How to Make Tea From Loose Herbs

If you learn how easy it is to make tea from herbs, you can benefit your health by drinking tea from any herb you buy or find in the wild!  I don’t know about you, but I love drinking tea – hot or cold!  It’s refreshing to drink cold on a hot summer day, and relaxing to drink hot in the winter.  ~Not just any tea, but good quality herbal tea!  Most of us are used to buying tea in tea bags at the store and using them that way.  I discovered years ago that I really enjoy making my own tea from bulk, both because it’s fun to experiment, and it saves a lot of money to buy in that way!  The great thing about making your own herbal tea is you can use just one herb, or a combination of herbs that fit your health needs.  I enjoy throwing different herbs together and seeing what they taste like!
Herbs come in 3 forms:
1. Whole – this form has been dried and packaged to maintain its original state.
2. Cut – this form makes it easier to use and package.
3. Powdered – this form is the best for capsules, salves and seasoning food.  Powdered form is not recommended for making teas because it is very hard to strain.
So basically, use herbs in whole or cut form to make tea.  You can buy them in bulk, or for more fun, go exploring in your yard or woods for edible herbs (be sure you know it’s edible by using a good guide book!). It’s such a good feeling to find edible herbs outdoors and do something with them!  I saw a bunch of red clover down the road yesterday – I wonder if it’s free for the pickin’? 🙂  I have this fear that I’ll stop to pick herbs somewhere and find out someone carefully planted them there, or it’s illegal in that spot, or something like that! 🙂
I order my bulk herbs here for their superior quality and price.  It’s very easy to make your own tea!  The rule of thumb is to use 1-2 tsp. of dried herb per cup of water.  I normally use closer to 2 tsp. if it’s tea I’m making for medicinal purposes, and maybe just 1 tsp. if I’m running low on the herb and want it to last until I can get more.  You simply boil the water, add the herbs and let it steep for 5-10 minutes with the pan off the burner – letting the hot water pull all the beneficial properties from the herbs.  If you make enough for just one cup, you can place a small tea strainer over the cup and strain the herbs.  Most of the time I make a large pan to fill up a gallon pitcher.  That way, I always have a healthy tea on hand to give my family.  I measured out how much water and herbs to use for my pitcher, and I have it memorized now.  I know that I fill up my large pan about half with water and use 2 scoops of herbs (using a scoop that I measured out how much it holds), and it makes it very easy to make tea each time.  When making a large batch of tea, you can strain it by using a cheesecloth or your husband’s old white cotton t-shirt.  I cut up my husband’s old white shirts and use them over and over by washing them after each use.  I simply put the shirt over my gallon pitcher and strain the herbs through it!  Very easy!
You can steep for longer than the 5-10 minutes if you’d like.  Five to ten minutes is the normal time to get the properties out of the herb, and make it the right strength.  But, I’ve accidentally left tea steeping all night and strained it the next morning.  That makes for some strong tea, but you can dilute it by adding more water.
If you’re using hard herbs like dried flowers, orange peel, rose hips, dried berries, etc.,  I suggest lightly boiling the mixture for 5-10 minutes instead of steeping it because it’s harder to get the properties out of hard herbs, and boiling does the best job.
Most herbal recipes tell you how many “parts” of each herb that you need.  Here’s an explanation of that:
*1 part to 2 parts herb means if you combined 1/4 a cup of yarrow and elder flowers, you would add 1/2 cup of eyebright and nettle leaf.  Mix these herbs in a container and keep on hand to make a tea as often as needed.You can sweeten your tea if you’d like.  Most people like their tea sweet, but I prefer mine unsweetened – I’d rather save my sugar intake for chocolate chip cookies! 😉  There’s not a tea I can’t drink unsweetened unless it contains really bitter herbs.  I just enjoy knowing I’m benefiting my health!  My children and husband drink it up without sweetener too!  You can add peppermint or spearmint to the mixture to add a natural sweetener, or sugar or honey to taste.  It’s completely up to you!
Click here to browse bulk herbs and read about them.  You can buy them separate or in a mixture with herbs already combined, like Lemon Divine Tea, or Creamy Pumpkin Pie.  Find ones that meet your health needs or that simply sound yummy, and experiment!  You can begin your wise journey incorporating herbs into your daily diet and enjoy a healthier life!
Blessings,
~Jill