The physio/morphological characteristics of the olive leaves make the choice of harvesting places for human consumption decisive. The proximity of industrial areas, with intense vehicular traffic, landfills and other sources of pollution could determine the presence of fine dust on the leaf blades.”
"The leaves are opposite, leathery, with smooth margin. The lamina is elliptic - lanceolate in shape, the adaxial surphace is green and glabrous, the abaxial one has small silver shield-shaped scales" “leathery” feels the perfect qualifier feature for olive leaves...
How to brew Olive Leaf Herbal tea:
There are many ways of preparing the tea or the infusion: it is always recommended to rinse the leaves under plenty of running water for some seconds
Then bring to the boil 15-20 grams of leaves in a liter of water and leave them boiling for 3-5 minutes.
If you enjoy the tea being careful not to sink the leaves for too long it will be possible to boil them a second time in the same amount of water for 8-10 minutes.
About the producer:
Santa Marina is an organic educational farm located in the centre of Sicily. It produces organic certified product: among those edible olive leaves. Olive leaves tea is an old medical remedy in all Mediterranean cultures: its benefits in Cardiovascular health and strengthening of Immune System are well recognised long before the word "antioxidant" would even exist. Once a year specific trees suitable for this purpose are selected between ancient Olive cultivars and the entire pruning, cleaning and selection process is strictly done by hand.