Herbal Tea Making

It's not as hard as you think !

In my opinion there are a two types of herbal teas, 1. the kind you drink because they taste good a.k.a beverage teas, and 2. the ones you drink to make you feel good a.k.a medicinal teas . The goal is to make the medicinal teas taste like beverage teas!

Beverage teas are usually steeped for 3-5 minutes wile medicinal teas are steeped or decocted for 15-20 minutes.

What is decocted you ask? It means to boil once it has come to a boil the heat is reduced and the herbs are allowed to simmer for 15-20 minutes ( generally done when roots, berries or seeds are being used in a medicinal formula), The pot should remain covered during decoction.

To steep a medicinal tea you add boiling/hot water to herbs , covering them for 15-20 minutes .

Now lets start with the herbs for beverage herbs (remember many tasty herbs are also medicinal!)

Peppermint, Spearmint, chamomile, lavender, hibiscus , lemon balm, licorice root, lemon or orange peel. Just to name a few! Most of these tasty herbs have medicinal properties so depending on what the tea is for, you can add them to make it more palatable.

The medicinal list could go on for ever but we will start with the more common ones. Nettles, Burdock, Dandelion, Echanica, St. Johns Wort, Black Cohosh, Vitex, Red Raspberry Leaf, Ginkgo, Goldenseal, Kava …..

Both fresh and dried herbs can be used a ratio of 2 tablespoons of fresh to 1 tablespoon of dried herb.

You don't have to stop at just herbs: natural fruit juices can also be added to your herbal tea blend for flavor, medicinal properties and sweetening purposes'!

Spring Tonic Tea:

Raspberry juice (or concentrate)

Nettles

Burdock

Dandelion rt.

In the summer frozen concentrates both cool and sweeten your herbal teas.

Winter Wellness Recipe: This is especially good when you are feel the beginnings of a cold !

Lemon Juice (unsweetened or naturally sweetened)

Ginger

Echinacea

Honey

Things to brew your tea in……

Bagged vs. Loose Tea

Ask just about any herbalist they will tell you loose tea is far superior to bagged tea.

The problem lies in the size the herbs have to be cut to in order to put them in those tiny bags. " Tea leaves contain chemicals and essential oils, which are the basis for the flavor of tea. When the tea leaves are broken up, those oils can evaporate, leaving a dull and tasteless tea. Typical tea bags are filled with the tiniest pieces of broken leaves"

On top of the leaf size, there is also the space factor. Tea leaves need space to swell, expand and unfurl. Good water circulation around the leaves is important, which doesn't typically happen in a cramped little tea bag."

So what are my options then?

Reusable muslin bags, (generally much bigger than a tea bag), tea balls, strainers or a French press.

If the tea is to be infused a muslin bag, or French Press are you best bets, but if you are decocting you may want to choose a strainer. Straining the herbs once decocted.