Herbal Tea: Health and Skincare Inside and Out
Lise
Throughout this summer, I have been enjoying herbal tea as a refreshing all-day cool drink. Almost every herbal tea functions equally well hot or cold. Come to think of it, I can’t recall a single herbal brew I didn’t enjoy equally as an iced tea.
This particular blend has been my go-to during the past months. I happened to serve up a glass to a family member who popped by on a very hot day and it was instant hit. When I offered her some to bring home, the reply was “I thought you’d never ask”.
If you happen to work with botanicals and have a selection of dried herbs in stock, it’s pretty easy to make your own herbal blends. The advantages are multiple as you are getting the (water-soluble) benefits of the botanicals as you enjoy your refreshing drink.
I’ve made quite a few blends over the years and have discovered there are a few things you can do to take your creations to the next level.
Today, I’m sharing a few tips that have worked for me. You might already know some of these, but hopefully there is a bit of inspiration too.
How to Make Your Own Herbal Tea Blends
In my experience, composing an herbal tea is a bit reminiscent of creating a fragrance blend. If you compose a blend of only top notes, it’s going to lack depth and ‘roundness’.
It can make quite a difference to the taste (and herb synergy) if you choose a few ‘background’ herbs to function a bit like a taste-and-fragrance anchor. These may be (super beneficial) herbs that may seem a little boring-tasting on their own, or could be herbs you normally wouldn’t consider using in a blend at all. (Can you tell I’ve experimented quite a bit over the years?)
As an example, here’s are some of the ‘background herbs’ I am using in my current blend
Horsetail
Red Clover
The ‘middle and top note’ herbs
Lemon verbena
Wild rose
Hibiscus
Chamomile
Rose
Choosing Proportions
I am very instinctive when making herbal tea blends. Nothing is weighed or measured, but merely mixed into a large bowl in proportions that suit me at that moment. Herbs are chosen from my stock ‘instinctively’ as well. Gazing into the stock cupboard is inspirational for me as I have quite a collection of dried botanicals.
If this sounds a little daunting and you haven’t tried this before, may I suggest using about 1/3 of the blend as ‘background herbs’ and 2/3 with the herbs you want to be dominant in taste.
In the blend above, I am using a proportionately larger amount of chamomile and rose petals as I like these to stand out. The lemon verbena gives these dominant ‘flowery herbs’ a bit of crispness and depth. Hibiscus was added after my first few batches because I wanted a pinker brew. It also adds to the experience if the color of the brew matches the taste.
How to Make an All Day Herbal Brew
To have enough to sip on all day (and serve to lovely guests who happen to pop by), make a potful (I make 1 liter) at a time.
Fill a large tea filter with your chosen amount of herb blend (I generally use about 5-8 grams)
Pour boiling water over the herbs and allow to infuse. While most herbal brews generally take between 5-10 minutes to infuse, I usually infuse between 15-20 minutes.
Sweeten if desired (I generally add a spoon/dipper of raw honey)
Drink some immediately and/or allow to cool and serve over ice with a slice of lemon.
And if you want to get a little fancy, serve up in a stemmed glass.
Enjoy!
Bellow is my latest publication that shows you how to compose your own bi-phase cleansers and make-up removers.
