Chaga Tea

Chaga is the hard black growth of the fungus Inonotus obliquus on birch trees in cold northern forests, grated or chopped and simmered for tea. The cup is dark, earthy and mildly bitter with a faint vanilla note. Simmered gently for twenty to thirty minutes or longer.

Origin & Story

Chaga looks like a lump of burnt charcoal stuck to a birch tree, and that is nearly what it is. Inonotus obliquus is a fungus that parasitizes living birches in cold forests across Siberia, northern Europe and North America, and the black mass people gather is not its fruiting body but a sterile conk, a dense lump of fungal tissue colored by melanin.

Folk traditions around the fungus are old and widespread, passed down in Siberian, Finnish, Estonian and Sami communities and among Native peoples of North America and Alaska. Finns call it tikkatee, and in Japan it has its own name, kabanoanatake. It is a forager's tea: you need a birch, a hatchet and patience.

Brewing it is a patient business. Chunks or coarse powder are simmered, not boiled, at around 80 to 90°C, for at least fifteen minutes and often thirty or more, and big batches go for two or three hours. The pieces can be used again. The result is dark, almost coffee-colored, earthy and slightly bitter, with a hint of vanilla that some tasters ascribe to a naturally occurring vanillin.

Chaga contains no tea and no caffeine, and people drink it plain, or with a splash of milk or a little honey.

Simmer 3 g of chaga pieces in 240 ml of water at 90°C for twenty to thirty minutes, strain, and keep the pieces for a second batch.

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