How to Brew Herbal Tea
This guide to herbal tea (or tisane) will walk you through how to brew and steep herbals and mix your own ingredients, and includes tips for buying, growing, and foraging your herbals.
Yield: 8 ounces tea
Cost: $0.50 per cup (amount variable)
Equipment
- tea ball or infuser (if not using infuser teapot)
Materials
- 8 ounces water
- 1 teaspoon dried herbals or 2 teaspoons fresh herbals See notes "How much tea?" and "Tea vs. Herbals"
- sweetener of choice (honey, sugar etc) Optional
Instructions
Hot Brewed Tea:
- Bring the water to a full boil.Add loose herbals to an infuser teapot, an infuser or a large tea ball.
- Cover pot and brew 5-10 minutes
- Pour the tea out of the teapot, or remove the infuser or tea ball from your mug.Optionally, sweeten to taste.
Cold-Brew Tea:
- Add herbals to a glass container.Cover with water, and chill in the fridge for 8 hours. The timing isn't critical and you can do a longer brew if desired.
Notes
For larger batches: Use the 1-teaspoon of tea to 8-ounces of water as a general guide, and make larger batches as desired.
How Much Tea? Dried herbals are stronger than fresh herbals, so you may want to double or triple the amount if using fresh herbals (such as fresh mint).
Tea vs. Herbals:
- Tea is a specific type of plant leaf.
- Herbals can include fresh or dried flowers, herbs, fruit, or any other non-tea plant.
