Tea Herb Gardening

I love that tea is a year-round drink.  I drink herbal tea with honey in the winter, and I love iced tea with lemon in the summer.  The tea is even better when the herbs come from my herb garden.  You can easily grow your own tea herb garden in a few containers on your patio or deck.  You may consider setting aside a bed in your yard for your tea garden, but watch out for the mints, because they can easily take over the whole yard.

Keep in mind that when you make herbal tea, you’ll need more herbs than if you were making non-herbal tea.  One of the best things about drinking herbal teas are the health benefits.  You can drink peppermint tea when you have an upset stomach and after a few minutes, you should feel better. 

The top herbs for my teas are:

• Fennel:  Say hello to this licorice-flavored weight loss aid.  Chop up the stems and leaves and boil together for about 5-7 minutes.  You’ll have sweet-smelling, delicious tea.

• German Chamomile:  This one helps me calm my nerves and fall asleep easily.  Be mindful that when you brew the flowers into a tea that it will be a bit strong.  Add a little lemon balm for extra flavor.

• Spearmint:  Bruise some leaves for your next herbal tea.  Its fantastic fragrance will ease your nerves and help reduce nausea and heartburn.  Drinking spearmint tea will also help with bad breath. 

• Peppermint:  Companies use peppermint to flavor gum, candy and cosmetics.  You can use crushed leaves for your brewed tea.  Chill the tea or add ice for a delicious iced tea.  Beyond the taste, your peppermint tea will help your upset stomach.

Other good herbs for tea include rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram and calendula.

Brewing your own tea isn’t as easy as just tossing some herbs into boiling water and letting it steep.  It’s likely that you’ll need to experiment a little to get the taste and flavor just right.  Use 3 teaspoons of each ingredient for one cup of tea. 

You can make great combinations of herbs for tea and even add other non-herbs (like dried fruit, fruit rind or peel) to the mix. 

Below are some of my favorite herbal tea combinations.

• Apple Tea:  Lemon balm, dried apples and dill seeds

• Citrus Tea:  Dried orange peel and lemon balm

• Lemon Tea:  Rose hips and lemon geranium

• Licorice-Mint Tea:  Mint and anise hyssop

• Many Mints Tea:  Orange mint, peppermint and spearmint

• Tropical Tea:  Rose petals, hibiscus flowers and bee balm

• Delicious Berry Tea:  Lemon thyme and dried raspberries

• Peppermint Patty Tea:  Peppermint with dried lemon peel

Try putting your herbs into a ceramic teapot strainer and let them steep for at least 5 minutes. 
Fresh herbs work much better than dried, which doesn’t help much for the hot tea in the winter, but a number of great tea herbs can be grown inside during the winter and you can also freeze your tea herbs for use in the winter months.

Good luck with your herb gardening.  Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.