Homegrown Herbal Tea

[Phaedra]

Checking my recent "content" -- I saw that I wrote that chamomile flavor reminds me of ... mint! Edited that this AM.

Thinking of writing about the mix that I buy, with too much mint flavor for me, I wrote mint instead of "apple." Apple flavor seems unlikely, incongruent but that is how chamomile tastes to me. Rose hip flavor and chamomile sounds like a good fit.

The content of my cup today is catnip and lemon balm. They were both dry and hanging in my kitchen. First cup ... tastes pretty good!

Steve

Steve, I used rose petals instead of rose hips, but rose petals also work well with chamomiles. The rose season will start soon, and the temperature will remain high. Today, the west-facing side was about 35 degrees C, and inside the greenhouse reached 45~50 degrees C in the afternoon for hours!

I picked some rose petals this morning, and they were fully dry in the afternoon.

Before and after, pretty funny - and the fragrance is so nice.

I also tried to make cold brew herbal tea - most of the ingredients are from last year's harvest. Ingredients and cold water in, and then let the jar stay in the fridge for 24 hours.

Before drinking, I used a sieve to filter most of the ingredients.

Very freshing!

 

[flowerbug]

i used to drink a lot of loose leafed teas and let things just float in there and when people would ask me what i was drinking i'd just say "Swamp water." a little extra fiber always needed (and appreciated!) here.

 

[Phaedra]

Rose, elderberry flowers, sage, lemon balm

The best way to use your outdoor oven, uh no, greenhouse in the summertime.

My black elderberry shrub is still young, and I don't want it to waste energy bearing fruits. So, i removed all the flowers to use in the herbal tea.

There are another three groups of well established common elderberry shrubs that can offer me later fruits to make syrup or dried berries (also for tea).

 

[GottaGo]

Steve, I used rose petals instead of rose hips, but rose petals also work well with chamomiles. The rose season will start soon, and the temperature will remain high. Today, the west-facing side was about 35 degrees C, and inside the greenhouse reached 45~50 degrees C in the afternoon for hours!

I picked some rose petals this morning, and they were fully dry in the afternoon.
View attachment 57965

View attachment 57964
Before and after, pretty funny - and the fragrance is so nice.
View attachment 57966
I also tried to make cold brew herbal tea - most of the ingredients are from last year's harvest. Ingredients and cold water in, and then let the jar stay in the fridge for 24 hours.

Before drinking, I used a sieve to filter most of the ingredients.

View attachment 57967

Very freshing!
View attachment 57968

I drink a LOT of water all day long, and it gets very boring by the end of the day. I've taken to making hot tea with two or three tea bags (chamomile or mint works well) and then adding some to my water bottles to break the hum-drum of plain water. I can't do those little packets they sell in stores for water bottles, chemicals or sugar substitutes that would have me in pain, so this works well for me.

 

[Phaedra]

New routine, one cup cold brew herbal tea before going to bed

 

[digitS']

There are wild roses blooming right now, here and there.

I have collected the rose hips for tea and it is a little overpowering to my tastes but have never tried them in a mix.

There is a bush just a few feet beyond the edge of my garden. It is at the edge of a neglected little field and behind a haybarn and rockpile. I'm not sure if the property owner would like me over there picking off the blooms but I'd be willing to sneak over there later and clip some hips (probably shouldn't admit that ). There is a modest amount of lemon balm drying in the kitchen and I'm thinking that it would be worth a try in combination. Rosehips would also probably be good for me to try with the oolong.

Steve

 

[Phaedra]

When picking the roses, I usually only take the petals, so later there will still be hips. Bees are happy about this, too.
However, I never really tried rose hips for tea. @digitS' Steve, do you dry them first?

Yesterday, I used a simple processor for crushing different mints that dried indoors. I put all the stems into a jar and added a bit of black tea.

Same story, cold-brew overnight in the fridge

And then, I have a lovely cold drink today! No waste; the rest reported to the compost already.

 

[digitS']

However, I never really tried rose hips for tea. @digitS' Steve, do you dry them first?

I have.

At one time, I lived where leaving my home in any of 3 directions, I was immediately in an evergreen forest. No fence to even climb over .

Where there was an opening among the trees, wild roses grew. (Accompanying them was sagebrush with bearberries growing back in the shade of the trees .)

 

[Phaedra]

Love them!

 

[Phaedra]

Morning routine in summer time