Sweet gum tea is made by steeping the star-shaped leaves, spiky seed balls, or inner bark of the American sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) in hot water. The method varies slightly depending on which part of the tree you use, and each part brings different compounds to the cup. Here’s how to identify the tree, choose your materials, and prepare the tea.
Identifying Sweet Gum Trees
Before you harvest anything, you need to be certain you’re working with a sweet gum and not a maple. The two look similar at a glance, but one reliable difference makes them easy to tell apart: sweet gum leaves grow alternately along the branch, staggered one at a time, while maple leaves grow in pairs directly opposite each other. Once you know this, misidentification is nearly impossible.
Sweet gum leaves are star-shaped with five to seven pointed lobes and serrated edges, roughly 18 cm (about 7 inches) wide. They’re glossy green on top and pale green underneath with a coating of fine white hairs. Crush a fresh, actively growing leaf and it releases a noticeable fragrance, slightly resinous and pleasant. In fall, the leaves turn vivid yellow, orange, or deep red.
The fruit is the tree’s other unmistakable feature: spiky, woody balls about 3 to 4 cm across that dangle from the branches and litter the ground beneath the tree through fall and winter. The bark on mature trees is rough and deeply furrowed, grayish brown. Young twigs often have distinctive corky ridges or “wings” running along them, and they tend to be a rusty red color. Sweet gum trees can grow 30 to 40 meters tall, so they’re large, established trees in most landscapes.
Which Parts to Use
Three parts of the sweet gum tree are commonly used for tea, and they offer different things.
- Leaves: The easiest to harvest and the mildest in flavor. Fresh green leaves picked during the growing season are the most fragrant and contain shikimic acid, the same compound found in star anise. Leaves work well for a simple, light tea.
- Seed balls (fruit): The spiky balls contain small seeds, and it’s the tiny, undeveloped (aborted) seeds inside that pack the highest concentration of shikimic acid, up to 6.5% by weight. The mature, fully developed seeds contain far less, only about 0.14%. This means the small, granular seeds you find inside are the most potent part of the entire tree for this compound.
- Inner bark: Cherokee Indians traditionally prepared inner bark as a green tea infusion and used it as a mild sedative to calm nerves. Inner bark and resin were also used for sore throats, coughs, and digestive troubles. Harvesting bark is more involved and should be done carefully to avoid damaging the tree.
Making Tea From Sweet Gum Leaves
Pick a generous handful of fresh, green sweet gum leaves. Younger leaves from actively growing branches tend to be the most aromatic. Rinse them well and tear or chop them to release more of their oils. Place about 8 to 10 torn leaves in a heat-safe mug or teapot, pour boiling water over them, and let the tea steep for 10 to 15 minutes. The longer you steep, the stronger the flavor and the more compounds you extract. Strain out the leaves before drinking.
If you want to use dried leaves, spread fresh leaves on a tray in a single layer and let them air-dry for several days, or use a food dehydrator on a low setting. Dried leaves store well in a sealed jar for months. Use roughly a tablespoon of crumbled dried leaves per cup of boiling water, steeped for 10 to 15 minutes.
Making Tea From Sweet Gum Seed Balls
Collect green or recently fallen seed balls. Green ones still on the tree in late summer and early fall tend to contain more of the active compounds than dried, brown ones that have already released most of their seeds. Rinse the seed balls and break them apart if you can, or simply use them whole. Place 3 to 5 seed balls in a small pot with about 2 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. The woody material needs more time and heat than leaves to release its compounds. Strain well through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to catch any small debris and seed fragments.
The resulting tea has an earthier, more resinous flavor than leaf tea. Some people add honey, lemon, or ginger to round out the taste. If you find the flavor too strong, reduce the number of seed balls or shorten the simmering time.
Making Tea From Inner Bark
To harvest inner bark, find a small branch (roughly thumb-thickness) or use pruned trimmings rather than cutting into the trunk of a living tree. Peel away the outer bark to expose the lighter, softer inner bark layer. Scrape or peel off thin strips of this inner bark. A small handful is enough for one or two cups.
Place the bark strips in a pot with 2 cups of water and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Bark releases its compounds slowly, so a longer simmer produces a stronger brew. Strain and drink warm. This is the preparation closest to the traditional Cherokee method, which was valued for its calming, mildly sedative effect.
Why Sweet Gum Tea Gained Popularity
Much of the recent interest in sweet gum tea centers on shikimic acid. This compound is the starting material used to produce the well-known antiviral medication oseltamivir, and it’s traditionally sourced from star anise. Star anise remains far more concentrated, containing up to 19 to 25% shikimic acid by dry weight in its fruit. Sweet gum seeds top out around 3.7% in whole seeds, though those tiny aborted seeds reach 6.5%. So sweet gum is a legitimate source, just not as potent drop-for-drop as star anise.
It’s worth understanding that drinking sweet gum tea is not the same as taking a pharmaceutical antiviral. Shikimic acid is a precursor, a raw ingredient that requires extensive chemical processing to become oseltamivir. What you get in a cup of sweet gum tea is shikimic acid itself, along with other plant compounds. Native American traditions valued the tea for soothing sore throats, easing coughs, calming nerves, and treating diarrhea, uses that predate any knowledge of shikimic acid by centuries.
Harvesting and Safety Tips
Gather materials from trees you can confirm haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides. Roadside trees, those near agricultural fields, and trees in commercially maintained parks are best avoided. Your own yard or a known wild-growing tree in an unsprayed area is ideal.
For leaf tea, harvest during the growing season when the leaves are green, glossy, and fragrant. For seed balls, late summer through fall gives you the freshest fruit. If you’re collecting fallen seed balls from the ground in winter, they’ll still work, but much of the seed material may already have dispersed.
Start with a mild preparation, especially if you’ve never had sweet gum tea before. One cup is a reasonable starting point. The flavor profile is woody, lightly sweet, and faintly resinous, pleasant to many people but unfamiliar enough that you’ll want to find the strength that suits your palate before making a larger batch.