Labrador tea
Rhododendron groenlandicum
A bog shrub with woolly, rust-coloured leaves, Labrador tea is the drink of the voyageurs and the First Peoples.
Walk through a Laurentian bog in June and you will see, between the sphagnum and the stunted black spruce, clumps of shrubs crowned with small white flowers in rounded clusters. Turn a leaf over: its edges curl under and the underside is covered in a rust-coloured felt as thick as wool. You have just met Labrador tea.
A plant of encounters
The Innu, the Cree and the Anishinaabeg drank it long before Europeans arrived. The voyageurs and the Hudson's Bay Company men took it up when Chinese tea ran short, which is where the name comes from. To this day it is part of the boreal pantry, and Québec chefs use it to flavour desserts, syrups and even gin.
Harvest
Étienne picks the leaves by hand in summer, in bogs he has known for years. He takes only a few leaves from each plant and leaves the young shoots alone so the colony keeps spreading. Drying happens slowly, in shade, to keep the aroma intact.
In the workshop
Steeped, Labrador tea gives a golden drink with a resinous, faintly peppery taste somewhere between rosemary and fir. It is also macerated for its aroma in some of the shop's oils. One sip and you are back at the edge of the bog.
Our products are artisanal plant-based preparations. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.