While making tea from a tea bag is easier, the strength and quality of the aroma are lost due to ground or broken leaves.
To protect the tea’s superior taste and aroma, it’s best to make and store your own tea blends. This way, you can best enjoy teas that are tailored to your preference.
Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a unique blend of your own in the process too.
Making your own herbal tea blends only requires a number of things such as sealable and airtight jars, labels and a list of places to source your herbs from. Of course, it’s always better if you manage to grow some of the tea herbs at home.
Here are some tea blends you can enjoy:
1. White Peony Spice tea
This white peony spice tea gives a tangy and spicy taste, perfect for a quick pick-me-up in the evening or on rainy days. The peppercorn adds a hearty and spicy note while the dried strawberries give a light sweet, tangy flavour. This tea contains caffeine.
Ingredients
-> 2 spoons of Bai Mudan
-> ½ teaspoon of peppercorn
-> 1 teaspoon of dried strawberries
-> A pinch of safflower
2. Green tea blends
Due to the green tea’s subtle flavours, you can add extra mild and natural flavourings to enrich the taste. To counteract bitter flavours, you can add a dash of fresh lemon juice or lemon slices to the tea. For a spicy note, green tea goes well with ginger. The green tea can be refreshing too by adding mint leaves.
Ingredients (for spicy notes)
-> 2-3 teaspoons of green tea powder
-> 2-3 fresh ginger slices or grated ginger
-> Optional: Add a preferred sweetener
Ingredients (for something refreshing)
-> 2-3 teaspoons of green tea powder
-> A few fresh mint leaves
-> Optional: Sweeten with your preferred sweetener
3 Rosy morning tea
This floral tea will perk you right up in the morning. Set against Darjeeling and rose petals, the addition of Assam tea gives a malty aftertaste without sacrificing any of the other flavours.
Ingredients
-> 2 -3 teaspoons of Darjeeling
-> ½ - 1 teaspoon of rosebud petals (less is more)
-> 3-4 teaspoons of Assam tea
4. Apple Pie Herbal tea
Drinking this herbal tea is like having a dessert in a cup. This tea blend is suitable for children to consume as well, because it’s caffeine-free. The Apple Pie Herbal tea will be a hit during weekend brunches with the family.
Ingredients
-> 2 spoons of Rooibos tea
-> 1-2 teaspoons of dried apple
-> 1 inch of cinnamon stick
-> ½ inch of vanilla pod
-> Optional: Add white chocolate drops for a creamier and sweeter tea.
5. Calming chamomile blend
Chamomile is an amazing calming drink, especially for soothing stomach issues. A chamomile blend is also caffeine-free, so it can be enjoyed in the evenings too. While some people prefer to have it chilled, it’s best enjoyed hot.
Ingredients
-> 2 spoons of dried chamomile
-> ½ teaspoon of dried liquorice root
-> 1 teaspoon of dried ginger root
-> Alternative: For a sleepy blend, replace ginger with valerian root.
This article was first published in theSun Buzz Health-Tea edition. If you like to know more about drinking tea, check out the right way to brew your tea to extract the best flavours and the 10 healthy tea benefits that are backed by science.
