Its not something I ever thought about. In fact I am not sure if I have ever drunk chrysanthemum tea.
However, when motorcycling through northern Thailand near the Golden Triangle a few days back, I passed this field full of yellow flowers, with about 15 people shaded by brightly coloured umbrellas picking flowers and loading them into baskets.
I hopped off and walked down to a shelter where there were a couple of people collecting and weighing the baskets of flowers. Using the magic of Google Translate and simple searches like ‘yellow flowers tea Thailand’, I gained an understanding of what was going on. The man told me they get 50 baht ($AU2.50) per kilo for the flowers. While I was there, there was much chattering, laughing and singing emanating from the field.
I thanked the man and went on my way, passing a number of other similar fields. Keep in mind this used to be opium poppy territory, so these people know their flowers. Then I got to thinking, and did some research.
This story is part of our Slow Travel in South East Asia series. Read more here.
One kilogram of medium size chrysanthemums contains about 2,000 flower heads. So that is 2,000 snips and snaps for each $2.50 these people receive. I don’t know how many flowers it takes to make a cup of tea so let’s preserve that as a mystery. But we can look at what the flowers sell for overseas. I found a native tea website that sells premium loose buds from Thailand at $US22 for 8 ounces. In AUD that is about $135 per kilo. This is for dried flowers with the moisture removed, so lets halve the price. So at $70 per kilo wholesale, somebody is making good money here.
Cup of tea anyone?
Steve is a former Army officer and technology manager, now semi-retired and living in Melbourne. He enjoys adventurous travel and believes that good stories should be shared. He founded the Dusty Boots Journal as a means to connect those with similar interests.
‘Dusty Stevenomics’. Should start a new category.