Recently I had read some recommendations to toast espand seeds prior to drinking the tea for a more pleasant taste. I became curious if the process would affect yields in someway. So I did a 50 gram side by side harmala extraction using the Tao of Rue tek. Whole seeds were used for both teks as my understanding was that grounding does not improve extraction at all.


Here is my process for toasting:

Whole seeds were put into a stainless steel frying pan on medium low and cooked dry for 7 minutes. Stirring constantly. *Side note the aroma released is somewhat chocolatey and smells delicious. I think this was a light toasting and next time I intend to toast for longer.

Following that I soaked both kinds of seeds in cold distilled water for a couple hours than did a freeze thaw three times.

After that I followed the Tao of Rue tek and did an additional base > mansk > mansk > base for a bit more clean up.

My results:

50 gs of seeds = 1.72 grams of harmalas
50 gs toasted seeds = 1.81 grams of harmalas

I think that my results would have been closer to each other but I had a spill during filtration of the untoasted seeds which I think accounts for some of the loss. I think that I need to do a little more work on the comparison but I am pleased with the results.

For those who are wondering toasted espand tea tastes a little more like coffee and a little less awful.

Thanks for sharing with us !
Let's cook toasted syrian rue tea now and taste this !

We're all eyes for more results !