limited quantities, continued her remarks as follows:

"Tea flower is a very valuable and very delicate flower. It is consumed as tea in China. It is also consumed in the cosmetics sector. It is good for coughs and has mucus-expelling properties. It is widely consumed as a beneficial product. Through research, we have filled a gap with flower tea. God willing, we can fill more gaps in other areas."   Source