Greek Olive Leaf Tea

Essential to the Mediterranean diet, widely considered to be among the healthiest ways of eating in the world, are olives and the oil pressed from them. However, there is another incredible part of the olive plant that is lesser known: the Olive Leaf. A tea made from these leaves has been consumed for its tremendous health benefits by ancient Greek civilizations for as long as olives have been harvested. Olive Leaf is antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiviral.  It has high amounts of oleuropein, the polyphenol prevalent in olive oil that that can help lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure, prevent cancer, protect against oxidative damage, and help guard against cognitive decline.  A liquid extract made from fresh olive leaves has been shown to have an antioxidant capacity almost double green tea extract and 400 percent higher than vitamin C. In Greece, olives are a part of every meal and the olive oil from the region is unsurpassed in quality and flavor. So too, is the Greek Olive Leaf Tea. Depending on how long you seep it, it can be smooth and mellow, or strong and slightly bitter. It tastes delicious with grated ginger or a slice of lemon. Sip some Olive Leaf Tea, hot or cold, and take in its mild aroma, and see if you can pick up the slight olive taste.

We have sampled olive leaves from all of the famous olive regions of Greece and have settled on one particular organic orchard on Lesvos, an island famous for its high quality olive oil. These leaves have a superior color, aroma and flavor to any other that we have sampled. The leaves are harvested from the inside of the tree's canopy rather than the larger outer leaves farther on the branch tips, a more laborious harvesting process but a higher quality product.

UPDATE: We have encountered numerous delays (perhaps a perfect storm) with harvesting this particular supply of olive leaf tea. The late spring harvest was put off because of heavy late season rains. Then the Greek economic crisis of summer, and related capital controls created further delays. Following that, the island of Lesvos was inundated with refugees fleeing Syria. It is estimated that over half of the refugees have passed through this small island severely taxing its resources. The harvest was finally completed as of the last week in November and will soon make its way to the Port of Thessaloniki and onto to a ship destined for the Port of Los Angeles. We hope to have the tea available for sale by spring 2016. Thank you so much for your patience. We will announce its availability via an email and social media blast so please be sure to register your email and/or follow us on your favorite social media channel.

New Update: The perfect storm continues. We rejected the supply. It was not of the same quality as the original samples. We have worked with the supplier to figure out the issue and have learned, with them, that the leaves must be harvested in early summer in order to achieve the desired aroma and flavor. This is when the original samples were harvested. Since we don't have prior experience with olive leaves we were not aware of this. Neither was our supplier. They are a supplier of olive oil, so this is a new venture for them as well. We are going to do our best to get the leaves as soon as possible but it most likely be late summer before they are availble. Again - we appreciate your patience.