Spending time to reflect, I realize how much I have changed my tea time practice. What started as “tea time”, has become all the time tea time. I love prepackaged tea bags and have a huge assortment. I love loose tea too! In the last few years, I have harvested and processed herbs routinely. With quite a large variety dried, I am ready to blend medicinal recipes. I even cleared a cupboard for my apothecary.

There are usually plates out with herbs drying on the regular. Isn’t that what a formal dining room is for? It is not too bright, there is good air circulation. Centrally situated, it is just a step away from the kitchen. If we need to use the room I just stack the plates and put them upstairs for the time being. Snip snip and I’m in business!

Tea Time Beginnings

I first wrote this post years ago. At that time I did not love any of the diffuser balls or strainers that I had. They were small and did not sit well, or work well, or clean up well. Like the Teavana pot, which was my favorite, there was limiting function. Are you at that frustrating level? The breakthrough for me came with larger tea baskets. Easy peasy just load plant material, use hot water from Keurig, cover with a plate of similar diameter to keep in all that goodness, steep for a bit or even overnight.

Frustrating too were prepackaged tea bags with non-compostable packaging and staples in the tag. I was excited to find compostable bags for my loose tea that were only $5.39 for 100 bags (now it is $5.99 for 200 bags), I had found a wonderful addition to my kitchen. However, I no longer fill those bags for a cup of tea when it is so much easier to use an oversized basket. I do still use them for aromatics and pan cooking. Keep lavendar close by to scrunch and inhale. Ahhhhhhhh. In pan cooking you can pull the herbs out easily from a broth.

Five years ago I gave up my second cup of coffee to give myself the benefits of a cup of tea. It was simply a beautiful, intentional self care decision. Over a year ago my bloodwork showed pre-diabetes. A tennis friend shared with me that she overcame this same situation with intermittent fasting. This meant no coffee with half and half, and no sugar or artificial sweeteners. If it has to be black, I would prefer tea over coffee. I discovered Twinings caffeinated chai. Using one tea bag, I have two cups first thing in the morning.

More about Me

Throughout the day I drink all kinds of herbal tea. It is the warm beverage I crave. I am loving ginger varieties. Peppermint is lovely and relaxing in the evening. Midday I drink an infusion that has steeped overnight and then I prepare a new cup to steep for 24 hours with herbs from my apothecary. I use reishi mushroom(for better cognition), mullein(battle recurring phlegm in my lungs possibly from long Covid), rosemary(memory boosting and uplifting my spirit), and whatever misc. others such as raspberry leaf or bergamot. A trick to cover up the earthy taste is to add whole cloves. The herbs in the basket can be used once or even twice and it will still be a healthful infusion.

Lately I include an herbal blend my daughter gave me for Mother’s Day that is super nutritive with calendula and nettles. Calming, nutritive, energizing, sedating …. the list of medicinal qualities (and scientific terminology) of tea goes on and on and on.

How About You?

So I ask dear reader, what do you have growing that you could harvest and process? Removing leaves from stems takes minutes, and leaving them on a plate for a week or two till dry is the simple process. You would be surprised how many plants have medicinal benefits from rose petals to violets to pine needles. See plant, use “picture this” app to identify, look up its’ benefits with google or chatGPT. Just make sure you grab properly identified stuff that has not been exposed to chemicals or dog peeeeeee. Can you find a nice little jar for storage and make a cute little label out of masking tape or a small piece of colored paper? Do you have a basket to steep those leaves in? Did you look up the medicinal benefits? Sweet you, do you feel better?

Refine