There’s a knack to brewing the perfect cup of herbal tea-tea that tastes like ambrosia instead of last night’s dishwater, and has the strength to refresh you without calling to mind a dose of drain cleaner.
Packaged China (Thea sinensis) teas, with clearly spelled-out directions, don’t pose much of a problem. But because herbal teas are brewed from petals, roots, seeds, or flowers, as well as leaves-alone or in combination-they require more know-how. Once you master a few simple methods, though, it’s easy to brew a cup of herbal tea with appealing aroma and satisfying taste.
The first thing you need is patience. If you don’t allow ample time for brewing, you’ll end up with faintly flavored hot water instead of tea. Second, you’ll need to make use of your sense of taste. Unlike Thea sinensis teas, herbal teas do not darken as they become stronger, but remain light green or amber. The expert tea-brewer gauges the strength or weakness of herbal tea by taste rather than sight. Third, you’ll need the proper brewing utensils. Basically this means a pot (preferably an enameled one with no chips) for boiling water, a teapot, a teacup, and an infuser for immersing the tea in the water, a strainer, and a mortar and pestle, or grinder, to crush roots and seeds just before brewing them.
An infuser is a device that holds the tea ingredients, keeping them contained while boiling water is poured over them, so they do not flow into the teacup. Infusers are usually ball-shaped, with pin-sized holes all over their surface, and they unscrew or unhinge to open, enabling you to lock the tea ingredients inside them. Most infusers come in two sizes-one-to-two cups or six-to-eight cup. If you prefer, you can place loose ingredients into the teapot, add boiling water, and pour through a strainer to keep tea ingredients out of each cup.
The best teapots are made of china, earthenware, glass, silver, or stainless steel. Some teapots have strainers built in over the base of the spout, so you can use loose ingredients and the pot will strain the tea as you pour. Avoid tin or aluminum pots, they tend to impart a metallic taste to the tea, and never heat a teapot directly on the stove.
Depending on the type of herbal tea you’re brewing, you’ll use one of two methods, infusion or decoction.
Brewing by infusion
Most teas made from leaves, petals, and flowers are prepared by infusion. Infusion allows the oils in these parts of the herb to be released gently; if the herbs were boiled, the oils would evaporate.
Infusion of leaves, petals, or flowers:
1 teaspoon of dried herbs, or 3 teaspoons of freshly picked herbs to 1 cup boiling water
To infuse tea, rinse the teapot with boiling water (to heat it) and dry it thoroughly. Place tea in the pot, either loose or in its infuser, pour boiling water over the tea, and allow the mixture to steep for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the delicate flavors are released. Then strain and serve. You may add or subtract herbs according to your personal preference.
If you’re using freshly picked herbs, bruise the leaves gently by crushing them in a clean cloth. This will help to release aromatic oils.
Some herbal tea experts say infused herbs should be removed and discarded as soon as the tea is made. Others believe the tea can steep for as long as a day or two.
If the herbs are allowed to sit, use boiling water to warm up the cold tea and/or dilute it if it has become too strong. A word of caution: if herbs are allowed to stand more than a day or two, they release tannic acid into the tea. Tannic acid is great for curing leather, but isn’t good for delicate stomach linings. As one expert advises, “If you want your tea to be stronger, use more tea, not more time.”
Brewing by decoction
The decoction method is used mainly for seed and root teas, whose oils are more difficult to release. Herbal teas prepared by decoction generally tend to stay fresher than teas prepared by other methods.
Decoction of seeds:
I tablespoon of seeds to 1 pint (2 cups) of boiling water
Bring water to a boil in an enameled pan placed over a high heat. Add the seeds, reduce the temperature, and allow the mixture to simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes. Then quickly strain the tea and serve it.
Seeds should be well crushed to bring out their oils. A mortar and pestle do the job nicely, or you can wrap the seeds in a clean cloth and crush them with a wooden mallet or rolling pin. You can also grind them in the type of small electric grinder used for grinding coffee beans.
Decoction of roots:
1/2 ounce of dried roots to 1 pint (2 cups) of boiling water
Add the powdered, ground, or crushed dried root to boiling water, reduce the temperature, and simmer for as long as it takes to brew the tea to your taste.
Ordinarily, decoction of roots takes about 20 minutes, and less if you’ve powdered them. A good rule of thumb is that tea will probably be ready when the water has been reduced to 1/z pint (1 cup). Remove the root at this time.
Iced teas
To make iced teas, prepare them as outlined above, and then cool them in the refrigerator.
To make a gallon (20 servings), pour 1 quart of boiling water over 2 ounces of dried herbal tea (about 3/4 cup), or over 6 ounces of bruised fresh leaves. Brew 5 or 6 minutes. Stir and strain into 3 quarts of cold tap water. Serve over ice cubes.
Herbal tea concentrate for a crowd
If you want to make leaf, flower, or petal tea for a crowd, you can make a concentrate in advance, then dilute it when you’re ready to serve. Here’s how:
For 40 to 45 cups, bring 1 1/2 quarts of cold water to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat. Immediately add 1/4 pound of loose, dried herbal tealeaves, petals, or flowers, or 3/4 pound of fresh herbs. Stir well to immerse the leaves, then cover. Let the brew steep for 5 or more minutes. Strain the concentrate into a teapot. When you are ready to serve, boil water and add it to the concentrate in cups, preparing it to taste.
Sun tea
For hundreds of years, American Indians have used the sun as a source of heat to brew herbal beverages without boiling away the natural flavor. The sun’s infrared and ultraviolet rays heat the water but keep it below the boiling point. Flavor is released from the herbs, but not from the oils and acids that can give tea an acrid taste if it isn’t drunk soon after brewing. This method also saves energy.
Take a large glass bottle, preferably one with a glass cover that enables the sun’s rays to reach the contents easily (an old-fashioned canning jar works well). Fill the jar with water, and add tealeaves. Set the jar in the sun for 3 to 6 hours, depending on the intensity of the rays (affected by time of day) and the time of year. Remove tea residue from the water as soon as you bring the jar in from the sun. This method doesn’t work for seeds and roots, which require boiling water to release their flavors.
Enhancing tea’s taste
Most herbal teas are brewed to be drunk without sugar, honey, or molasses, which mask their delicate flavors. But some herbs are more tart than others, and you may want to add a sweetener. Elderberry leaves or cut fruit sweeten and add a nice flavor. So does a bit of licorice root. Dried orange peels and tangerine rinds can also be used.
Teas can also be sweetened or flavored with other teas. After you’ve been experimenting with herbal blends for a while (see chapter 6, “Creating Tea Blends”), you’ll find you can create and brew your favorite herbal teas quickly and easily.
Creating tea blends
Here comes the fun part-when you can combine two, or three, l for many herbs to create teas that will delight your taste buds. Single-herb teas can be lovely, but you will be delighted with the results if you experiment by combining a few leaves of one herb and a few of another, just as people have been doing since the beginning of time.
You may not be ambitious enough to blend twenty-five or thirty herbs and spices as commercial herbal tea packagers often do. They are trying to create tastes that will appeal to the widest segment of the market, and they do an admirable job. These prepared teas, however, often contain exotic tropical herbs or spices that can’t be grown in your garden.
But with what you can grow you can create some pretty special beverages. And they will have the distinction of being your creations; brewed from plants you’ve grown and processed yourself.
The Chippewa Indians are said to have invented the first tea bag. They would tie some herbal leaves into a little packet, using a long strip of bark to hold everything together, and then dunk it into boiling water until they had brewed palatable tea.
Today, if you’d like to mix elaborate blends and store them in bags for convenient use, you can buy empty bags that are sealed with a hot iron after you’ve doled out 1 teaspoon of your magic mixtures for each cup of tea.
You can also buy or make little cloth bags with drawstrings to store measured portions of your special blends. This guarantees consistency in the herbal brews, because the blends don’t settle as they would in a canister.
Two-herb blends
In January 1774, a month after the Boston Tea Party, one “Philo Aletheias” wrote in the Virginia Gazette, “If we must through Custom have some warm Tea once or twice a day, why may we not exchange this slow poison which not only destroys our Constitutions but endangers our Liberties and drains our Country of so many thousands of Pounds a Year for Teas of our own American Plants, many of which may be found pleasant to the taste, and very salutary.” He then recommended seventeen different herbal teas, including these two-herb blends:
Sweet marjoram and a little mint; mother of thyme and a little hyssop; rosemary and lavender; clover with a little chamomile; sage and lemon balm leaves (“joined with a little lemon juice”); goldenrod and betony (with honey)
These were all good herbal teas for the Colonists, and are good today. (They also drank China tea taste likes Labrador tea, bee balm, and New Jersey tea-which were preferred by less adventurous tea-drinkers who wanted to stick with familiar tasting beverages.)
All two-herb blends should be mixed according to personal preference, using equal parts of each herb, or more of one you like better. The blends outlined here should be brewed by infusion (1 teaspoon of dried herb, or 3 of fresh herb to 1 cup of boiling water) unless the ingredients used are entirely seeds or roots. If this is the case, brew by decoction (1 tablespoon of crushed or ground seeds or root, placed in 2 cups of boiling water and simmered until the water has been reduced to 1 cup).
Other two-herb blends that have stood the test of time include:
Agrimony with licorice
Alfalfa seed with mint
Alfalfa leaf with lemon verbena
Alfalfa leaf with red clover blossoms
Angelica root with juniper berries
Coltsfoot with horehound
Chamomile with hibiscus flowers
Dill seed with chamomile flowers
Elderflowers with peppermint
Elderflowers with yarrow
Fenugreek with alfalfa
Fenugreek with mint
Hibiscus flowers with rose hips
Licorice root with any other herb
Marigold petals with mint
Mullein with sage
Mullein with marjoram
Mullein with chamomile
Pennyroyal with any of the other mints
Peppermint with spearmint
Rosemary with hibiscus flowers
Strawberry leaves with woodruff,
Sage with lemon verbena
Yarrow with peppermint
If you’d like to experiment with these blends but don’t have all the ingredients, you might consider buying loose dried herbs and testing them before you decide whether to include them in your garden. Or buy those that won’t grow in your area and combine them with those you can grow.
Three-herb blends
It was only a matter of time before more adventurous tea-brewers began blending three herbs. Successes included this blend, said to be an effective remedy for hangovers and nightmares:
3 parts thyme
1 part rosemary
1 part spearmint
Another good tea, which combines fruity and woodsy tastes, is this:
1 part strawberry leaves
1 part blackberry leaves
1 part woodruff
For an attractive pink tea with a lemon-spice aroma and taste, try:
1-part hibiscus petals
1-part rose hips
1 part lemon verbena
Add a touch of cinnamon to give a spicy accent.
Toby Chamberlain of California, a distributor of little vellum tea bags for herbal enthusiasts who grow and package their own teas, recommends this blend:
1 part dried alfalfa leaves
1 part dried peppermint leaves
1/2 part crushed caraway seeds
Multi-herb blends
Gradually your taste will begin to develop so you can judge how herbs will work together. Soon you’ll know which ones enhance or complement each other, and which impart sweetness or extra tang.
Here’s a good seed blend. The anise and fennel give it a licorice taste, while the coriander and caraway add an extra tang, refreshing, with a pleasant aftertaste. (I have one of those small coffee grinders that grind enough beans for a single serving. It works perfectly on herbs that need pulverizing to bring out their essential oils.)
For this one, I measure 1/2 teaspoon of each ingredient into the grinder, powder the seeds, and then infuse the resulting mixture:
1 part fennel seeds
1 part anise seeds
1 part coriander seeds
1 part caraway seeds
Measure 1 teaspoon of the seed mixture, infuse in 2 cups of boiling water, cover, and let cool.
This one comes close to tasting like China tea, because of the bee balm and birch:
1 part ground birch leaves and twigs
1 part peppermint
1 part savory
1 part bee balm (bergamot)
Infuse 1 teaspoon of the mixture in 1 cup of boiling water.
For a minty and sweet multi-herb blend combine these:
1 part catnip
1 part chamomile
1 part marjoram
1 part spearmint
Infuse I teaspoon of dried herb mixture in 1 covered cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. Sweeten with honey if desired.
This aromatic blend has a woodsy, bittersweet scent and taste that makes a refreshing iced tea as well:
1 part sage
1 part rosemary
1 part hyssop
1 part peppermint
1 part marjoram
2 parts thyme
Infuse in boiling water, let stand a few minutes, then enjoy.
Experimentation resulted in this tasty combination, a tangy brew similar to China tea:
1-part rose hips
1 part hibiscus
1 part alfalfa leaf
1 part blackberry leaves
I grind the rose hips and hibiscus, then add the other ingredients, and infuse I teaspoon of blend for each cup of boiling water.
A multi-herb blend with a citrus-like taste, this tea is especially refreshing when you add a touch of dried orange peel:
1 part chamomile
1 part rose petals
1 part spearmint
2 parts lemon verbena
Infuse, using 1 teaspoon of the mixture to each cup of boiling water.
A touch of orange peel and cinnamon enhance the flavors of this tea:
1 part hibiscus flowers
1 part rose hips
1 part lemon verbena
1 part peppermint
Infuse to taste.
Headache Tea Formula
Catnip
Chamomile
Comfrey
Lemon Balm
Rosemary
Wintergreen
Mix equal parts of each herb. 1-1/2 tablespoons of the mix to 1 1/2 cups hot water.
Cold Tea
Chamomile
Peppermint
Yarrow
Equal parts, 1-1/2 tablespoon herbs to 1 1/2 cups hot water
Tummy Ache Tea
Peppermint tea in proper proportions, 1 tsp honey
When combining fresh and dried ingredients, I use this rule of thumb for bulk: 1 part dried equals 3 parts fresh. With this tea, for example, I use 1 teaspoon dried hibiscus, and 1 teaspoon dried rose hips (both of which I grind to help release the tastes quickly). Then I add about 3 teaspoons of fresh lemon verbena from my garden, and 3 teaspoons of fresh peppermint. Since this adds up to 4 teaspoons of dried ingredients, I infuse the mix in 4 cups of boiling water.
Here’s another blend that is found in old-time herbals:
1 part meadowsweet
1 part betony
1 part raspberry leaves
1 part agrimony
Infuse. Sweeten this one with honey or sugar.
To experience an old-fashioned root beer taste, try this combination:
1 part sassafras bark
1 part licorice root
1 part sarsaparilla root
1/2 part wintergreen leaves
Grind the bark and roots. Add the wintergreen, and steep for 10 minutes in boiling water. Sweeten with honey or sugar.
My favorite creation is this apple tea, which provides a medley of tastes:
1 tsp. Ground dried rose hips
1 tsp. Ground dried hibiscus flowers
1 tsp. Dried chamomile flowers
4 large fresh apple geranium leaves
While the mixture is steeping in 4 cups of hot water, I add a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. The apple geranium gives a slightly tart taste, so I also add honey to sweeten.
I try all kinds of herbal combinations, making one teacupful at a time, then refining, sweetening, adding an ingredient here, or subtracting one there, until the brew seems just right. I write down the proportions of each ingredient.
You can do this, too. Soon you’ll have many favorite herbal tea recipes, with at least one for each friend or family member.
Teas with spices, fruit, and liquors
Herbal teas go well with many spices, fruits, and liquors, and have been served this way over the centuries. Here are a few old-time recipes:
Cloves and rose hips give a slightly bitter taste to this blend:
1 tsp. Rose hips
3 cloves
3 tsp. Dried lemon balm
Infuse in 2 cups of boiling water, and steep for 10 minutes. Sweeten with honey or, for a tangier tea, add lemon juice.
Simple, sweet, and lemony, this blend is very soothing:
2 tsp. Dried lemon balm
2 cloves
1 tsp. Honey
Infuse in 2 cups of boiling water for 10 minutes.
A combination which has a lavender aroma and minty taste when you’re drinking it, but an aftertaste reminiscent of a China tea:
1 tsp. Rosemary
1 tsp. Lavender
1 tsp. Lemon balm
1 tsp. Spearmint
1 tsp., cloves
Mix the ingredients, and infuse 1 teaspoon of the blend for each cup of boiling water.
Mace gives the usually soothing valerian tea a sharper, almost peppery taste:
1 tsp. Valerian root
1 pinch of mace
Infuse to taste in 1 cup of boiling water.
A combination that’s good when flavored with orange peel is this blend:
1 tsp. Wood betony
1 tsp. Dandelion leaves
1 clove
Infuse in 2 cups of boiling water.
Herbal tea ingredients spice up alcoholic drinks as well. Over the centuries many herbs have been added to wine-woodruff, for example, gives May wine its distinctive taste. By experimenting, you can create strawberry and blackberry flavored wines, as well as others. Crushed hawthorn berries are good addition in wine or brandy.
Here’s a cooling tea and liquor combination: Brew hibiscus tea until it is rich red. Then add ice until the mixture becomes light red. When thoroughly cooled, add a jigger of anisette to each glass.
Chopping up and steeping 2 ounces of freshly gathered angelica stems and leaves in 2 pints of good brandy for 5 days can make an angelica liqueur. Then add 1 tablespoon of skinned bitter almonds ground to a pulp, stir, and strain the liquid. Add I pint of syrup made by boiling 2 cups of sugar in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes. Filter and bottle.
Tarragon liqueur can be made by steeping 4 teaspoonfuls of fresh tarragon leaves in I pint of brandy for 5 days. Then make syrup of 1/3 cup of sugar boiled in just enough water to dissolve it, and add to the blend. Before bottling this mixture, add I ounce of orange flower water.
Purists may argue some of these combinations aren’t truly teas, because the herbal ingredients are not infused in hot water. However, dictionary definitions of infusion and tea often mention herbs being steeped “in liquids.” While the semanticists argue, you can try them out. These recipes are slightly more ambitious, and their success depends on long periods of steeping.
Dandelion tea becomes a tasty wine with this recipe:
16 cups of dandelion flower heads; 1 gallon water; 2 oranges; I lemon; 1 oz. Ginger root; 4 pounds sugar; ‘/z oz. yeast; I egg white (optional)
Use only fresh dandelion blossoms from which you have removed all stems otherwise the wine will be bitter. Slice the oranges and lemon. Place dandelion heads, water, oranges, lemon, and ginger (crushed and tied in a muslin bag) in a pan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes. Strain and add the sugar. If the mixture isn’t clear, add the white of an egg. Place the yeast into the mixture, and let set for a week. Then strain and bottle, capping the bottles loosely for a few days, then more tightly. Let this blend stand for 6 months before using.
If you start elderflower wine today, you can enjoy it 6 months from now:
4 cups fresh elderflower blossoms; 3 gallons water; 9 lbs. sugar; 2 tsp. lemon juice; I yeast cake; 3 lbs. raisins
Boil the water and sugar together, and then pour over the blossoms. Allow to cool, and then add lemon juice and yeaSt. Put the mixture into a crock, and let it stand 9 days. Strain through cheesecloth, and add the raisins. Put the mix back into the crock, and allow it to stand for 6 months. Then strain and bottle.
Herbs with China tea
You can experiment with all herbs in combination with the China teas. Here are a few favorites: 1 bag of China tea; 3 cloves, 2 rose geranium leaves. Steep in 1 cup of boiling water.
Honey and mint give a sweet, cool taste to this combination:
1 tsp. green tea
3 tsp. fresh mint (or 1 tsp. dried mint)
1 tsp. honey
Infuse in 2 cups of boiling water.
Raspberry leaves give a tart, fruity taste to this combination, so you may want to sweeten it with honey or sugar:
1 tsp. China tea
1 tsp. dried raspberry leaves
Infuse in 2 cups of boiling water.
Bee balm makes this blend aromatic and tasty:
1 part China tea
1 part bee balm (bergamot)
Infuse 1 teaspoon of mixture to each cup of boiling water.
A warm, sweet, and slightly lemony taste characterizes this tea:
1 part China tea
1 part hibiscus flowers
Infuse. This blend is particularly good when iced.
Coffee substitute
For those who want the taste of coffee but no caffeine, here’s an old-time substitute, used when imported coffee beans were not available:
1 tsp. ground roasted dandelion root
1/2 tsp. chicory
Infuse in 1 cup of boiling water. This combination tastes a lot like coffee and is good either black or with cream and sugar.
Herbal punches
Here are two favorite punches made from herbal teas:
Lemon Balm Punch: Pour 2 quarts of boiling water over 2 big handfuls of fresh lemon balm leaves. Allow to steep for 20 minutes, then strain. Add 2 tablespoons of honey and allow the mixture to cool. Just before serving, add ice and 1 quart of ginger ale. Float sprays of mint on top. Serves about 15.
Mint ale (a popular punch with the French): 1 cup equal parts orange mint, apple mint, and spearmint; 2 cups boiling water; 2 tbsp. sugar; 1 large bottle of ginger ale; juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon Infuse the mint in the 2 cups of boiling water. Cool and add the other ingredients plus ice. Float sprigs of apple mint on top of the punch.
As you can see, you can make endless numbers of creative and tasty beverages with herbal teas. Try these and concoct your own!
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