About Bamboo Leaf Tea
About Bamboo Leaf Tea
Bamboo has been a passion of mine for most of my life. Having been born in India I feel that the tropical essence of bamboo has been written in me since birth. It’s beauty, strength, and flexibility are guides to love and live by and I am always in awe of it’s versatility. From flooring to medicine bamboo’s uses are as diverse as it’s look. From giant timber bamboos to vine like creepers this plant is a true beauty with great function at it’s core.
I came to Florida to work for Walt Disney Imagineering on the Animal Kingdom project as an ornamental grass and bamboo specialist and never left. The tropical beauty of Florida was too much to leave and I decided to start my own bamboo farm just down the road from Disney. I have been growing and living with bamboo in Orlando since 1998, and while I love the beauty of the plant in the landscape I have been fascinated by the possibilities of functional uses.
In 2008 I began to explore the possibilities of working with bamboo as a food, a beverage, and a medicine. It has been a journey that has led me to use every part of the bamboo plant – the shoots, the leaves, stems, branches, outer culms, inner culms, inner-nodes, culm sheathes, and secondary roots. To date I have worked with over 50 varieties and am constantly exploring new realms of this plant. Each part of each plant creates a new unique extract and with that a never ending journey of knowledge.
Bamboo Leaf Tea is made from 100% bamboo leaves grown and processed by hand in sunny Florida without the use of any chemicals.
Being a grass, bamboo is particularly good at assimilating minerals. It has the ability to uptake all of the minerals available to it and is uniquely capable through it’s bacterial and fungal partnerships to trade sugars for higher levels of minerals like potassium and silica.
Bamboo has the highest amount of vegetative silica of any plant. Ten times the amount of horsetail or nettles. It is what allows bamboo to grow so fast and strong and yet remain flexible. Silica has become the calling card of bamboo and really when you look at the bamboo plant it is silica. It is strength and flexibility. The tea also contains soluble fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.
There are water soluble and fat soluble elements of the plant as well as other elements best extracted using other means. Here is a breakdown of some of the components in bamboo.
1- Silica
- Promotes hair growth and nail strength
- Building block of collagen – rejuvenates the skin
- Essential for bone growth and strength, has been shown to increase bone density
- Aids the body in eliminating aluminum
- Strengthens the cardiovascular system
- Supports white blood cell function
- Re-mineralizes and strengthens teeth and gums
- Strengthens cardiovascular system
- Re-builds muscle
2- Soluble Fiber
- Helps to regulate blood sugar
- Shown to lower LDL cholesterol
- Eases cravings and aids in weight loss
- Effective for IBS, ulcers, and other digestive issues
3- Water Soluble Vitamins
- B-1 Thiamine: important for nerve function
- B-2 Riboflavin: important for vision and skin
- B-3 Niaicn: important for the nervous system, digestive system, and skin
- B-5 Pantothenic Acid: important for production red blood cells
- B-6 Pyridoxine: important for making red blood cells, aids in producing melatonin, helps to reduce levels of homocysteine, and improve brain function
- B-9 Folic Acid: important for making DNA and red blood cells
- Vitamin C: anti-oxidant, building block of collagen, and supports immune function
4- Fat Soluble Vitamins
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin E
5- Minerals
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Calcium
- Iron
- Selenium
- Copper
- Zinc
- Silica
- Potassium
6- Phytonutrients
- Beta carotene
- Anthocyanins
- Company donates 1% to environmental projects.
Sustainability
Sustainability and the environment are important to me. Growing bamboo helps the environment by giving off as much as 35% more oxygen than trees. Bamboo does not require pesticides or herbicides to grow abundantly just water. It is important to not stress our water supply through irrigation of plants so I irrigate from rain water collected in ponds. Most of my bamboos don’t require any watering at all due to the natural moisture content of the ground. Grasses are amazing plants in that they feed themselves. They produce a root system equal or greater than what shows above ground. This root system grows and eventually dies and composts leaving a rich food for the new growth to feed upon. Bamboo sheds at least 50% of it’s leaves every year which also feeds the plant. So overtime the bamboo creates it’s own perfect environment.
As Bamboo Leaf Tea grows I try to look at each component and consider all of the options such as packaging that contains recycled materials. I try to choose what is least destructive for our world. I hope that you enjoy the greenness of the tea in color, scent, and taste and know that I am doing my best to bring it to you in the most environmentally way that I can.
