How To Make Herbal Tea
It is fairly easy to make herbal tea, as all you need is the tea, hot water and a natural sweetener. The natural tea can be made from all types of spices and herbs. The flowers, roots, bark and leaves can be used to make an herbal tea. You can purchase the loose tea, or tea that is prepackaged in small tea bags for convenience. It is also fairly easy to grow your own herbs and spices and make a tea from fresh plant substances.
Some of the popular plants for making herbal tea are ginger root, peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, rose petals and lavender. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are also great when added to the tea. Sweeteners that work well in tea include raw honey, agave nectar and stevia.
To make the tea, start by bringing a pot of water to a boil. As the water is heating up you can measure your loose leaf tea into a tea ball, or into an infuser and place it into a cup. For each cup, measure about 1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. or more, depending on how strong you like the drink. Naturally some herbs give a stronger flavor, and thus you won’t need as much, while others you can add lots of them to get a nice rich flavor. If you are using prepackaged tea bags, then all you have to do is use one bag per cup of tea.
Once the water has come to a boil, simply pour the water over the tea and allow to steep for about 10 to 15 minutes. The longer you allow the ingredients to steep, the stronger the flavor will be.
Another way to make herbal tea is to make a whole pot by adding a larger amount of leaves, or several tea bags into a special tea pot. You can put the tea leaves directly into the pot, or you can use a larger tea ball. But once again, you want to pour the water on the ingredients after it has been brought to a boil. Never boil the herbs with the water as that will destroy the nutrients.
Some herbal teas are naturally bitter, and thus they can be sweetened with honey or another natural sweetener. Adding sugar, however, is not a good idea, as it can interfere with the medicinal ingredients in the herbal tea. Cream or dairy is also not recommended, as it too can interfere.
