Tips For Making Herbal Tea
Herbal tea is a great way to relax at the end of the day. It is also great to enjoy when visiting with a friend or a family member. And on top of that, herbal teas are also able to offer up some pretty good health benefits.
Drinking an herbal tea, such as chamomile, lavender and peppermint before bedtime can help you to fall asleep. Some teas such as ginger, cinnamon and cloves can help you to wake up in the morning, as they have shown to increase the memory, and awaken the mind. But this is not to say that you can only have lavender tea before you go to bed, or that you can only have cinnamon tea in the morning. Herbal tea is good at any time of the day.
Increase The Steeping Time
In order to obtain the most benefits you should allow the tea to steep for at least 10 to 15 minutes. However, for even more flavor, you can allow it to steep for up to 30 minutes or longer. The longer you allow it to steep, the more nutrients are extracted into the water. Therefore, you are getting more into your system as well.
Do Not Add Cream And Sugar
Most people like to add cream and sugar to their teas. While those ingredients may help to bring out more flavor, they can also interfere with the health benefits of the tea. Therefore, it is best to avoid them.
If however, you like a rich creamy tea, use nut milk. And for sweetness, add a natural sweetener such as raw honey, agave nectar or stevia. Stevia comes from a plant that you can easily grow in your home. You can use the leaves either fresh or dried. Either way, you can add them into your tea blend before steeping. It really doesn’t get anymore natural than that, and the flavor is just as great.
Use Different Sweeteners
Natural sweeteners will provide a different flavor for the tea. Honey has a different flavor than agave, which has a caramel flavor. And stevia has yet another unique flavor. Therefore, try out what sweetener you like best in certain teas. You can also combine different sweeteners in the same tea, such as stevia and honey.
Experiment
Last but not least, just have some fun and experiment with different flavors and loose leaf teas. You can combine loose leaf teas with teas that are already in a tea bag, and create your own unique tea blends.