Birch leaf
The young spring leaf of the silver birch, gathered across northern and eastern Europe when it is still sticky and pale green. The window is a fortnight and the whole practice is organised around it.
Identity
- Botanical name
- Betula pendula
- Family
- Betulaceae
- Part used
- Leaf
- Origin
- Morocco, western Asia, Siberia, Mongolia, China and the whole of Europe
- Drunk in
- Poland, Finland, Baltic states, Russia
Character
Green and mildly astringent with a faint sweetness and a cool note at the finish. Late-picked material tastes of nothing much.
Notes: green, hay, wintergreen
History
Birch is the defining tree of the northern European and Russian forest and appears throughout the region’s folk culture, architecture and craft. Both the leaf and the spring sap are gathered, and sap tapping in April is a distinct and older tradition than leaf drying.
How it is drunk
Gathered and brewed across Poland, the Baltic states, Finland and Russia, generally domestically. Birch sap is drunk fresh or fermented in the same regions and is a separate seasonal product from the same tree.
Production
Only the young sticky leaves of early spring are worth picking; by midsummer they are leathery and flavourless. Dried fast in shade, and the material stays a distinctly pale green when it has been.
Preparation
Infusion
Herbal infusion (tisane)
1–2 g/100 ml · 90–95 °C · 6 min
Category-typical practice rather than a measurement for this specific botanical. Most infusions are far more tolerant of a long steep than tea is.
What gets confused
Downy birch and silver birch are gathered together across the region and are not distinguished in trade. Picking date matters far more than species.
Common mistakes
- Buying it out of season from bulk stock. This is a two-week plant and old material is inert.
Related botanicals
Comparisons
- Birch leaf vs nettle — The two spring gatherings of the northern European year, both with a window of about a fortnight. Pick either late and you have material that tastes of almost nothing.
Guides
Evidence for this page
The botanical name, family and distribution above are checked against an external authority. Betula pendula Roth — GRIN-Global Taxonomy record— retrieved and read, not countersigned by a named human. That source covers naming and distribution only. Everything else on this page — history, culture, production, flavour, preparation and buying advice — is TeaHQ’s own synthesis with no external source behind it.
Brewing parameters here are typical practice for the category rather than measurements of this plant, and each set says so.
This page makes no safety claim. It describes what Birch leaf is, where it comes from and how it is prepared — not what it does to a person. The absence of a safety note here is not a statement that the plant is safe. How TeaHQ handles this.