For all the tea in Russia

I'm aiming to make tea with the leaves of rosebay willowherb  aka fireweed, a plant that often colonises disturbed or burnt land. Its tall pink flowering spikes are probably familiar to most people even if they don't know what it is (see extra). 

Although I'm half Russian I'd never heard of kaporye tea (or Ivan chai) being a major export to the West prior to the mass adoption of tea from China. Like oriental tea it acquires its strength and subtlety from fermentation. The picture shows  the first stage, wilting the leaves*.  After that they have to be bruised and rolled by hand then left to oxidise for a few days for the flavour to develop before being dried, bagged up and allowed to mature for several months.

The tea is supposed to have all sorts of health benefits as well as an interesting taste so I'm keen to discover how it turns out.

You can read about it here.

*In fact it was a mistake to put them in the hot sun as they dried up instead of wilting and I had to go and collect some more.