Sagan Dalya, the white wing of Baikal

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The last sovereign territory. You enter through the plants, through silence, through a return to the dreams of the elders.

Legendary herb of the Mongolian Warrior, Tibetan Shamans and Nobles from the Far East. Rhododendron adamsii is a small evergreen shrub, low and bushy, clinging to rocky ground, that grows in the mountains around Lake Baikal, in Transbaikalia, in Yakutia and as far as northern Mongolia. Its leaves are small and leathery, dark green above, silvery beneath.

The name speaks its signature

In Buryat it is called sagaan dali: sagaan, white, dali, the wing. The white wing. The name comes from the silvery underside of the leaves: when the wind turns them over on the slope, the shrub seems to beat its wings. In the West it is written Sagan Dalya, sometimes Sagan Dailya.

The Buryats named it long before European botany. The Latin name comes from the Greeks' rose tree, rhodon and dendron, and from the naturalist Michael Friedrich Adams, who travelled Siberia at the start of the nineteenth century. It belongs to the Ericaceae, the family of the bilberry and the heather.

The "White Wings", as called by the Buryat indigenous population of the Baikal region, are true Masters to all humans walking the path of the Embodied Spiritual Warrior.

The legend of the eagle

The Buryats tell of a hunter, lost in the mountains, who saw an eagle land beside a small shrub with silvery leaves, tear off a few leaves, then take flight again. The hunter tasted the same leaves in turn, and found his way back to camp. Since then, it is said, Buryat hunters follow the eagle's teaching: it was the bird that showed them the plant.

The roads, the monasteries, the ceremony

The peoples of Baikal have put it to several uses, and each one tells of a landscape.

• The long roads. Tradition reports that Mongol warriors and caravan drivers carried the dried leaves and chewed them during long campaigns.
• The monks' tea. In Buddhist monasteries, during long meditation retreats, Sagan Dalya was brewed, sometimes with yak butter and salt.
• The nomads' cup. Around Baikal it is often made with milk and a pinch of salt: the tea of long journeys.
• The ceremony. The böö, the Buryat shamans, drink it before the ceremony and make an offering of it to the spirits of the mountain.

The Yakuts of the Far North drink it too, and it can still be found in the markets of Irkutsk.

The harvest of the top third

The Buryat tradition has its harvesting rule: take only the top third of the leaves, leave the rest of the plant untouched, and leave with thanks. Treated this way, the shrub grows back.

The rule has taken on new weight. Demand has led to over-harvesting at some sites, and Rhododendron adamsii is listed in the Red Data Book in some regions of Russia. Sourcing it means taking care that the harvest stays sustainable.

The House's leaves

Our Sagan Dalya leaves are wild-harvested in Siberia, in the depth of winter, in the mountains surrounding Lake Baikal, on the border with Mongolia. We offer them as whole leaves, in 10 g, 20 g and 50 g. Sagan Dalya contains no caffeine.

Sagan Dalya tea has a subtle floral taste, slightly bitter and coniferous, which turns delightful with the right amount of leaves and the right infusion time.

Three ways to drink it

Sagan Dalya is drunk in three ways: as a pleasant everyday tea, open to all; as a course of a few days; or as a ceremonial cup.

• The everyday tea: one teaspoon of dried leaves, about 8 to 10 leaves, for one cup. Hot water, around 80 °C, never boiling, for 5 to 10 minutes, then strain. The same leaves can be steeped again up to three times, lengthening the infusion each time. In the morning or during the day.
• The nomads' version: 4 to 5 leaves in a cup of milk, dairy or plant, with a pinch of salt, warmed gently without boiling.
• The course: one to two cups a day for seven consecutive days, then a break before coming back to it.
• The ceremonial cup: with prayers and intentions, in a quiet, undisturbed space. It is drunk slowly, offering your full presence to the hours that follow.

Precautions

• The Rhododendron genus includes species that contain grayanotoxins, the toxins of the Black Sea's "mad honey", made from Rhododendron ponticum. According to available analyses, R. adamsii does not contain them in significant amounts: all the more reason to stick to a controlled source. Never pick a rhododendron yourself to make tea.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding: avoid, for lack of data.
• Liver or kidney problems, hypertension: ask for medical advice before use; the plant can raise blood pressure.
• Stimulant medication: possible additive effect; talk to your doctor.
• Allergy to the Ericaceae (bilberry, heather…): take care.
• In the morning or during the day, well before bedtime.
• Ongoing treatment or a known condition: talk to your doctor before use.

When in doubt, your doctor before the plant.

Sources

• Daniil N. Olennikov et al., study of Rhododendron adamsii leaves (Sagan Dalya tea), MDPI, vol. 10 (6), 863, 2021: Buryat, Yakut and Mongol uses.
• Regional Red Data Books of Russia: status of Rhododendron adamsii.
• Our supplier's sheet: wild harvest, Baikal region.

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