So a week or so ago I told you about mixing your own herbal tea blends. You can find that here. Now, here’s something a little different.
When I first started making herbal tea, it felt very foreign to me. That seemed like an exotic kind of thing for this small town country girl. I never considered there was anything beyond the store bought tea bags.
These days I’ve discovered so many ways to prepare and steep your herbal tea, I have to actually decide on which one I’ll use each time.
The Different Methods I Use to Prepare My Herbal Tea
There are several different ways to hold your loose leaf herbal tea. Let’s go over a few.
Tea Bags
There’s a couple of different tea bags you can use. I use both of these and like them both for different reasons.
This one I get from Mountain Rose Herbs. I like this one because you can quickly make a bag of tea, just fold over the edge and pour your water over it.
I use this one at home a lot. It’s good for trying a new herbal tea blend and don’t want to make up a lot.
This is another one I like to use. I get them at Mountain Rose Herbs too. You can find them in different sizes all over Amazon, but I’m never really sure of the quality from places I don’t know.
I like this one because they’re easy to prepare and have several bags pre-made and ready to take with you when you want. They’re just like regular tea bags, and easily portable because they seal.
Both of these tea bag types are compostable too, which is a plus for me since we compost everything possible.
Tea Balls
Tea balls are another way to steep your herbal teas. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. I have a few different styles and I use them both. I don’t have a specific purpose for either, just depends on my mood at the time.
Some tea balls have smaller screen sizes or holes which means some will leave small bits of leaf in the bottom of your cup and others won’t.
I don’t mind little bits of tea leaf in the bottom of my cup, but that may be something you’ll want to consider when you decide on one.
Then there are a few other styles that I like.
A Couple Other Styles
A friend bought me this next style a long time ago. I love it. This one is a basket type thing you put your herbs in and set it in your cup and then pour your water directly over your herbs.
This one works very well. It even comes with a little thing to set the tea basket in when you get ready to drink your tea.
This one is really good for using enough herbs to make several cups of tea.
And lastly, I have a steeping pot. I found it on sale at my local grocery store several years back and have been very happy with it.
It’s a thin clear glass pot, so after I pour my water over the herbs, I usually wrap it in a tea towel to keep it hot. I use this a lot more in the winter, cause I can drink a whole pot on a Sunday afternoon.
Brewing Your Tea
Teas or herbs with a high volitile oil content, or those that smell really good, need to be covered when you steep them. This will keep the properties of the herb from evaporating while the tea steeps.
So if you’re making a tea using, say lavender, you’ll want to cover it while it steeps.
I’m sure there are several more ways to prepare your herbal tea. But these are the ones I use regularly.
I hope you see one you would like to try. Or maybe you saw a few that interest you. Even better.
Thanks for stopping by and reading about making herbal tea. Let me know what method you use or let me know which method you want to try. I’m curious.
Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already. See you next week.
Until then –
Health, Wealth & Blessing ~ Tracey