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Author:
Jessica Simms
There is nothing quite as refreshing as a nice cup of tea. In fact, many cultures around the world even prefer the beverage to coffee. Much like coffee, certain teas can give you an energy boost to help you keep moving throughout the day.
So, what exactly is tea? To put it simply, tea is a drink that is brewed using hot water and plants. Pretty much every type of tea you can imagine exists, making it my go-to beverage when I want something sweet yet healthy. Tea is a staple of many ceremonies around the world, and different territories often have their own specialty like southern sweet tea.
Depending on the tea you are drinking, it can be quite a healthy drink. There are teas that can help you sleep, help you relax, and even help you concentrate. There are also several different ways for you to make tea; all you need to do is pick which one is your favorite.
The most common tea you will see is the ones made from leaves. This is the tea you will find in premade pouches, and the tea you will usually buy from small tea shops. While tea made from only leaves doesn’t have fruity flavors, there are still a ton of varieties to pick from if you prefer standard teas.
To make your own tea, you need to pick which tea plant you want to grow. There is Camellia sinensis used for making green tea and Camellia sinensis var. Assamica. You can easily grow this plant in a pot as long as you give it plenty of sunlight.
Once the plant is budding, take off the small leaves. You will then want to boil them according to the type of tea you want; usually, this takes no more than two minutes. Once you have finished boiling the leaves, roll them and place them on a baking pan. You should bake the leaves at 215 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes. After five minutes have passed, flip the leaves and then bake them for another five.
To make seed tea, you will need to grow and harvest seeds from the Cilantro plant. Once the leaves have a feathery texture, harvest them with the seeds and allow them to dry out. When you notice the seeds starting to brown, hand them until they are dry.
Once the seeds are ready, take fifteen and grind them up until they are broken into small bits. Add in two dashes of leaves from the same plant. Once you have everything together, you simply need to steep the seeds for around four minutes to make your drink.
You can make tea from virtually any fruit you can think of. To do this, select your favorite fruit and clean it off. Once it’s clean-cut it up into chunks, make sure to remove any cores or peels. You can use a food dehydrator or your oven to dry out the fruit slices, be sure to check how long your favorite fruits take to dry.
Once you are ready to use your fruit tea, simply add it to your favorite teapot and let it steep for around four minutes. Fruit can be mixed in with your favorite teas or even other fruit to create unique flavors. Even exotic fruit like dragon fruit can be made into your next pot of tea.
Like fruit, there are a variety of teas that can be made from flowers like chamomile and lavender. To make a tea of your choice from flowers, you will want to harvest the flowers when they are small and dry them out.
Be especially careful to store flowers in a dry atmosphere where they won’t mold or attract insects. Once they look and feel dry, you can use boiling water to create your tea. Make sure to properly measure out the amount of flowers you are using to make sure the flavor of your tea doesn’t become overpowering.
It’s important to verify flowers before making them into tea, as some plants are harmful. If you aren’t sure what type of plant you have, then avoid making it into tea. Some plants that can be made into tea do have poisonous look-alikes.
Making tea from roots is a bit more complicated; for this recipe, you will need an Echinaceas plant that is at least three years old. To harvest pull up the whole plant and cut the roots off, be sure to leave enough root to regrow your plant.
Be sure to wash the roots off thoroughly and then set them out to dry. Once they are ready, cut them into small pieces and boil them. You will want to use around 1 1/2 cups of water per every two pinches. Let the plants boil for fifteen minutes to create your tea.
As mentioned in the fruit section, don’t be afraid to mix things up. Most roots, flowers, seeds, and fruits do best when mixed together. You should always try to mix in your favorite tea leaves to enhance the flavor.
Many store-bought tea mixes will use several different types of herbs to get their taste. Calming teas will often use both camomile and lavender. Fruit teas often use two or more fruits with leaves to get their taste.
Making your favorite tea at home is a fun and easy process. You can create flavors that aren’t sold in stores or even add in mint to get a holiday-themed drink. The hardest part about making tea is just figuring out where to buy the plant seeds. Don’t be afraid to start with a simple tea-growing kit or buy fruit from your local grocery store.