By Cindy Robertson, with Nancy Kelly and Becky Halbe, Extension Master Gardeners
Introduction
Sometimes we miss the obvious.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/cozy-afternoon-tea-with-dried-flowers-in-basket-30216055/
I have been a tea-loving gardener for over forty years. Despite routinely using herbs from my garden for cooking, only recently did it dawn on me that I could grow my own herbal tea as well. I have two master gardeners to thank for this revelation (my co-authors, Nancy and Becky), who with me, recently discussed how to grow homegrown teas with a local garden group. This article is a shorter summary of that presentation. In addition to identifying many well-known plants for herbal tea, this article also covers how to grow, harvest, and store your homegrown tea.
Allow us first to dispel any notion that you need deep knowledge or fancy equipment to grow your own herbal tea. With just a few key pointers, you, too, will be brewing a faithful familiar or exotic blend from plants in your own garden, with minimal effort and maximum flavor.
The most important rule when ingesting any plant is to ensure you are 100% sure you have properly identified the plant and that it is not toxic nor will interfere with any medications or medical conditions you have. When in doubt, consult your physician. Plant identification applications like “iNaturalist” (free) or other commercial applications can identify a plant through a photo taken on your phone. You can also research from reputable sources, like educational (.edu sites) or government websites (.gov sites), such as the US Department of Agriculture. Be sure to use the complete scientific (Latin) name of the plant to ensure accurate information. The second most important rule is to start small; this means harvesting enough for a few cups of tea and ensuring that even if generally safe, a particular type of tea suits you.
Types of Herbal Tea to Grow at Home
You may be surprised to learn that many common ornamental plants can also be harvested to make a delicious cup of tea.[1]
Most people think of tea as derived mainly from leaves. However, different parts of your favorite plants, including flowers, roots, rhizomes, twigs and berries, might separately be harvested for tea, depending on the plant.
Woodier or harder parts of plants, like seeds, often need a longer simmering time. To give you a sense of the variety of ornamental plants and their parts that make tea, see Table 1. Native plants are noted with an asterisk.
Native Plant Gardening Makes Homegrown Tea Easy
For those primarily interested in native plant gardening, there are a wide variety of beautiful plants that can be brewed into herbal tea. Given that the flavor of herbal tea is essential, the information in Table 2 will help you choose native plants by their flavor profile. By clicking on the plant name, you will be linked to useful facts about the plant’s features and maintenance.
Photo © Elaine Mills
Photo © Elaine Mills
For those with room for shrubs in their home gardens, the natives in Table 3 can also be harvested for tea. Fortunately, several larger native shrubs also have dwarf varieties that may fit more easily in your garden.
Photo © Elaine Mills
Lindera benzoin (Northern Spicebush) in June.
Photo © Elaine Mills
Photo © Elaine Mills
Harvesting Tea
While this article supplies you with general rules, be sure to research best harvesting practices for the specific herbal tea plant in question from educational or government websites, as there is quite a bit of variety between different plants, with different times to harvest for distinct parts of the same plant. For example, for goldenrod, the recommended harvest is of the top new growth right before blooming, whereas for blueberry leaf tea, you should wait until the leaves turn color in the fall. For hibiscus herbal tea, you must be sure to be using the proper plant, Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle), and you mustwait for the flower to fall off, leaving behind a fleshy, bright red bulb called the calyx, which must be cored of the seeds inside. The red calyx is the source of the tart, cranberry-like flavor and beautiful color characteristic of hibiscus tea.
https://pixabay.com/photos/rose-pruning-garden-cut-gardening-1744950/
To enhance flavor and freshness, snip your herbal tea leaves or flowers in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sun’s heat. Always be sure to use clean, sharp scissors or pruners to harvest the plants, cutting the stems just above a set of leaves to promote healthy new growth. Keep enough growth so that plants remain healthy and continue to produce. Some plants propagate easily, so consider multiplying your favorites with a few clippings rather than using them all for herbal tea.
Drying Tea
The importance of this step cannot be understated. Fortunately, drying herbal tea can be successfully achieved with a few simple steps and no fancy equipment. The goal is to make sure the leaves or other plant parts are bone dry to prevent mold. Any method that ensures proper air circulation and avoids direct sunlight is effective. Make sure your hands are dry when you place leaves in storage so as to not introduce any moisture.
The importance of this step cannot be understated. Fortunately, drying herbal tea can be successfully achieved with a few simple steps and no fancy equipment. The goal is to make sure the leaves or other plant parts are bone dry to prevent mold. Any method that ensures proper air circulation and avoids direct sunlight is effective. Make sure your hands are dry when you place leaves in storage so as to not introduce any moisture.
- Air Drying: After rinsing leaves in a colander, separate leaves on a screen or lay them on a paper towel and let air dry on a countertop. Or, snip and rinse entire stems, tie several together, and hang upside down. Wait several days (even a week) to ensure adequate dryness; it may help to shift stems and leaves a bit each day to ensure adequate airflow to all leaves.
- Oven Drying: Arrange leaves on parchment paper and dry for several hours in a warm oven at a very low temperature (170 ͦF or below).
https://pixabay.com/photos/rose-pruning-garden-cut-gardening-1744950/
- Dehydration Equipment: Follow appliance instructions. Food dehydrators work by drying tea leaves at a low temperature (typically under 110 ͦF) combined with a fan that circulates warm, dry air across trays. This process accelerates evaporation, wicking away moisture to prevent mold without cooking or destroying the oils, chlorophyll, and flavors within the leaves.
After tea leaves are dried, you may leave small leaves whole; sometimes they curl artfully. For stronger flavor, you can crush the whole leaves into a tea infuser right before steeping. If leaves are larger or harder to store whole, you may pulse them in a food processor or blender until they resemble bits of leaves and plant debris commonly found in standard commercial tea bags.
Storing Tea
Now that you have dried tea leaves (and/or flowers/roots/berries), ensuring proper storage of tea is just as important to maintaining flavor and freshness over time.
Light: Tea is best kept in a dark, right-sized airtight container, to keep dry, avoid oxidation and reduce odor absorption.
Humidity: Avoid damp environments; if tea is damp, it can develop mold, bacterial growth, and encourage cabinet pests.
Temperature: Room temperature (between 66 and 78 degrees F) helps tea retain freshness.
Stability: Scoop tea with a dry spoon; be mindful not to introduce moisture/germs through pinching tea with fingers.
Tea tins from commercial tea providers can easily be recycled for your homegrown teas. You can also reuse spice containers or jars; just remember to wash (and dry!) thoroughly to rid the container of any scent that might flavor your own herbal tea, and keep any clear containers in a cupboard or drawer to prevent sunlight from reducing flavor/freshness.
Get creative and cover your recycled containers in colorful wrapping paper and re-label them in your own hand or with a cute sticker. Be sure to accurately list ingredients so that potential consumers know what is inside. In a pinch, you can use plastic, ziplock bags to store homegrown herbal tea in a drawer. In my experience, it remains fresh and tasty.
Final Tips and Takeaways
Go organic and remember to be sure of plant ID: Use organic growing methods to ensure the best flavor and potency. Can’t say it enough: be sure of plant ID!
Recipes: Use reputable sources (educational or governmental sources) to find great recipes for herbal tea; there are an abundance of them on the internet!
Use fresh, cold water: Cold, filtered water is the best.
Measure the amount: Rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of loose, dried tea and 1 tablespoon of fresh leaves per 8-ounce cup of water. Experiment!
Heat the water: Some teas taste better steeping at less than boiling (like around 200°F (93°C)). Or try cold steeping, which tends to mellow out the flavor.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-tea-in-teapot-near-window-7876484/
Steep the tea (hot or cold methods): Pour the hot water over the tea leaves placed in a fine mesh tea infuser or tea bag (both available for purchase on the internet or your local tea shop). Steep the tea for 5-10 minutes, depending on your taste preference. A longer steeping time will result in a stronger flavor. Cold steeping requires much more time but tends to smooth out tea and make it less bitter (2+ hours or overnight).
Strain and enjoy: If using loose plant parts, strain the tea into a cup using a fine mesh strainer. Add any flavor-enhancers (honey, lemon, ginger, mint, cinnamon).
Store the tea properly: To preserve the flavor and quality of your tea, store it in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and strong odors.
Enjoy and experiment: Enjoy your creations and have fun sharing them with friends. Homegrown tea makes a great gift because you have helped create it from start to finish!
[1] Herbal teas are not technically “tea.” Herbal teas are more precisely called infusions or tisanes, made by steeping leaves or soft plant parts in water. Decoctions, on the other hand, are also referred to as “herbal tea” and are made by boiling then simmering the woodier or harder parts of plants (like stems or seeds). True “tea,” be it black, green, oolong, or white, all comes from a single plant: Camellia sinensis, native to East/Southeast Asia. Tea’s color and flavor distinctions arise from different processing methods.
[2] Some native fruit plant leaves, in addition to their fruits, can be used to make tea. For example, fresh (vs. dried) strawberry and red raspberry leaves are reported to have a slightly fruity note, whereas dried leaves taste more earthy.
[3] To learn how to grow ginger at home, see Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website here.