Jacinta's tea: the retail part

     The label on a bag of hibiscus tea that I brought back from Managua a year ago has lots of information, first and foremost the title "Jamaica Tea." The tea's well known in Buefields as "Jamaica Tea" though the plant that produces the flowers that make the tea is certainly not grown only in Jamaica. In fact the tea's enjoyed all over the world and although it goes by many names, most people in this part of the world know it as "Jamaica Tea."  I have no idea how this great drink got stuck with that name.
     Whatever!
     Hibiscus sabdariffa - the hibiscus variety that provides the calyx that makes the tea - grows like a weed at False Bluff and I've encouraged one of my staff to take full advantage of that fact and go into business.  And so the mom in my False Bluff family, Jacinta, with my full support, has begun growing, drying, packaging, and selling hibiscus sabdariffa.

     It's actually turned into a family endeavor, with dad Jose, and Jose and Jacinta's son, and a brother of Jose's doing the harvesting and drying (see a post to follow). 
     Jacinta, however, is in charge of the retail part of the process. 
     My friend Silvia Fox found two sizes of clear sealable bags for us in Managua and so far Jacinta has sold her tea to friends and family about as fast she's bagged it...certainly before the label goes on (I bought an unlabeled half-pound bag to give as a gift to a friend in Bluefields). I haven't even seen the label but I know it will say that what's in the bag was organically grown and sun-dried at False Bluff; and I know what it won't say - that the stuff inside the bag is Jamaica Tea. 
     I thought the number of plants at False Bluff was huge, but I've been told the 2015 crop, while providing some tea to dry and sell, was primarily to provide seeds for the next crop!