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Both Skrt and Olive Oil Times emphasize the importance of using organic olive leaves to produce olive-leaf tea, and both sources note that the sale of organic olive leaves would help farmers support traditional, organic olive production. Olive Oil Times states, "Anyone visiting an oil mill in Greece during the production season would see a huge pile of olive leaves accumulated at a corner of the property after the olives have been defoliated. … But this paltry leftover can play a more important role, adding to the producer's slim profits." In addition to being collected as a byproduct of olive processing, Skrt says, olive leaves can also be harvested in springtime when superfluous branches are cut from the trees. It's worth noting that neither of these harvesting methods causes strain to the plants and requires very little additional work from the farmers. It would seem that olive-leaf tea has strong potential as an ecofriendly, profit-generating product. It may not ever be enormously popular worldwide; even in Slovenia, where there is a history of drinking olive-leaf infusions, dry olive leaves are only sold in specialized shops and some pharmacies, Sramel says. However, Olive Oil Times says that the leaves are currently exported to Korea, the United States and elsewhere around the globe, and they have fetched as much as 3.5 Euros per kilo ($2.08 per pound) when wholesaled to Japan—not bad for something that's often seen as a waste product. And several sources say that as awareness of the benefits of olive leaves spread, more people are consuming them in herbal infusions and in blended infusions and teas. The taste of olive-leaf infusions can be described as neutral, which makes them well suited to blending. A light steeping can deliver a mellow flavor, while a longer steeping will create a stronger, slightly bitter infusion. THE LEGAL STATUS OF A FRINGE HERB Though olive-leaf extract has been approved for use in many countries around the world, olive leaves are often found in a sort of legal limbo. Joern Burchard, managing director and shareholder of Dried Ingredients and managing director of Westphal Tee, says that Westphal does not use olive leaves in blends because European legislation classifies it as a "novel food" and requires additional testing before it can be approved for tea blends. This is why olive leaves are largely sold in pharmacies in Slovenia and elsewhere in the European Union. Similarly, olive leaves are sold through multiple outlets in the United States, but a call to the FDA revealed that olive leaves do not currently have GRAS ("Generally Recognized as Safe") status in the United States. A representative at the FDA says that because olive-leaf extract has already been approved for use, a petition for GRAS status would likely be granted relatively quickly. However, she says, no one has filed a petition for its use as a food product yet. ETHICALLY MARKETING OLIVE LEAF In the case of olive-leaf infusions, there is some clear overlap between the benefits of the primary products of the plant and the byproduct of the leaf. And there are many other herbs that come from plants known for their health benefits, such as raspberry leaves, coffee cascara and infusions made from the flowers of the tea plant. However, sources were torn on whether or not it is ethical to market herbs and blends around a health association with a related product from the same plant. On the one hand, Gladstar says, it's generally safe to assume that different parts of the same plant can be used for similar purposes. However, she cautions, this is not always true. She says there are instances in which one part of a plant may be healthy to consume, while another part has no nutritional value or is even poisonous. She says that some byproducts are marketed with false claims, but that this can be avoided with some basic education about which parts of the plant are safe and effective to use for medicinal and dietary purposes. She advises that it's "more judicious to let each part stand on its own." However, Lockyer feels that marketing olive leaves based on associations with the health benefits of olive oil is acceptable. She says, "Looking at the evidence, I don't think it would be unethical to describe olive-leaf extract as containing the same beneficial components found in olive oil. It is definitely likely that olive-leaf infusions would give the same health benefits as olive-leaf extract, though you would have to drink a lot more of it [for the same benefits]." She adds that olive-leaf extracts are typically about 15 times stronger than olive-leaf infusions, and as such, they are likely to provide more benefits. BLENDING OLIVE-LEAF TEAS Once olive leaf is approved for use in food products in Europe and the United States, sources say, it can make a strong ingredient for tea and herb blends. Skrt describes the taste of olive-leaf infusions as "very mild and neutral," which would make them well suited to blending. Sramel calls its flavor pleasant, mild and unique, adding that a light steeping "delivers a satisfying, mellow flavor," while a longer steeping "creates a stronger, slightly bitter infusion than can be mellowed with a slice of fresh lemon, stevia, soy [milk], milk, sugar and other herbal flavorings." Sramel says that olive leaves blend well with green teas in particular and can also be blended with other teas and herbs. Gladstar says that while she rarely drinks olive-leaf infusions on their own, she does sometimes use them in blend formulations. Will the global market take to olive leaf as a blending ingredient and an infusion? The potential is there, and if the legal hurdles can be cleared, there may be a new player on the herbal scene in the years ahead. freshcup.com September 2013 43