How to Make Your Own Tea

If you have herbs growing in your garden, you may be wondering how to make your own tea blends. Next time you’re grocery shopping, skip the pricey boxes of tea and try your hand at creating your own tea blend recipes with herbs growing on your window sill, in your yard, or found at your local farmers’ market.

Pick Your Herbs

Whether you want to use fresh herbs, dried herbs, or a mix of both, is up to you. Gardeners likely have a few herbs and spices to choose from, but if you don’t grow your own, you can also easily pick up herbs at a local farmers’ market or health food store, too.

Some flavors that pair well together are the following:

• rose hips and hibiscus
• chamomile and lemon grass
• mint and ginger
• raspberry leaves and strawberry leaves
• lavender and chamomile
• lemon, honey, and mint

When deciding how to make your own tea blend, keep in mind that chamomile helps you go to sleep, mint helps wake you up, ginger is good for your digestion, and lavender can be relaxing.

Brew Your Tea

When planning your tea blends, try adding herbs to your favorite base tea. For example, add your herbs to a basic black or green tea that you already have. Add one or two ingredients, so you can taste how the flavors change. If you love it, take notes on what you added. If you’re unhappy with the result, remember that it takes patience to find the right blend. Simply try again.

To start, try one teaspoon of a base tea and one teaspoon of your own herbs per cup. Many prefer to steep fresh herbs longer than dried, as it can take a little while to get the flavor infused. A general rule of thumb is to steep dry herbs two to five minutes and fresh herbs five to eight minutes. Of course, you can adjust this to your own taste.

While your tea steeps, enjoy the fragrance. The pleasant smell may enhance your mood!

Once your tea is steeped, add honey if you’d like and sip. Or, add some cold water and ice, and serve in glasses instead of cups. Garnish your homemade iced tea with some extra fresh herb sprigs and a wedge of citrus fruit.

Save Some for Later

If you made your tea from fresh herbs, it’s best consumed that day, but if you used dried herbs, it’s simple enough to package them up. Homemade tea blends can also be a great gift. Fill a small mason jar with your tea blend, pair it with a cute tea ball, and you have a charming gift for nearly any occasion.

What are your favorite homemade tea blends? Hit us up on Twitter with your answers and recipes!

Image sources: Pixabay | Wikimedia Commons | Pixabay

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