As soon as you brew fresh herbal tea at home, you create a nutritious beverage packed with flavor and health benefits. No matter the time of day or the reason behind its ingestion, homemade herbal tea is an ideal beverage to help relax or prevent illness – you can customize its recipe to your unique tastes or health requirements.
To get the most out of your homemade herbal tea, it is crucial to use high-quality ingredients – both the herbs themselves as well as the water that you use. Filtered or spring water provides cleaner tasting tea than tap water containing chlorine and other chemicals which could alter its flavor. If possible, choose filtered or spring water over boiling tap water which often has additional chemicals present that alter its flavor profile.
As with any project, creating an herbal tea blend requires starting from scratch with its ingredients – in this case herbs. There are countless varieties to select from each with unique characteristics and health benefits – some popular examples being chamomile, peppermint, lemon balm and lavender as they contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that support overall wellbeing in the body.
Once you’ve selected which herbs you wish to include in your herbal tea blend, the next step should be adding other delicious components for maximum enjoyment. Fruit can add an irresistibly refreshing sweet-and-sour bite; apple, berry and citrus fruits pair particularly well when blended with store-bought white tea leaves, which have delicate and mild flavors. Dehydrated or fresh ginger (warmth properties) makes an essential component for creating herbal blends; its soothing qualities pair perfectly with cold-fighting herbs such as Echinacea or Goldenseal as well as immune-boosting herbs like Nettle or Borage for maximum enjoyment!
Start brewing homemade herbal tea by placing the desired quantity of herbs into a glass or ceramic jar or container and crushing or rinsing them slightly before placing them in. Crushing will release their essential oils, so cover and allow the tea to steep for at least several hours in sunlight before straining and enjoying!
While some may prefer winging it when creating their own herbal tea blends, most find that following a specific recipe is much simpler. This is especially important if your goal is to create an infusion for specific physiological effects in the body – herbalists refer to this process as infusion.
When preparing herbal infusions, it is important to only steep them for a short while – as too long can result in bitter flavors forming from oversteeping the herbs. You should experiment with various combinations of herbs and steeping times until you find one that best meets both your personal preferences and therapeutic requirements.