Struggling to brew the perfect cup of herbal tea? Many people find their tea too weak, bitter, or lackluster. Luckily, with a few simple steps, you can make delicious herbal tea every time. So, here’s how to make herbal tea.
Simply steep herbs, flowers, or spices in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. It allows their natural flavors and benefits to infuse. Then, strain the herbs or remove the tea bag. You can use fresh or dried ingredients, with options like chamomile, mint, or rosemary, for a soothing drink.
Aside from these steps, you’ll get tips for making it stronger or iced. Plus, how you can improve flavors with natural sweeteners and how to cold brew and make kombucha with herbal tea.
Key Takeaways
- Brewing Methods: Herbal tea can be made with fresh or dried herbs. You should use about 3 parts fresh herbs for every 1 part dried herbs. Also, use teaspoons or tablespoons to measure. And steep your herbal tea for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Variations: To make herbal tea stronger, you can add more herbs or leave it in the hot water longer. You can make iced herbal tea by making the tea strong and then letting it cool down.
- Kombucha with Herbal Tea: You can make kombucha with herbal tea. However, it’s best to avoid strong flavors like cinnamon that might hurt the SCOBY. A mix of herbal and regular teas can help the fermentation process, and eventually, you can make kombucha with just herbal tea.
What is Herbal Tea?
Herbal tea is a drink made from natural ingredients like herbs, flowers, fruits, and spices. Unlike regular tea, it doesn’t use tea leaves. Instead, it relies on fresh or dried plants such as mint, chamomile, or rose petals.
And they don’t go through the oxidation process that black or green teas do.
Now, when you’re wondering how to make an herbal tea, you’ve got several ways —
- One common method is infusion, where you steep the herbs in hot water.
- Another approach is decoction, where you boil tougher ingredients like roots.
- For delicate ingredients, maceration is used, which involves soaking them in cold water.
How to Make Herbal Tea Through Infusion
It’s been found that people who drank herbal tea were less likely to need help with daily living activities (ADL) than those who drank regular tea. So, you need to know how to make herbal tea at home perfectly.
Well, whether you’re using fresh or dried herbs, it’s easy to brew a cup that suits your taste.
Ingredients and Tools
- Herbs: Fresh or dried, like chamomile, mint, or rosemary.
- Water: Fresh, filtered water.
- Kettle or Pot: For boiling water.
- Tea Infuser or Strainer: For loose herbs.
- Cup: A mug or teapot.
- Sweeteners (Optional): Honey, sugar, or lemon.
Herb Selection for Health
When choosing herbs for your tea, consider their health benefits. For example —
- Peppermint can help with your digestion and stomach feel better.
- Chamomile can help you relax and sleep better.
- Ginger can help your immune system and fight inflammation.
- Lemon balm can help reduce stress and anxiety.
Pick herbs that will give you the results you want. This way, you can make a tea that’s perfect for your health needs.
Steps to Make Herbal Tea
Now, the real work begins —
- Boil Water: Heat water to a boil, as herbal teas generally steep better in hotter water. If you don’t have a stove or other way to heat water, you can use an electric kettle.
- Rule of Thumb: Remember that 3 units of fresh herbs are equal to 1 unit of dried herbs. Units can be tablespoons, teaspoons, cups, ounces, or any other measurement.
- Measure the Herbs: For dried herbs, you can use about 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup. For fresh herbs, use 2 to 3 teaspoons per cup. If you’re using a tea bag, one per cup is sufficient.
- Warm Up the Cup: Before you pour boiling water into your teacups, rinse them under hot running water. It’ll help prevent them from breaking because the temperature change won’t be so sudden.
- Prepare the Infusion: If you’re using loose herbs, place them in a tea infuser or directly in your cup. Again, if you’re using a teabag, place it in your cup or teapot.
- Steep the Tea: Pour the boiled water over the herbs and cover the cup or teapot. Let the herbs steep for 5 to 10 minutes depending on your preferred strength.
- Steep Duration: If you like a milder flavor, you should do the shorter steeping which is around 5 to 6 minutes. And for a richer and stronger taste, go for longer steeping, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Strain and Serve: If you’re using loose herbs, strain them out using a fine strainer or remove the infuser. For a teabag, simply remove it. In that case, after they cool down a little, you can squeeze any leftover water into your cup.
- Add Sweeteners (Optional): If you prefer, stir in honey, lemon, or a slice of ginger to improve the flavor.
By following these steps, you can easily brew the perfect herbal tea that suits your taste preferences!
How to Make Herbal Tea Stronger
If you’re curious to know how to make homemade herbal tea stronger, there are a few simple tricks you can try.
- Try using more tea leaves or an extra tea bag. If you’re using loose tea, start with a little more than you normally would. Then, you can add more or less until it tastes just right.
- After pouring hot water over the tea, let it simmer for a few minutes. This will help the tea taste stronger.
- You can also leave the tea bag in longer. Herbal teas don’t usually get bitter, so you can let them sit for a few minutes or even keep the tea bag in your cup the whole time.
- If your tea tastes weak, it might be old. Teas get weaker over time, so try a new one if you need to.
How to Make Iced Herbal Tea
Making iced herbal tea is easy and refreshing. You can use herbs like nettle or dandelion. Here’s how to make it, whether you’re in a rush or planning ahead.
- Boil Water: Bring water to a boil. You can use about 3 tea bags or a generous amount of loose herbs per half-gallon of water.
- Steep the Tea: Pour the hot water over the tea bags or loose herbs. Let it steep for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how strong you want the flavor.
- Cool the Tea: After you’ve let the tea steep, take out the tea bags or strain the loose herbs. Put the tea in the fridge to cool down for a few hours.
- Quick-Cooling Option: To make iced tea fast, brew it stronger by using more tea or herbs. Then, pour it over ice. Shaking the tea with the ice will make it cold faster.
Keep in mind, that some ice will melt, so brewing with a higher tea-to-water ratio helps prevent the flavor from becoming diluted.
How to Make Herbal Tea from Fresh Herbs
Making herbal tea with fresh herbs is easy and lets you enjoy natural tastes and benefits. You can make teas that are relaxing or energizing.
Using fresh herbs means no added stuff and lets you choose the flavors you like.
- Pick Your Herbs: Choose fresh herbs like peppermint, lemon balm, chamomile, or ginger from unsprayed plants, preferably harvested in the morning.
- Prepare for Drying: Hang herbs like lavender or mint to dry in a cool spot, or spread flowers like chamomile on a flat surface for a few days.
- Rinse and Dry: Clean your herbs, shaking off water to remove excess moisture.
- Blend and Brew: Mix equal parts of dried herbs for your desired effect. Steep in boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes, or brew fresh leaves directly in a cup.
How to Make Herbal Tea Taste Better
You can make your herbal tea taste better with a few adjustments. And they’re —
- To make chai stronger, brew it longer or at a higher temperature. To make it milder, brew it shorter or at a lower temperature.
- Add milk, honey, or lemon to your chai. For a warm and comforting drink, make a hot toddy with your favorite herbal tea.
- If you don’t like certain flavors, choose blends that match your preferences and sweeten to taste.
- You can also brew herbal tea into ice pops or mix it with sparkling water for a fun twist.
Can You Make Kombucha with Herbal Tea?
Yes, you can absolutely make kombucha with herbal tea! While most traditional kombucha is brewed using black or green tea, herbal options work too.
You should know that drinking kombucha has been linked to some health benefits, including blood pressure and lower cholesterol. So, here’s how to do it —
- Choose Your Herbal Tea: When picking your herbal blend, be careful to avoid ingredients that are too strong. These can hurt your SCOBY. Plus, don’t use things like cinnamon or chai. Better choices are hibiscus, linden, rooibos, or even a mix of star anise and lemon leaf.
- Prepare the Base: You can go with herbal tea alone or with a little black or green tea. It’ll help the fermentation process start. After a while, you can use less and less caffeinated tea until you’re using only herbal tea.
- Ferment: After you brew your tea and let it cool, put in the SCOBY and some kombucha from a previous batch. So, let it ferment like normal, about 7-10 days for the first time.
- Flavor and Bottle: If you want a stronger, more sour taste, let the tea ferment for longer. Then, you can add fruit juices or other flavors before sealing it up for a second fermentation.
Can You Cold Brew Herbal Tea?
Yes, you can cold brew herbal tea. Just follow the given instructions to do so —
- Prepare the Tea: Put 3 herbal tea bags (or the same amount of loose herbs) in a half-gallon jar of cold, filtered water.
- Steep in the Fridge: Place the jar in the refrigerator and let it sit for about 6 hours. Taste the tea every so often to make sure it’s strong enough for you. You can leave it in longer or shorter depending on how you like it.
- Strain and Serve: Once your tea is strong enough, take out the tea bags or strain the herbs. Your iced tea is ready to drink!
Can You Add Milk to Herbal Tea?
Yes, you can add milk in some herbal teas, especially the ones that have strong flavors like rooibos, honeybush, and chai. Rooibos is a good choice because it has a rich, nutty taste that goes well with milk.
But it’s not normal to add milk to herbal tea. People usually add milk to black tea, green tea, and other teas that have caffeine. Remember, herbal tea doesn’t usually have caffeine.
Also, herbal teas can have very delicate flavors. Adding milk might make the flavors too strong.
Final Words
See, learning how to make herbal tea is simple and rewarding. You can make hot tea by steeping herbs in hot water. Or, you can make iced tea or cold brew. The steps are easy and you can do them in many ways.
Plus, you can change the strength of your tea by steeping it for a different amount of time or using more herbs. You can also try different flavors by adding sweeteners or milk.
By learning these basics, you can make herbal tea that you love, whether you want a quick drink or a relaxing ritual.
FAQs
How long to steep herbal tea?
You should steep dry herbal tea for 10 to 15 minutes to release its full flavor. Meanwhile, for herbal tea bags, you must steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Plus, you should steep fresh herbs for 5 to 15 minutes for soft herbs, or 15 to 30 minutes for chopped ones.
Which herbs should not be mixed?
You should not mix some herbs together, like Bromelain, Dong quai, Cayenne pepper, Evening primrose, and Ginger, without talking to a doctor first. These herbs can mix badly with medicines or other supplements, causing problems or unwanted side effects.
Who should not drink herbal tea?
People with allergies or who take medicines that might react to herbs should be careful. Also, some people might have a stomach upset, so it’s best to talk to a doctor if you’re not sure.
