Signature Sipping: Making Your Own Herbal Tea Blends

By Dallas Jennifer Cobb

Walk into any supermarket or health food store and you will find row upon row and shelf after shelf of herbal teas. Beautiful boxes decorated with bright colors sit side by side bags of loose herbs bearing lovely labels, and nearby are the handcrafted, individually created niche-market teas. There are literally hundreds of herbal combinations ready-made, available in prepared tea bags or loose. Many of these blends are made with taste in mind and bear names that inspire and delight.

But what if you are not an over-the-counter type of person and would really prefer the practice of making your own signature blend of herbal tea? Maybe you haven’t found that perfect blend on the shelf and long to create your own signature sipping brew. Maybe you have a garden and long to learn how to capture the taste of that perfect summer night. Or maybe you have a health issue that can be aided by herbs and want to create your own tasty tea.

Each of us has different needs in a tea, depending on our age, gender, health, lifestyle, and taste preferences. And finding, or inventing, our own “signature” tea is a deeply personal and empowering process.

This article is about making your own particular herbal tea: a personal blend of herbs that are specific to your lifestyle, health, and spiritual needs—a tea that is your signature combination. Now you can enjoy something that was made just for you. And the process of making your own signature sipping blend will allow you to contemplate your personal preferences and design something personally affirming.

Making Perfect Tea

While we think of Canada and the United States as coffee countries, more tea is consumed worldwide than coffee. In fact, tea is the second most popular drink in the world after water. Tea is also known as a tisane or an infusion. Herbal teas are prepared in the same way that black tea is prepared.

Your Signature Sip

When you first decide to make your own signature sipping blend, you might feel overwhelmed and wonder, where do I start? For me, a few simple questions helped to steer me in the right direction.

Decide first, do I want caffeine or no caffeine?

Black, white, and green teas all contain caffeine. In the average eight-ounce cup of black tea, there are up to 60 milligrams of caffeine, whereas green tea contains up to 40 milligrams, white tea up to 25 milligrams, and decaffeinated black tea up to 15 milligrams. Many tasty blends are made with black tea as their basis, such as traditional chai and British flavored teas.

Next ask yourself, what feeling do I want my tea to evoke?

For relaxation, consider using chamomile, lavender, or lemon balm as your flavorful base, and add the healing effects of catnip or vervain. If you want inspiration, use the stimulating flavors of peppermint, lavender, or spearmint, and add calendula, St. John’s wort, or lemon balm to brighten your spirits. Is your soul in need of soothing? Use the calming flavor of licorice root with the healing nature of catnip or rosemary.

Is the tea for a man or a woman?

Depending on your gender, you may choose different herbs that have a therapeutic effect on the sexual and reproductive organs of women and men. Common “women’s” herbs include alfalfa, Beth root, black cohosh, chaste tree, clary sage, cramp bark, dong quai, epimedium, fennel seed, lady’s mantle, maca root, red clover, sage, and wild yam root. Common “men’s” herbs include Asian ginseng, gingko biloba, horny goat weed, St. John’s wort, and saw palmetto.

What spiritual energy do I need?

When I make my own signature sipping blends, I always consider the spiritual energy of herbs. As a highly vibrating natural substance, herbs impart many gifts, and if you are open to them energetically, they will bless you. Angelica carries a protective and healing energy and promotes creativity and inspiration. The delicate calendula flower instills joy and blesses dreams. Because it follows the sun with its tiny face, much in the same way the majestic sunflower does, calendula is also known for its guardian qualities. Chamomile is for bravery and overcoming challenges. Not only will it settle your stomach, but it can heal bad dreams and promote peace.

If you long to open your heart and experience more success in the world, drink fennel. It will help you to see the deeper spiritual lessons that are at hand. Lavender vibrates with truth and joy. Know that all is well in your life and that the universe supports your growing joyfulness. To relax and release old wounds, drink delicious lemon balm. Let go, let lemon balm, and brightly bounce back spiritually.

Want to enjoy money, prosperity, abundance, and success? Add some peppermint to your signature sip. A stimulant that both uplifts and reignites the internal fire, it will help energize your greater good. Remember rosemary, and open the doors to past-life awareness, the resolution of early life dramas, and greater spiritual understanding. Rosemary can help you align yourself with your deepest dreams. And to focus more on your spiritual goals, turn to thyme, the herbal symbol of magic. It will remind you that magic is the ability to change energy at will, and thyme can easily help to shift many kinds of energy.

What health issues do I need to address?

Ideally, your signature sipping blend takes your health into consideration and includes herbs that aid and promote good health both generally and specific to your concerns. I like to keep it simple, so I am listing here only a few herbs that are commonly grown throughout North America and are readily available in grocery and health food stores. Each of these herbs is also quite versatile and can be combined in a variety of ways with many other herbs.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is part of the mint family and has a lovely earthy, mint flavor. It reduces fevers, calms the nervous system, and eases insomnia.

Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) is a sweet-tasting, mild flower. It produces a gorgeous golden hue in the water and possesses calming qualities. It is often used to relieve upset stomachs, ease teething pains, and calm colic, insomnia, and nervousness, plus it releases gas.

Lavender (Lavandula augustifolia) relieves headaches, eases nervous conditions, and promotes calm. The aromatic purple flowers give tea a hint of blue and produce intoxicating aromas.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) has a strong lemon flavor that mixes well with fruity and minty blends. Known for its efficacy in relieving headaches, insomnia, and depression, lemon balm is a wonderful herb to include in your signature sip.

Mint (Mentha) comes in so many varieties that many gardens have a few different flavors growing, the most common being Mentha piperita (peppermint) and Mentha spicata (spearmint). All of the mints are known for relieving nausea and aiding in digestion.

Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) is a lovely orange flower. When dried, it visually brightens up any tea mixture and turns the tea a lovely orange color. Pot marigold is known for its “brightening” qualities, aiding in the relief of depression.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a versatile, savory herb that is widely used in herbal teas. Touted for its effective treatment of poor circulation, indigestion, and even nervous conditions, rosemary has a taste that stimulates memory.

Sage (Salvia offinalis) is another versatile herb that should be included in a tea garden. It has been used to coat a sore throat, to gargle away tonsillitis, and to relieve coughs.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a remedy for colds, indigestion, and even asthma. With its delightful flavor, it can be included in many individualized signature sipping teas.

If you suffer from a digestive disorder, consider including any one of the mint family herbs—such as rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, or fennel—as all can aid digestion, relieve stomach upset, and dispel gas. For the common cold or respiratory disorders, consider including rosemary, sage, thyme, or lemon balm in your sipping blend.

Making Marvelous Tea

Herbal tea is easy to make. The “secrets” to know in advance are: always use boiling water, because the heat is what releases the essential oils in the herbs and brings out the particular flavors and gives you access to the active healing qualities; and never use a metal teapot because it changes the taste of the herbs. I prefer a crockery or clay teapot, and find that the “brown betty” style—a thick, round-bodied teapot—keeps tea warmer longer.

Take a clean teapot and rinse it with boiling water to heat it up, so that it retains the heat for a longer period of time. Place fresh or dried herbs in the pot, keeping in mind that it takes almost three times the amount of fresh herbs to achieve the same great taste that you can get from dried herbs. When using dried herbs, I suggest using approximately one teaspoon of herbs per cup of tea, placing the herbs directly into the cup. If you are making a pot, the measurement is a teaspoon per cup, plus one teaspoon “for the pot.”

Unless you are going to be doing divination through “tea cup reading” and you specifically want tea leaves in your cup, I recommend using a tea egg (tea ball). Most people don’t like having fiber, or bits of herb leaf, in their tea. If your pot has its own internal strainer adjacent to the spout, you might be tempted to put the herbs directly in the pot, but this makes it difficult to take the herbs out to control strength and flavor. The tea egg, a stainless-steel egg-shaped contraption that the herbs are placed in, is filled and placed in the pot. Boiling water is then poured over and through it, and if you are like me, you can hold the chain and dip the egg up and down impatiently.

Pour the boiling water over the herbs and let them steep for five minutes. Even herbal teas will color the water, and once you see the color start to change, the flavor will change, too. After five minutes, strain out or remove the herbs. I don’t like to steep longer than five minutes because many herbs grow bitter the longer they are immersed, and I am not a fan of bitter tea. If you like strong tea, then use more herbs from the outset. Strong tea is flavorful, but bitter tea is just bitter.

Once your tea is steeped, serve while the tea is hot. Again, temperature is part of perfect flavor.

Many people enjoy sweetening herbal tea with sugar or honey, but lately I have become a fan of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana), a leafy plant with a wonderfully sweet taste. I have started to combine it with other herbs that benefit from a slightly sweet, enhancing flavor. Stevia provides the taste of sweetness without the calories or sugar spike.

Signature Sipping

If you are like me, you won’t stop with just one signature sip. I have made a number of my own herbal blends, each with a unique name, including “Dash Away Darkness,” “Wake Up and Live Now,” and “Lush Hush.”

Recently, I started to make signature sipping blends as gifts for my friends. First, I meditate on the person, thinking about his or her personality, character, lifestyle, and health, and then get to work pairing the herbs.

I make up names for their signature sipping blends and enjoy their delight when they open up their own individualized bag of herbal tea. After I have developed the recipe for their tea, I label the blend with its name, the ingredients used, and the date it was made. I adore alliteration and try to find a name that says whom it is for and what it does, such as “Donna’s Delicate Delight,” “Mom’s Majestic Magic,” “Sweet Cecelia’s Treat,” and “Sweet Sipping.”

Dallas Jennifer Cobb practices gratitude magic, giving thanks for personal happiness, health, and prosperity; meaningful, rewarding, and flexible work; and a deliciously joyful life. She is accomplishing her deepest desires. She lives in paradise with her daughter in a waterfront village in rural Ontario, where she regularly swims and runs, chanting: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Contact her at jennifer.cobb@live.com.