Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 59, Issue 2, October 2012, Pages 523-530
Appetite

Research report
The use of teetaimed in Estonia, 1880s–1990s

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.06.017Get rights and content

Abstract

This research contributes to a better understanding of the criteria used for the selection of plants for making beverages. Worldwide, not only the leaves of Camellia sinensis, but also various other plants are used for making tea. We argue that the selection of plants for making tea (in Estonian teetaimed) depends on specific features possessed by or attributed to the plants. 54 plant taxa and one lichen were identified as being used for making tea, based on the analysis of Estonian historical handwritten archival records on plant use for the period from 1887 to 1994. The influence of popular literature on the use of plants for making tea was also assessed. The suitability of a plant for making tea depends on a combination of factors like multifunctional use, mild taste and attributed medicinal properties. The variety of medicinal properties attributed to teetaimed in folk medicine allowed herbal tea drinking to be considered as mild disease prevention. Hence, the roots of the Estonian tea tradition lie in the medicinal use of the plants, not oriental ceremonial tea drinking.

Highlights

• Wild plants were widely used in Estonia for making social beverages. • Multifunctional plants used: all are used as medicine and a majority for food. • Plants were selected based on the combination of a few influential factors. • Herbal teas functioned as mild preventative medicine in their users’ opinion. • Popular literature mostly supported the use of already existing tea-plants.

Introduction

Tea is the most consumed drink in the world, second only to water. For the modern urbanized person “tea” means a product made from the processed leaves and leaf buds of the plant Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze, infused with boiling water. Types of tea include green, white and yellow (unfermented), oolong (partially fermented) and black (fermented). Also, many commercial herbal teas, which are usually individual- or polyherbal formulations made of (medicinal) plant(s), are available worldwide. Those formulations are considered as substitutes for exclusive drinks like tea and coffee. There is growing interest in the research on the chemical composition of specific herbal teas produced commercially in different regions of the world (for example see Albayrak et al., in press, Desideri et al., 2011, Joubert et al., 2008).

The use of herbal teas and local plants as a substitute for tea was also historically widespread. Already in 1765, Carl Linnaeus discussed in his dissertation “Potus theae” the use of several plant species (for example Origanum vulgare L. and Veronica spp.) as substitutes for tea all over Europe (Linnaeus, 1765). In scientific research usually only a few plants for making tea are mentioned among the food plants of a specific region (for example see Khasbagan and Pei, 2000, Kindscher and Hurlburt, 1998, Kołodziejska-Degórska, 2008, Łuczaj and Szymanski, 2007, Milliken and Bridgewater, 2004, Tardío et al., 2005, Turner et al., 2011). The only exception known to the authors is the comprehensive overview dedicated to tea and coffee substitutes, covering 29 wild plants of Canada (Turner & Szczawinski, 1978).

Nevertheless, to the best knowledge of the authors, there is only one published research addressing the criteria for selection of or on the preferences for specific plants for social beverages in specific folk culture (Pardo de Santayana, Blanco, & Morales, 2005). In our ethnobotanical study we rely on historical hand-written archival records on plant use covering a period of over a century. Our working hypothesis is that there exist specific features of plants that make them suitable and desirable for making herbal teas. We also argue that drinking of herbal teas as a supplement to food intake was considered as mild disease prevention. Popular literature and different kinds of popularization of the use of surrogates in Northern Europe left minimal traces in folk botanical practices in the 19th century (Svanberg & Nelson, 1992). According to the analysed example of the introduction of Camomile into Estonian tradition, the same seems true for the almanacs and literature of the 19th century. However, in the 20th century the situation changed (Sõukand, 2007). Thus the influence of popular literature and newspaper articles on the use of local plants for making tea also needs to be researched.

This is our second step in a larger project analysing Estonian folkloristic data on plant use. With it, the authors seek to establish a framework for future research and collaboration in order to acknowledge the possible richness of similar as yet unused data collections.

Section snippets

Research site

Estonia belongs to the boreo-nemoral vegetation zone, the vegetation period lasts for 185–190 days, and the frost-free period for 105–160 days. Most of the plants are collected within their very short flowering period, which leaves a relatively short time for collecting supplies. Nevertheless, the vegetation of Estonia is very diverse. The number of known indigenous plant taxa of Estonia was estimated at 1400 in the 1990s, with approximately an additional 700 species and subspecies that have

Results and discussion

The 523 use-reports reveal that among the Estonian-speaking population altogether 54 plant taxa and one lichen taxon were reported as being used for making tea during the period from 1887 to 1994. Of them, 14 taxa covered 83% of the total plant use (Fig. 1). Table 2 lists 29 teetaimed having at least two use-reports and includes botanical and ethnobotanical core information on these plants. The other 26 taxa, encountered only once in the texts, are: Alchemilla vulgaris auct. (coll.), Angelica

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    Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the Governmental Research and Development programme “Estonian Language and Cultural Memory” (EKKM09-84) for supporting the digitalization of Estonian herbal lore. The research has been supported by ESF Grants ETF9419 and SF0030181s08. The authors thank Ingvar Svanberg for substantial comments on the manuscript and suggested references, Ulrike Plath for suggested references and Ilmar Part for language editing.

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