Grow Your Own Tea Herbs
Source of Recipe
Aunt Saunny
Look at the ingredients on commercial herbal tea labels and you'll
find plants like lemongrass, spearmint, peppermint, rose hips and
hibiscus. Can these be assembled in the garden? Absolutely. Most of
these plants are ridiculously easy to grow. And along with being a
wellspring of continuing product that invites itself to being plucked
regularly, a tea garden also attracts butterflies and bees.
Bee balm. Besides splashing the summer garden with shades of red,
pink, violet or white, the flowers of bee balm (Monarda didyma) lend
a citrus-mint flavor to tea. Flowering lasts from midsummer until
early fall. Also called bergamot or Oswego tea, bee balm puts up with
a wide range of soil and light conditions but prefers full sun and
moist, rich soil. The plant grows two to three feet tall and two feet
wide (it tends to grow taller in shade and need staking) and can
spread via rhizomes. Bees and hummingbirds will also like that you've
included this perennial in the garden. Avoid overhead watering to
help ward off powdery mildew; 'Elsie's Lavender' (lavender)
and 'Cherokee' (rose-pink) are among the most resistant. Most
cultivars are hardy to Zone 4.
Lemongrass. A favorite ingredient in Thai cooking, lemongrass
(Cymbopogon citrantus) also shows up in many herbal tea blends. The
plant is a stately clump of fairly fine-bladed grass, two to five
feet tall, that grows in full sun or light shade. Gardeners north of
Zone 8b (Zone 9, to be sure) will need to overwinter this tender
annual as a container plant.
Mint. This family of perennials alone offers a lot of tea options,
namely peppermint (Mentha x piperita), spearmint (Mentha spicata),
and a host of special flavors-apple, orange, lemon, pineapple, even
chocolate. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) also offers a lemon-mint
flavor. The newest leaves have the most flavor; use them fresh for
hot tea as well as flavoring lemonade and iced tea.
Most mints are notoriously invasive. If you're adding mint to the
garden, either grow it in containers or, if you want it in the
ground, put a tall (12 inches plus), bottomless plastic container in
the planting hole and plant the mint inside. Leave about two inches
of rim exposed above ground, then keep an eye out for runners. Most
mints are hardy to Zone 4.
Chamomile. A sweet miniature-daisy-like plant with feathery foliage,
German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is a trouble-free annual
that's easily grown from seed and self-sows readily, and it's the
type of chamomile that's usually used in making tea. Roman chamomile
(Chamaemelum nobilis) is a perennial, hardy to Zone 6, but it lends a
somewhat bitter flavor to tea. Give chamomile a sunny site and moist,
well-drained soil. This time of year you may still find potted plants
in some garden centers and specialty nurseries. Don't mistake this
chamomile for the common roadside plants, scentless chamomile
(Anthemis arvensis) or mayweed chamomile (Anthemis cotula), both
noxious weeds in many areas.
Rose hips. Hips are the round fruits that develop from spent flowers.
If you want your roses to concentrate on flower production, deadhead
each bloom after its prime so the plant doesn't spend all its energy
producing seed. If you want tea, however, leave the roses to wither
on the bush and in time, hips will develop. A good compromise is to
let the roses have their big heyday in spring and early summer, and
then let them work on producing hips.
Making Herbal Tea
To make tea, use one tablespoon fresh leaves or flowers (as
appropriate, depending on the species). If the plant material is
dried, use one teaspoon.
Add the herb--or a blend of herbs--to a tea ball or a steeping cup
that's resting in a mug. If desired, you can include some clippings
of stevia, a natural sweetener, with the tea herbs.
Pour hot--but not boiling--water in the mug and let steep for five
minutes or less.
Add honey, lemon or sugar as desired.
Caution: If you're not used to drinking fresh herbal teas, start
slowly. Make sure you know the identity of the plant you're using to
make tea, and be watchful for adverse reactions. Finally, don't use
any leaves or flowers that have been treated with pesticides.
The simple art of tea bag making
All you need are some squares of cheesecloth or muslin and some
sturdy cotton. Preferably the color of the cotton should be selected
according to the purpose of the herbal infusion however white and
green are generally suitable for any purpose. Pile 1-2 teaspoons of
your herb mixture into the center of the cloth square. Gather the
corners together in one hand and twist them so that the herbs are in
their own little pouch. Proceed to wind a piece of cotton around the
pouch, just above the herbs, and then fasten until secure.
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