Herbs - Tea

I saw a recent topic about growing green tea and it got me wondering about regular herbal teas.

I know mint is to invasive to put in a box with other things but Im sure others would be ok and the number of herbs that can be used for tea is pretty long.

Personally I have a small potted rosemary bush thats survived over a year, despite my inattention, that I use for tea more than I do for cooking. I hope to eventually have an entire area just for herbs in addition to having them scattered through my boxes as companions.

Anyone growing herbs like chamomile, mint, etc and using them for tea? Would love to see pictures and hear how you use the different herbs.

debs, i love the idea of a tea knot garden. lemon balm is one of my favorites too. we use it to give a lift to iced tea, brew it with thyme and lemon peel for colds and stuffy noses.

debs is right, a lot of herbs have medicinal qualities, so you need to be careful. after all the heart med digitalis is a derivitive of the foxglove plant. i'm going to grow plants for stress, headaches and colds, which is what plagues my household most, you could research for the things you want help alleviate.

i find it fascinating that you can go to your garden and pluck the necessary.

I completely understand Debs. Should probably have a disclaimer...

Not meant to endorse any medicinal use or diagnose any problem(natural or self inflicted) ...

Eat/drink at your own risk

I just bought a pineapple sage plant at Ace. Im going to let it get settled a bit before I try picking anything but if the taste is like the smell it should make for a great tea.

I have cinnamon basil seeds and Im trying to find somewhere local with mint. May have to order it. Would love to find some chocolate mint.

I have actually gotten several books on herbs and their potential medicinal uses. It'll be a long way down the road but I when I do get a section just for herbs it would be nice to have it in sections: tea, cooking, medicinal, etc.

Debs I have wild blackberry all over the place. Ive never tried tea out of any berry leaves. Most of the berries here are a bit bitter compared to the wild berries Ive had before. Any idea if the same bitterness would be in the leaves? Have you ever 'sun-brewed' any tea using herbs from the garden?

Thanks Debs Now that its getting warm again im looking forward to trying sun brewed. Never done it before so it will be fun to experiment.

Ive thought about the crossover plants for the sections. I have no intention of building it anytime soon but I figure I wont mind having multiples of certain plants Id love to get to a point of over abundance so I can try selling or just give away to friends.

Think im going to check the blackberry bushes this evening after work...

So... does leaving it in sun for the heat do anything different than simply letting it sit and steep without the heat?

Very interesting discussions. I'll be eager to learn more.

JK wrote: So... does leaving it in sun for the heat do anything different than simply letting it sit and steep without the heat?

You should try both yourself but I cannot tell the difference.

Hmm. Thats both encouraging and dissapointing at the same time. Nice that I can easily make the tea without having to use anything but time but kinda dissapointing that there may not be a taste difference with the slow sun heated way.

Oh well, still be fun to try. Think I may set out a gallon to steep in the kitchen when I get home. Have you noticed a difference in taste between slow steeped vs 3-4min hot water?

I love my mint tea! I use the dried leaves for hot tea or just throw some leaves in with my tea bag if I don't have dried. I have it growing in a pot in the front yard as well as down by our mailbox where the pine tree needles won't allow anything else to grow. My favorite is iced tea with mint - I grew up in Arizona and all we ever made was sun tea. I didn't even know you could make it any other way . Mom always had a sun tea jar out on the pool deck and when it was dark enough we brought it in. I also find I prefer sun tea without sweetener, but that could be just due to growing up out west where we never heard of sweet iced tea. When I moved to the South and a server in a restaurant asked if I wanted sweet tea I had no idea what she meant!

At least she offered "sweet" tea. I you order iced tea in the south, it is assumed sweet. I was raised on sweet tea until I moved north. Now, I have to remember to order unsweetened tea when down south.

Kay

[quote="JK"]

I have cinnamon basil seeds and Im trying to find somewhere local with mint. May have to order it. Would love to find some chocolate mint.

quote]

Home Depot has had chocolate mint plants the last few times I have been there.

Lindacol - I havent been by in a week or so but I havent seen it at any of the local stores. Lowes, HD, Ace, any of them. Guess its a area demand thing?

Only time Ive ever traveled far up north was a school trip to Boston. We got these weird looks when we went to eat and tried to order sweet tea. They didnt even know what we were talking about at first. We all thought we were going into withdrawals by the time we got home.