Coffee and I have a bad romance. Frankly, we have not been getting along for a while. I want it, but makes me far too jittery and encourages me to consume more sugar. So I have switched to herbal tea.
At first, I was so focused on missing out on coffee that I wasn’t exactly embracing the wonderful, varied world of herbal tea.
Until, I found myself in the gorgeous specialty herbal tea store T2, shopping for a birthday gift for a dear friend and committed tea drinker.
The store had a staggering amount of herbal tea and had plenty of tasting samples.
The irony was, many of these teas were already growing in my garden, right under my nose! Lemongrass, bergamot, lemon balm, spearmint, peppermint. I grow these herbs in my garden and use them in my cooking, but until that point, I had never used them in tea.
Now, herbal tea is a daily ritual. Hot and cold!
The other lovely aspect of switching to tea is I am using my Nan’s teacup collection. Delicate and beautiful, they are a pleasure to use.
I have even added a few teacups to her collection! I keep my eyes peeled at charity shops and swap meets for teacups to tickle my fancy.
The Benefits of Growing and Blending Your Own Herbal Tea
After wandering through the tea store, I was not only astonished by the variety but also the price.
Because herbal tea is expensive stuff. Frankly, deservedly so. Growing sustainable, fair-trade, organic herbs and teas is reflected in the cost. But many of these herbs can be purchased for a few dollars at your garden centre, or are easily propagated from seed.
Nothing is more fair trade or sustainable than growing herbal tea in your own garden.
Many herbal teas also contain ingredients like dried lemon zests and petals of cornflowers, calendula, rose petals and rosehips. These are easy to source and grow in your garden, and their inclusion in blends not only looks beautiful but taste amazing too,
So instead of shelling a fortune on quality, organic herbal tea, you can enjoy the best of both worlds! A garden and a refreshing cup of your own pesticide-free herbal tea.
Growing Herbal Tea is so easy!
Even if you have no yard to speak of, you can grow your own herbal tea.
Herbs grow really well in pots and are preferable in some circumstances. Some herbs will romp all over your garden and push their boundaries! Anyone who has tried to keep mint, geraniums and tansy contained knows that they spread quickly if left unchecked.
Despite the expanse of my garden, I grow thirsty herbs in closed plastic pots to ensure they always enjoy moist soil. Remember to always mulch your pots too.
Blending and Preparing Your Herbal Tea
Herbal teas can be strongly flavoured, and in some instances, quite potent. There are some cautions when growing and using herbs for tea. Be sure that you have correctly identified each herb before infusing. When in doubt, don’t drink it!
Writing this post was a challenge, simply because there are so many herbal tea options, I could likely write a whole book on the topic! So I have included just a few of the most versatile & readily available herbs that are a great place to start!
To prepare your herbal tea, simply steep the fresh or dried herb in your teacup for 3-5 minutes. Add sweetener if you prefer.
Herbal tea is typically consumed without milk. But of course, you’re in charge here! I love to make an iced coffee using my Instant Whole Nut Milk Concentrate and dandelion root tea.
Your herbs can be blended with your favourite green or black teas to impart a subtle flavour. As always, experiment, until you find the blend that suits your taste.
If you wish to make iced tea, simply cool your steeped brew until room temperature before putting in the refrigerator. Serve in a tall glass with ice!
Lemon Balm
Melissa officinalis or lemon balm is one of my favourite herbs! Its lemon scent is delicate, without being too overpowering. I find lemon balm tea is soothing and calming. Yet, there are some strong contradictions with lemon balm, especially for people who experience thyroid issues and are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Growing Tips
Lemon balm has some of the tiniest seeds you will ever see! Personally, I prefer to divide an existing clump to propagate. I find my cuttings wilt before they root.
The good news is, once your lemon balm finds a spot it loves, shady, with well-drained soil and plenty of water on offer, it will thrive for years. Even if it gets flayed by frost, it will come back in the spring.
To use
Infuse a few leaves in a cup of just-boiled water and allow to steep for a few minutes. Lemon balm blends well with green tea, bergamot and stevia.
Bergamot
If you love Earl Grey tea, you are already familiar with bergamot’s subtle orange scent.
Bergamot is also known as Oswego tea, named after the American Indian people who introduced bergamot to the early Shaker colonies when British supplies of highly taxed black tea were famously dumped into the ocean in an epic tea-tanty, the Boston Tea Party.
Growing Tips
Bergamot is a thirsty herb that likes water and a shady protected position. It grows very well in pots.
To use
Bergamot leaves can be used fresh or dried and blends well with black and green teas.
Mint
Mint tea has been consumed for thousands of years, as a digestive, and its health benefits have been researched extensively.
There are many different varieties of mint, my top three are peppermint, spearmint and choc mint.
Peppermint
Peppermint is almost spicy-hot, thanks to the high amount of menthol in its leaves, estimated to be as much as 40%! Its pungent flavour is superb for masking other less palatable flavours. It is traditionally used to soothe stomach discomforts, especially flatulence.
I enjoy hot peppermint tea in warm weather, it is ironically, quite cooling and refreshing!
Spearmint
Spearmint is less spicy than peppermint, with much less menthol (only 0.5%) in its leaves than peppermint. If peppermint tea is too strong for you, spearmint may be more to your taste. Spearmint is a gentler option for children too.
Chocolate Mint
This smells just like an after-dinner mint! While the chocolate-mint fragrance doesn’t quite translate to a rich, hot minty chocolate, it is still a delicious blend! Chocolate mint pairs really well with stevia for a sweet, calorie-free treat. A great 3:00 pm pickup.
Growing Tips
I have a mint patch under a frangipani tree that dies off in the summer but comes back twice as thick as soon as the weather cools. Plant mint in your garden and it will soon take over! To keep mint year-round, I keep it in a pot, where I can move it to a shadier, more protected spot in the warmer months.
To use
Mints can be overpowering in teas, but that can be used to some advantage. Mint is ideal to mask the more bitter, or unpalatable herbs like Gotu Kola and Brahmi. I like mint with green tea, as I find green tea on its own too bitter. The dried herb is typically more pungent than fresh, so keep this in mind. Steep for 3-5 minutes and drink hot.
Chamomile
Soothing chamomile tea’s benefits are well documented and have been proven via a number of studies for its numerous health benefits. Chamomile tea may assist with insomnia, mouth ulcers, flatulence, stomach cramps and diarrhea, arthritis and back pain. it is one of the worlds most popular herbal teas, with an estimated one million cups consumed daily.
Growing Tips
There are two types of chamomile. The Roman variety is an evergreen perennial plant often used as a ground cover. It’s easily propagated by division, with large flowers. Roman chamomile’s scent is reminiscent of green apples.
German or blue chamomile is an annual, best propagated by seed. The flowers are borne on long, branching stems with a few flowers on the tops. German chamomile’s scent is reminiscent of sweet straw or freshly mown hay.
I grow both, but much prefer Roman chamomile, yet it is a little delicate in my hot and dry climate. It does best in a pot of rich moist soil in part shade.
To use
Trim the flowers and infuse whole in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Chamomile blends well with green tea, stevia, and lemon balm but its delicate scent is easily overpowered by mint and more pungent herbs. Chamomile tea is also delicious as an iced tea.
Stevia
If you want sweet tea without the calories, stevia is your herb! Reputed to be three hundred times sweeter than sugar, stevia is also considered suitable for diabetics as it doesn’t interfere with blood sugar levels.
There is mixed information about the safety and use of stevia. It is worth noting, however, a few of those studies examine commercially refined stevia-based sweeteners, rather than the whole fresh or dried herb.
Stevia is sweet, but it has a distinct flavour that tends to work better with some flavours more than others. Stevia with coffee, in my opinion, is bloody awful. But it suits herbal tea!
Growing Tips
Stevia is a thirsty herb and while I have little success growing it in the beds, it flourishes in a plastic, self-watering pot in part shade. I find as soon as the weather heats up, it wants to bolt to seed, so I pinch out the top leaves regularly to keep it compact.
Stevia is challenging to grow from seed. I have attempted several times using purchased seed and fresh seed sourced from my own plants with little joy. It is an annual so it is one of the few plants I am resigned to buy from the garden centre every year.
To Use
A single fresh leaf is enough to sweeten a mug of tea. It dries quickly on a cooling rack on a clean tea towel and stores well in an air-tight container.
Scented Geraniums
I love scented geraniums! They love my sunny, dry climate and are available in so many different varieties.
My favourite scented geranium would have to be rose geranium. A close second would be peppermint, followed by lime, apple and cinnamon scented varieties.
Growing Tips
Geraniums are perennials and are most easily propagated by striking cutting in a glass of water or straight into moist seed raising mix. Robust geraniums are a great herb to propagate for beginners, they are practically fail-safe.
Thriving on neglect, geraniums can get a bit scruffy-looking if they are over fertilised. Keep them well-trimmed so that they maintain a compact, bushy growth.
To use
The only problem with scented geraniums is their pungency. An infusion of the leaves will smell like eau de cologne and taste like to too. Not very pleasant!
I find the best way to use scented geraniums is to infuse the leaves in a jar of sugar. Just place the leaves whole in a jar and layer sugar over the leaves. Don’t over-do it, a few leaves are all it takes to impart a wonderful scent and flavour into the sugar.
A small amount of the geranium infused sugar will sweeten, fragrance and flavour your tea and baking.
There are many more herbs that can be used in herbal teas!
What are your favourite herbs for herbal tea? Do you have a favourite, sentimental teacup? Please leave a message below, I would love to hear from you.