Make your own brews this Afternoon Tea?Week

Have you ever wondered how to make your own tea blends?

Tea is one of the oldest and most popular drinks around the world, and its medicinal properties have been harnessed for millennia. Instead of picking up ready-made boxes in your local shop, why not explore what you have on your windowsill, doorstep, or farmers market and make your own.

I remember years ago when I was in Scouts, we made tea out of stinging nettles. We wandered around the local area, picking the leaves and stems from the top third of the plant (with gloves of course), and packed them away in a container. Once back at camp we threw it all into a large basin of water, popped the lid on, and boiled them over an open fire for 5 or so minutes.

This was my entry into tea making and I loved it!

Pick your ingredients

Whether you want to use ingredients that are fresh, dried, or a mix of both, is entirely up to you. Those gardeners with green fingers may have a few herbs and spices to choose from, but if like me that’s not you, you can usually pick up all sorts of things from farmers markets, health shops, or your local high street.

Some flavours that are tried and tested are:

• Lemon, honey, and mint
• Mint and ginger
• Chamomile and lemon grass
• Chamomile and lavender
• Rose hips and hibiscus
• Raspberry leaves and strawberry leaves.

How to dry?them

Dried ingredients, when stored in a sealed container, can last for around 12 months when kept in a cool dark cupboard.

When harvesting, avoid cutting up your plant all in one go and instead take a dish worth. That way you leave time for additional growth so you can re-harvest and stock up for winter over the summer months.

Here’s how you do it:

• Preheat your oven to 80°C
• Pick the leaves from the stalk (just below the leaf) and place in a colander
• Give the colander a shake to get rid of any bugs before giving them a wash under cold running water
• Gently dry the leaves using a tea towel, removing discoloured leaves as you go
• Spread the stalks out on a baking tray and bake in your oven for around 90 minutes. Keep an eye on the leaves throughout to make sure they don’t burn
• When the leaves are crisp and brittle you can be confident that they’re fully dried out
• Remove the leaves from their stalks and seal in an air-tight jar.

The drying process can differ depending on the ingredient you’re wanting to use so best to do a quick Google search if you’re not sure.

Getting your brew?on

When planning your own tea blends, it’s sometimes easiest to add your ingredients to an existing base tea. For example, you could add dried ginger to a tea strainer or infuser and brew it with your favourite mint tea. Add one or two different ingredients, take notes about what you liked/didn’t like, and experiment from there.

To start, try one teaspoon of your base tea and one teaspoon of your other ingredients. Generally speaking, fresh ingredients tend to take a little longer to brew than dried ingredients. Depending on your taste, brew dried ingredients for around two to five minutes and fresh ingredients for around five to eight minutes.

Go on, what are you waiting for?

Everyday Juice?Limited

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