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Month of Tea Brewing 2017  

Day #2

Handcrafted Herbal Blends

Herb-rack-at-Briarpatch

A trip to the health food store to browse the bulk herbs, spices and flowers might inspire you to become a tea blender and an aficionado of the beneficial properties of all botanicals. Including Camellia sinensis. You can easily find some recipes to begin your blending fun but quickly launch out on your own to craft your own special blends.

Today’s adventure with herbal teas reminds us that there can be a bit of confusion when we start sharing our favorite teas. Some may hold strictly to the distinction between infusions made with the “true” tea – Camellia sinensis. But most people now widen the use of the word to include other herbals – like rooibos and yaupon – as well as flowers and dried fruits. Today’s home video takes the more inclusive perspective. While most of our MOT days will delve deeply into the worldwide culture of the true tea. 

I believe that we learn something important from every kind of tea and the potential to increase our understanding of all teas — even the most rare — when we exercise awareness of every tea — even the most common and familiar. So I hope you enjoy this little journey as we let more than 31 different teas, prepared in more than 31 different ways delight and entertain us.

 

Babette

Fill-Your-Own Teabags

Fill-It-Yourself Teabags

Using one of the brands of fill-it-yourself teabags, you can enjoy a satisfying creative hobby. Or share the fun with friends and turn it into a party. There are several brands to choose from and many different sizes. You can prepare teabags small enough to brew a single cup or large enough to hold the ingredients to infuse a whole gallon.

Tip:  Once you fill your own teabags, if your not using them immediately, you will need to store them in sealed bags or airtight containers to preserve the aromas, flavors and healthful benefits of the ingredients. Air, moisture and light can rapidly degrade the quality of your blend.

 

Another Fun-With-Tea Pinterest Boards

Pinterest Board: Herbal Tea Blends

Have you seen this?

 

The cat sits on the back of the sofa looking

out the window through the softly falling snow

at the last bit of gray light.

I can’t say the sun is going down.

We haven’t seen the sun for two months.

Who cares?

I am sitting in the blue chair listening to this stillness.

The only sound: the occasional gurgle of tea

coming out of the pot and into the cup.

How can this be?
Such calm, such peace, such solitude
in this world of woe.

David Budbill

The Sixth of January

More about brewing herbal teas:

Holiday-herbal-blend-17-ingredients

 

Babette's Holiday Herbal Blend 2016

  • 1 cup dried hibiscus flowers
  • 1 cup dried lemon grass
  • 3/4 cup dried papaya pieces
  • 3/4 cup dried pieces of cinnamon bark
  • 3.4 cup dried orange peel pieces
  1. I like layering all the ingredients in a one-gallon jar with a tight-fitting lid. This quantity fills the jar about half way so that you can shake it to blend thoroughly.

  2. Let it sit for about two days in a darkened closed cupboard or other cool, dark place before decanting it into smaller containers to share.

  3. Steep with boiling water for at least three minutes. This makes a very bold, dark red, tart herbal tea.

  4. My preferred sweetener is honey!