Fresh Winter Herbs for Tea

At a recent dinner party I delighted my guests with fragrant, soothing cups of fresh herb tea (a.k.a. herbal tisane, or infusion) served with their dessert and picked from my garden only moments before. We had eaten a filling meal, it was late and no one wanted caffeine- perfect! my herbs are always at the ready to pop into a tea pot.  It was gratifying that they enjoyed it so much- a simple pleasure from the garden that I’m especially grateful for.

Use Both Fresh and Dried Herbs 

In my view, herbs are essential workhorses of any garden and many are easy to grow and undemanding. It’s winter but in our zone 9 climate I’ve still got mints, bronze fennel, and Yerba Buena, plus sage, rosemary, oregano and sweet marjoram for cooking. 

In the fall I watched diligently for the first predicted frost so that I could harvest branches of fresh lemon verbena for drying. It's frost sensitive and goes dormant for the winter but the fresh leaves (before frost damage!) dry quickly and store well in an air-tight container. It's my favorite lemon scented herb, and potent too! 

Lemon Verbena dries in a few days in a warm room

An Winter Herb Tea Recipe

I often steep a tea bag or two of chamomile with herbs from my garden. I like to use it as a base to add more body to the infusion. Don't be afraid to add typically "culinary" herbs such as sage, rosemary or thyme. Sage adds a surprisingly pleasant and mild spice to the tea when you add just one or two leaves per pot. 

Clockwise from top: sage, bronze fennel, dried lemon verbena, and basil mint

For a medium sized teapot (holds 2 1/2 to 3 cups of water) use:

2-3 sprigs of fresh mint, any kind (2 to 3 inches long)

1 sprig fennel, any kind (2 to 3 inches long)

1 - 2 leaves fresh sage (the culinary kind)

3 or more leaves lemon verbena, fresh or dry

Optional: 1- 2 tea bags of chamomile

Rinse all fresh herbs with water and shake them dry. Add to the teapot with stems and leaves intact, add chamomile tea bag. Pour boiling water (or just about to boil) over the leaves and steep for 5 minutes before serving in pre-warmed cups. Offer honey as a sweetener. 

Have fun experimenting with herbal combinations and enjoy using what's available seasonally.

Tip: when making herbal infusions steep the herbs while covered to capture any volatile compounds. The herbs in this recipe are known to aid digestion.

Photos: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke

Grow an Herbal Tea Garden

Clockwise from left: chamomile, lemon balm, scented geranium, yerba buena, bee balm

A cup of fragrant herb tea is a natural choice when you want to avoid caffeine. And best of all, you can grow a variety of wonderfully scented herbs in your garden or in containers.

Create an herbal tea garden and snip off a couple of fresh sprigs whenever you want a comforting cup of tea. You can also dry your herbs and keep them for winter use in airtight containers and to give as gifts. Your  garden will come alive with their spicy scents and with appreciative wildlife. Bees, hummingbirds and butterflies love the flowers of many herbs. It's a pleasure to rub the leaves and enjoy a whiff of all the different perfumes while working in the garden. Many will do well potted into containers for your porch or patio.

Some of my favorites are: lemon verbena, bee balm, chamomile, scented geraniums, catnip (aka, catmint), pineapple sage, and lemon balm. I recently found a lemon-scented catmint at a local nursery that I've added to my herb garden.

Hummingbirds and bees love the scarlet flowers of pineapple sage

Brewing Herbal Tea

To brew herb tea just add a few leaves or sprigs to your tea pot, or follow this basic method from Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs:

1. Use a non-metal tea pot to preserve the true flavors.

2. For hot tea use 2 tablespoons of fresh herbs or 1 tablespoon of dry per cup of water.

3. For iced tea use 3 tablespoons of fresh herbs or 2 tablespoon of dry per cup of water (to allow for ice cubes).

4. Bring water to a boil, then pour over the herbs in the tea pot; cover to steep.

5. Steep for at least 5 minutes, test for taste, steep longer if desired.

Serve with honey, lemon or orange slices, or sprigs of fresh herbs. I like to add a dab of honey to both hot and iced tea. For iced tea add the honey before chilling the tea so it will dissolve.

Brew Your Own Flavored Tea Drink

You can use your herbs for hot or iced tea. Brew them in combinations or try flavoring a cup of green tea with lemon verbena or bee balm. Iced green tea is really good flavored this way- have you noticed the trendy ice tea drinks sold in nice glass bottles? You can make your own, just flavor it with a bit of honey while it's still hot, chill it, and enjoy.

Teapot Therapy

The pleasant ritual of brewing tea and enjoying a couple of cups from my teapot is very soothing. If you don’t have a teapot you can brew your tea right in your cup, just cover it while it’s steeping and strain out the herbs by pouring it into another cup to drink. Then keep an eye out at garage sales or pottery sales for interesting teapots to collect and enjoy a daily herbal tea ritual.

Published on Eat Drink Better

Photos: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke