Once you’ve grown, picked, and preserved your tea herbs, you’ll want to test them in a cup of tea. The first thing you should know is that herb teas brew differently from traditional teas: They tend to take longer, and usually have little color. With dried herbs and herb blends, use 1 teaspoon per person, and then 1 extra “for the pot.” In season, fresh herbs are preferable. Add a sprig per person — about a tablespoon of fresh leaves.
Infusion works best with fresh or dried herb leaves, petals, and flowers. Start by bringing cold water just to the boiling point in a pan or teapot, preferably an enameled one. Because herb teas are more delicately flavored, any metallic taste picked up from a metal pot may be more noticeable.
Use a ceramic or glass teapot for the infusion, for the same reason. Warm the teapot by rinsing with hot water. The tea can be put directly into the pot and then strained before drinking, or you can use one of the many infusers sold to hold the loose tea, such as metal balls, mesh balls, bamboo strainers, and muslin bags. You can also buy empty paper tea bags; see supplier list on page 30. Adding loose tea to the pot and then straining allows for the most water contact with the leaves, and therefore the most flavor.
Consider bruising fresh herbs by tearing and crushing them before adding them to the teapot. This will help release the oils from the plant that give the tea its taste.
Pour boiling water over the tea. Allow to steep for at least 5 minutes before tasting. You may want to go longer; 15 minutes is not unreasonable. Seasoned herb tea drinkers often simply allow the infusion to steep on the back of the stove all day. When you’re ready, fill a cup halfway with the infusion, and top it off with boiling water.
You will acquire a taste for the pure and simple flavors of herb tea, but newcomers may have to add honey. If a brew seems bitter, try using a tad more herb with less brewing time. Sometimes the bitter flavors come out over time, so cutting back on the steeping time may be preferable for mellow flavors.
You will see that some teas are brewed from leaves; others use flowers, roots, seeds, peel (oranges), or hips (the fruits of the rose). When seeds, bark, or whole spices are called for, they can be crushed before steeping, or passed through a spice grinder. This will release the oils for maximum flavor. You should use about a tablespoon of seeds for every 2 cups of water.
Because seed, bark, and peel oils are harder to release than those from leaves and flowers, bring water to a boil on the stove. Add the crushed or whole seeds and other ingredients and simmer gently. Taste the tea after 5 minutes. Continue steeping and tasting until the tea is to your liking.
To make herbal iced teas, use the appropriate method above. Double the amount of herbs you use, then pour the stronger mixture over ice to dilute.
Or if you have time, prepare the tea as you would hot tea, and refrigerate. Serve with sprigs of fresh herbs for decoration.
