WHB #78: Herbal Tea
Herbal tea is fantastic in many ways, but many people just don’t seem to know how many different varieties it’s possible to make at home.
My favourite device for making tea is this delightful Infuser, as pictured, and makes life so much easier - and as such I would recommend that any tea enthusiast buys one. 3 to 5 minutes (but no longer - to prevent toxin build up) is enough to create a delicious refreshing drink.
Most herbs can be made into delicious tea, each with their own health benefits. Here are some of my favourites - but how many more do you enjoy at home? Let me know via a comment on this article (which is incidentally also my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging #78, which is being held over at Cook Almost Anything at Least Once).
Herbal Tea Recipes
Mint Tea. A few simple sprigs of mint (or a handful of leaves) can be left in hot water for a couple of minutes for a delicious drink which can be enjoyed hot or cold, with or without sugar. Moroccan Mint Tea is a standard green tea flavoured with spearmint leaves and lots of sugar.
Mint is famous for its health benefits, including the ability to settle a nervous stomach, halt bacterial / fungal growth, and fight cancer.
Rosemary Tea. Prepare with a few sprigs of rosemary steeped in hot water. The taste is better when you bruise the sprigs (i.e. bash them about a bit with the back of spoon), and add a slice of lemon.
Rosemary is also good for settling the stomach, and perhaps more interestingly, reducing flatulence.
Sage Tea. Sage tea is delicious both hot and cold, served with a touch of lemon and sugar. Prepare as as above with around 5 leaves per cup.
Sage has antiseptic properties and is great as a mouthwash. Care should be taken not to brew sage tea for too long, as toxins can form in the tea. Sage tea is not recommended for pregnant and / or lactating mothers, as it reduces the production of milk.
Parsley Tea. A few chopped leaves is enough to flavour this excellent and refreshing tea, which is great flavoured with honey.
Parsley is good for reducing flatulence, settling the stomach, and increasing circulation.
Marjoram Tea. Marjoram tea is generally prepared from dried leaves. It has excellent antiseptic qualities, and as such is also great (cooled) as a mouthwash.
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Bite This!
April 14th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I do remember that when I was quite small my grandmother would make sage tea. I didn’t like it at all, but I wonder if I’d like it now. I’m guessing I might and I have some sage leaves starting on my plants, so I’ll have to try it. (And I do have a tea infuser, surprisingly enough.)
April 15th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Beautiful photos! Makes me wistful for my herb garden, which has been a great source of new tea concoctions. Anise hyssop is one of my favorites.
April 15th, 2007 at 5:36 am
I love your infuser. I always like lavender tea. But I do not have garden. Most of my herbal teas are bought from www.teacuppa.com
I love lavender and jasmine.
April 15th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I never realized herbal tea was so simple!
I have all of those in my garden, I’m going to start experimenting….I’ll start with your suggestions. I have an infuser - and if it goes horribly wrong all I’ve wasted is some leaves and hot water!
I woulg think lemon balm would be very good…
April 16th, 2007 at 12:54 am
Thank You SO much for posting this! They sound amazing! I’ve never made *fresh* herb tea, I’ve always purchased herbal tea bags. I’m trying these as soon as possible!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:10 am
I love tea, especially with herbs. And the different health benefits helped my pretty often.
Even if these are not herbs. I make tea from chrysanthemum, rose petals, lemon grass, and ginger from time to time.
I think I’m going to post about it as well some time.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I love herbal teas and drink a lot of different mint teas, like turkish mint, lemon mint, basil mint, and even pineapple mint tea. A favourite is also verbene /verveine tea which is tasting lemonlike and is very refreshing.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Marjoram tea….very interesting…must try it. In Southern India, during summer season, you can spot females of all ages wearing a garland made with fresh jasmine flowers, fresh marjoram.
I tried jasmine with a skeptic feeling and ended up liking it a lot. Will try this one.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Kalyn: I find the key with Sage Tea is to make it very delicately - a kind of lime green colour.
Lydia: You’ll find that almost all your herbs can be used in this way. The key of course is then finding the ones that taste nice!
Mary: A great website! I like to stock up on fruity teas which are delicious any time of the year. The fruit teabags just don’t do it for me.
Katie: Again though, ditto my comments about making it delicately. Nothing worse then stewed herbal tea. Yuk.
Michelle: The best thing is, the more you trim your herbs, the faster they grow. A medium size herb garden will see you through the year with free tea.
Brigitte: It would make a great post, and certainly one that I’d find interesting. You’re making me thing about whether my rose petals can be used…
Helene: A touch of anything “lemon like” works wonders in tea to lift the flavour and cleanse the palate.
Vani: I’m sure you’ll like it. You can try almost any combination, too, too see what works best.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:23 am
Interesting post. I never thought of making tea with fresh rosemary or parsley — but why not? You’ve inspired me to try it.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Christa: You’d be suprised (or maybe not, looking at your blog) just how many of the things in our gardens are edible…
April 18th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I like rose geranium, barely sweetened. I have an infuser, but find myself more often dunking sachet bags that I’ve filled myself.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Susan: However you do it, so long as you enjoy it then it works. I also like to use a Cafetière - much like a teapot only with a built in strainer.
April 18th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
So many herbal teas really do calm an upset stomach, as you mention. Thanks for so many ideas! Lovely photos and post!
April 19th, 2007 at 5:20 am
I have bad circulation. I might get brave enought to try the parsley tea.
Merry
April 19th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Susan from Food “Blogga”: Right now I feel like I fancy a cup, too. Must have ate too late last night or something. Not feeling too good!
Merry Strong: I have bad circulation, too. My fingers go a shade of yellow when the weather is really cold
April 20th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Wow! Thanks for posting this. I drink herbal teas daily and have an assortment of herbs in my garden. It has never entered my head to get a herbal infuser. Guess I could get one from Lakeland or somewhere similar
April 20th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
What beautiful photos and recipes! I love various teas: black, red, green, white, or herbal! I love making lemongrass and lemon balm teas. Especially refreshing in the summer.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
dianne: They’re for sale all over the internet as far as I can see, so you might get a better deal like that. Mine was given along with some fruity tea at xmas.
bazu: Why thank you very much! I’m a big fan of delicate iced tea with a slice of lemon in summer myself. Very refreshing, as you said!
May 9th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
[…] My favourite device for making tea is this delightful Infuser, as pictured, and makes life so much easier - and as such I would recommend that any tea enthusiast buys one. 3 to 5 minutes (but no longer - to prevent toxin build up) is …Herbal Tea […]
September 11th, 2007 at 6:35 am
I love tea, especially with green. I add some dried pieces of apples, black-currant, and raspberries (when I’m ill)