How to Make Your Own Herbal Tea Blends

Make your own herbal blends for the perfect cup of tea.

An herbal tea can be a simple as a bunch of mint leaves, but creating a blend will produce a more complex combination of flavors. Herbal teas can be comforting, relaxing or refreshing and they are an alternative to sugar or caffeine laden hot drinks such as coffee and hot chocolate. You can save a bit of money and produce a tea that suits you perfectly by creating your own blends.

Things You'll Need

• Nettle, black tea, green tea and raspberry leaves
• Edible flowers
• Citrus fruit peel
• Herbs
• Spices
• Pan or bowl
• Mug
• Sieve
• Notepad
• Storage jar

Instructions

1. Assemble a selection of edible aromatic flowers such as jasmine and rose, base leaves such as nettle, spices such as ginger and clovers, citrus fruit peel, and herbs such as mint and lemon balm.

2. Choose a base leaf such as nettle, raspberry or tea. This turns an assortment of spices and herbs into a tea. Note that both black and green tealeaves contain caffeine and have quite a strong taste. Use neutral nettle leaves if you want to emphasize other aspects of your blend. Place a few of your chosen leaves in the pan.

3. Pick two to five other herbs, flowers or spices that you think will be complementary and add small amounts of these to the pan. For example, lemon peel, ginger, cloves and lemon balm all blend well together to create a warming tea.

4. Add hot water and leave to brew for five to 10 minutes.

5. Strain the tea through the sieve into the mug and sample. Repeat until you find a blend you enjoy. Write down the ingredients and how much of each you used for the blends you like so that you can make them again.

6. Dry the herbs, flowers and base leaves that created the blend by spreading or hanging them in a warm, dry place for a week, or until they are completely dry.

7. Put the blend in a storage jar with the spices in the relative quantities that made your first mug of the blend.

References

• Country Living: Homemade Herbal Teas
• Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Herb Teas