What herbs are added to tea. Herbal tea: a source of health and well-being

Hello dear readers and friends!

I remember how once as a big family we drank tea from garden leaves in the summer at the dacha. We collected the leaves of all fruit and berry crops growing in our area, brewed them in a large teapot and enjoyed. We could drink several mugs, because it was so delicious! And even more so in the heat and after working in the beds.

Now I have a slightly different life, but I still love tea from fresh leaves of garden plants and often drink it in summer. Here, however, I don’t harvest leaves for the winter, except perhaps mint, but in vain. I want to correct this situation, I will stock up on leaves of fruits and berries with you.

On winter evenings with frosts and winds, they will come in handy. We will brew currant or raspberry leaves in a porcelain teapot and remember the summer, and at the same time we will treat a cold.

From the leaves of which garden plants tea is made

Raspberry, strawberry, currant, apple and cherry leaves can perfectly replace ordinary tea in the country.

Most often they are used. You can also brew tea from the leaves and berries of wild rose, hawthorn, strawberries, blackberries, lingonberries, mountain ash, as well as willow tea, mint, lemon balm, birch, nettle, dandelions, teas from fruit leaves.

While natural tea containing theine and caffeine is invigorating or calming, almost all garden leaf teas do not contain such stimulants. But on the other hand, they contain protein, sugar and fats, therefore they are very nutritious, in addition they have healing power and a pleasant aroma.

If you drink tea from garden leaves more often in summer and winter, and the cost of buying ordinary tea will decrease, and the tea will be varied, tasty and healthy, unlike, which you absolutely can’t drink!

Strawberry leaf tea is obtained with a very pleasant aroma, and most importantly, very healthy, as it contains vitamin C, just like blackcurrant leaf tea - fragrant and very tasty.

Blackcurrant leaf tea is useful for gastritis, colds.

Tea from birch leaves, blackberries and lingonberries stimulates the excretion of urine from the body.

Tea with nettle leaves cleanses the blood, improves the functioning of the liver, kidneys, and is useful for anemia.

Raspberry leaves are wonderful.

A decoction of clover flowers restores body cells, and tea with clover smells like honey!

Ivan-tea strengthens the immune system, helps with insomnia and headaches.

Be sure to plant mint in your area. Peppermint contributes to the treatment of neurosis and angina pectoris, has a choleretic, sedative and analgesic effect. Tea with mint leaves helps with headaches, lowers blood pressure, stimulates the heart. Peppermint tea in the morning will invigorate, and in the evening it will give relaxation.

Dried mint can be folded into a beautiful bag (sachet), hung over the head of the bed and you will forever forget about insomnia.

Mint can be added to tea from any garden leaves for flavoring, since not all leaves have a very pronounced tasty aroma, and mint just compensates for this lack.

If roses grow in your garden, collect and dry their petals, the rose greatly ennobles the tea and gives it a delicate aroma.

When to pick leaves for tea

The leaves, flowers and stems of plants are of the greatest value at the beginning of flowering. At this time, it is better to collect them for tea.

Since the flowering time for all plants is different, we can collect all summer.

Leaves of birch, currant, cherry, wild strawberry, lingonberry are harvested in May-June.

In June-July, it will be possible to collect leaves and flowers of raspberry, blackberry, thyme, clover, Ivan-tea.

And the time for collecting flowers of calendula, mint, chamomile is July-August.

Collecting leaves for tea should be done in the morning after there is no more dew.

Leaves of different plants should not be collected in one pile, even if later you are going to make tea collections from them.

Collect and dry each plant separately.

How to dry leaves for tea

Leaves do not need to be washed.

Drying leaves for tea is very simple: spread them on paper or cloth in a thin layer (up to 4 cm) and place them in the shade under a canopy. The leaves should not be exposed to direct sunlight, otherwise they will lose their color and aroma.

When the leaves are withered, they are turned over and stirred from time to time so that they do not cake and sour.

Dry leaves are cut into small pieces (tea leaves) and slightly dried in the shade or roasted in the oven.

Roasted leaves darken and when brewed, they give a more appetizing and fragrant infusion.

Leaves can also be dried rolled into a tube. Tea from such leaves is especially delicious. I found out how to do it.

To do this, the leaves are slightly dried in the shade, then twisted into tubes, covered with a damp cloth (towel, burlap) and left for 3-10 hours. During this time, a fermentation process takes place, which contributes to a particularly rich flavoring of the leaves.

The rolled leaves are dried in the shade with the obligatory access of air. Fold in a well-closing and impervious to moisture and air wooden or clay storage containers, paper boxes or bags, glass jars.

How to make leaf tea

Fresh or dried leaves can be used alone or in mixtures.

You can add garden leaves when brewing black or green tea. This is exactly what I do and love most of the time. Very convenient, and each time tea with a new taste.

Tea is prepared at the rate of 1 teaspoon of dried leaves per 1 glass of water.

Put the water to boil and watch it. As soon as it clogs with a white key (bubbles appear), the water is turned off, poured into a cup and the tea from dry leaves is poured in so that it is completely immersed in water. Close the lid and insist 3-5 minutes.

In summer, I don’t particularly measure the number of leaves, I take one or two fresh leaves of different fruits and berries and brew them with boiling water in a teapot.

And I make it from berries. Sheer enjoyment and enjoyment!

leaf tea recipes

In principle, the technology described above is suitable for brewing almost all leaves. But you can also experiment, make blends, make tea in a thermos. Here are some leaf tea recipes.

Rosehip leaf tea

Not only leaves, but also twigs and rose hips are suitable for making tea. We brew a pinch of dry leaves and branches with a glass of boiling water, leave for 5 minutes, add a teaspoon to the fragrant drink, but not sugar!

Black tea with raspberries and currant leaves

Take 1 teaspoon of black long leaf tea, dried raspberries, black currant leaves, oregano. One spoonful of the collection is brewed with a glass of boiling water.

Blackcurrant leaf tea, blueberry and stone fruit

Brew three tablespoons of the collection with half a liter of water in a thermos. Leave to infuse for 2 hours.

This tea is well absorbed by the stomach, it cleanses the body of toxins, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, treats kidneys, utilities, anemia, acute respiratory infections.

A blend of garden leaves and herbs

It is even more interesting to make tea from a mixture of different leaves and herbs. It turns out especially fragrant and doubly and even triple useful.

The leaves of several plants are used for blending. Pick them up according to your taste. But, if there is no experience, at first it is better to take no more than 4-5 components, you can start making tea from leaves of 2-3 types.

Before making tea from the leaves, they are collected and mixed, put in a jar and allowed to make friends with each other for 3 days.

Pour 2-3 tablespoons of dry leaves into a teapot, pour boiling water and let it brew for 10-15 minutes.

It is possible to infuse tea from fruit and berry leaves for a longer time, while the healing properties will increase significantly. But, so that the tea does not cool down when it is kept for a long time, it is convenient to brew it in a thermos. Although such tea can be drunk cold. Both hot and cold garden leaf teas are excellent.

Can't concentrate on work? Do you constantly drink coffee, but the effect is minimal? Not able to fall asleep quickly and sleep well after a busy day at work? - Pay attention not to the benefits of modern civilization and its products, but to the gifts of mother nature, which can stabilize your condition without the slightest harm to health.

Every day, the number of people who, taking care of their own health, prefer natural ingredients and medicinal herbal decoctions is increasing. The recipe of such teas on natural herbs is incredibly diverse, in fact, as is the effect of their use: some are filled, others, others tone up, others soothe - it is difficult to count all the effects.

Be that as it may, aromatic drinks are very beneficial for human health, as they improve health and have a positive effect on his emotional state. The main advantage of such drinks is that everyone can create an individual herbal bouquet, guided by their own taste and desired effect.

Let's take a closer look at the 10 most useful herbs that are used to make teas, as well as their beneficial properties.

Herbs and teas

From this article you will learn:

Rosehip (wild rose)

To prepare the appropriate fragrant tea, you can use not only rose berries, but also roots, flowers and even leaves. As practice shows, rose hips and tea based on them have the most useful properties. It is in these small fruits that a huge amount of vitamins and minerals is concentrated. In terms of vitamin C, these berries are 2 times superior to the closest "competitor" - blackcurrant. Each 100 g of this product contains at least 800 mg of the vitamin.

What is useful for the body:

• perfectly resists inflammatory processes;
• improves metabolism;
• eliminates problems with high blood pressure;
• strengthens blood vessels and improves their elasticity.

Brewing: 20-30 mg of dry rose hips should be crushed. Then these ingredients are placed in a thermos, pour 400-500 ml of boiling water and let it infuse for 1 night. The drink is consumed after straining. Drink 30 minutes before meals.

Beverages. Then they were pushed aside by teas and coffee, but today they have begun to gain their popularity again. People want to take care of their health, beauty, so more and more people give their preference to herbal drinks. Indeed, unlike ordinary tea, they do not contain caffeine, which negatively affects the state of the nervous system. In addition, these teas have many medicinal properties. This article will introduce you to the main types of herbal teas, teach you how to brew herbal teas correctly so that they do not lose their medicinal properties, give people a pleasant taste and aroma.

What it is?

Herbal tea is a mixture of dried or fresh leaves, flowers, and plant roots. Such teas are more correctly called drinks, because they do not have a tea leaf. There are many varieties of infusions used for various diseases. It is important to remember one rule - you can not take such drinks all the time so that there are no side effects. When buying tea, it is necessary to get acquainted with its composition, as well as the rules of brewing.

The effect of herbal teas

A herbal drink can have a calming, tonic, vitamin, healing effect (anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, etc.). Below we will consider how a particular drink is useful:

• Melissa tea - has a diaphoretic, tonic effect. It is useful to take it for colds, acute respiratory diseases.
• Mint tea is indispensable in summer, as it perfectly quenches thirst. It is also useful for people who want to lose weight.
• Ginger tea with or without mint - helps a person to cheer up in the morning. This is a great alternative to coffee.
• Raspberry drink - helps to reduce body temperature, helps with colds, flu.
• Hawthorn drink. Those who have problems with sleep, then this tea quickly solves them. It perfectly calms the nervous system, reduces pressure, enriches every cell of the body with oxygen.
• Sage drink. It is useful to drink for children who do not eat well. And such a medicinal drink helps with gastritis, cystitis, pyelonephritis.
• Tea from motherwort, chamomile, valerian root (both individually and together) - helps to cope with stress, improves sleep, removes harmful substances from the body.
• Rowan drink. It has analgesic, diuretic, laxative effect.

Contraindications

Despite the fact that herbal drinks have many beneficial properties, they can still harm a person. It is necessary to remember such prohibitions on the use of these drinks:

• It is forbidden to use any herbal infusions for a long time and uncontrollably without the recommendation of a specialist. This rule should be taken especially seriously by parents who give herbal preparations to children.
• Pregnant women are not recommended to use teas that contain thyme, nettle, oregano.
• Mint drink will interfere with conception. And regular intake of such tea worsens sleep.
• With a stomach ulcer, it is forbidden to drink.
• St. John's wort and licorice are not recommended for men. These herbs reduce potency.
• Frequent consumption of sweet clover tea can cause internal bleeding.
• Children under the age of five are forbidden to drink a drink of ginseng (it contributes to the overexcitation of the nervous system).
• Rosehip is bad for teeth, so a decoction of this plant is best drunk through a straw.

When and to whom to drink?

Depending on the time of day, the age of the person, we give the following recommendations about the use of herbal drinks.

When is the best time to drink?

• In the morning you need to drink with herbs, plants: strawberry leaves, lovage, lavender, clover, lemongrass. These plants can be brewed together or separately. In the evening, it is better to take soothing decoctions of such plants as: mint, lemon balm, primrose, chamomile, raspberries.
• In autumn and winter, it is useful to take multivitamin drinks, because in the cold season, everyone's immunity is weakened, it needs additional protection. In this case, the composition of herbal tea should include rose hips, nettles, blackberries, sea buckthorn,. And in summer it is better to drink refreshing drinks, for example, tea from anise, orange blossom, mint, sage, sweet clover.

What kind of tea can be given to a baby?

Small children in the first months of life very often suffer from abdominal pain. To help cope with colic, bloating, many mothers make their own or buy ready-made herbal drinks. For crumbs, drinks made from mint, fennel, and chamomile are useful and healing. These plants contribute to the rapid removal of abdominal cramps, improve digestion, and normalize metabolism. As for soothing herbs, here mothers should consult with pediatricians. You cannot buy such teas for a child on your own.

What tea will help in the fight against excess weight?

Those people who want to lose extra pounds should know that strawberry, raspberry and can help them in this. It is especially useful to use such drinks in the steam room: drink tea between visits to the bath, as well as after it. Due to the fact that these teas stimulate sweating, it will be easier for a person to lose excess weight, because the fat will dissolve and come out with sweat.

Important! With the appearance of a headache, rash on the body, abdominal pain, stop taking herbal tea.

The most useful herbs for making tea

Popular medicinal plants that should be kept in every home:

• Rosehip (fruits, leaves, roots). It boosts immunity, helps to speed up the healing process, fights various kinds of inflammation. You can drink both children and adults. Making such a healing drink is simple: put one spoonful of fruits in a thermos, pour 0.5 liters of hot water over them, leave for a day. Drink warm, 100 ml before meals.
• Chamomile. It is useful for everyone: for children, pregnant women, the elderly. Chamomile tea eliminates the inflammatory process in the body, removes excess fluid, improves the functioning of the endocrine system, and calms the nervous system. This tea is made as follows: pour 2 tsp. dried chamomile 250 ml hot water, cover the cup with a lid. Infuse for 10 minutes, strain. Drink only fresh, because this plant quickly loses its medicinal properties.
• Linden. It has an impressive list of positive qualities. So, linden tea helps to cope with the symptoms and consequences of poisoning, it improves the process of digestion and blood circulation. It is useful for people to drink it during an epidemic of influenza and other infectious diseases, since linden increases the body's defenses. It also relieves fever, eliminates headaches, quickly copes with nasal congestion. A healing drink from linden is prepared easily: pour dried (2 tablespoons) with hot water (250 ml). A thermos is perfect for infusing the drink, you need to infuse the drink for 20 minutes.

Herbal drink for daily use

There are plants, herbs that should not be taken every day, because they can cause allergic reactions, problems of the nervous system, and so on. But there are some types of herbs that you can drink without fear. So, tea for every day can consist of the following ingredients:

• Rosehip, lemon balm, lemongrass.
• Chamomile, cherry and blueberry leaves.
• Cinnamon, raspberry leaves, orange peel.
• Rowan berries, linden, raspberry and / or currant leaves.
• Pear leaves, echinacea, apple trees, pieces of fruits such as: viburnum, lingonberry, hawthorn.

The composition of herbal tea can be different, a person from a huge variety of drinks can always choose the right option for himself.

What to look for when buying an herbal drink?

To buy high-quality tea, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

• Be sure to read the ingredients. This medicinal drink should not contain flavorings. If they are present, then such a product must be discarded.
• Manufacturer's address. Each package of a pharmaceutical herbal drink must contain information about the place where the plants were collected. Herbs must be collected in ecologically clean areas.
• Best before date. It is best to buy a fresh collection. The average shelf life of herbal preparations is 1 year. If he is already more than a year old, then all his useful properties will already be reduced. Expired tea is generally forbidden to use, since mushrooms may already appear in it. In addition, such a drink will have an unpleasant odor and taste.

By the way, if you do not trust pharmacy teas, you can collect your own unique tea from plants, herbs that you find in your area.

How to brew correctly so as not to lose useful properties?

Buying high-quality, fresh herbal tea is only half the way to healing the body. In order not to lose the beneficial properties of tea, you also need to know how to brew it correctly:

• Herbal tea should be prepared with purified water. Therefore, it is better not to use tap water (there is a lot of chlorine in it), it is recommended to use well or spring water. In extreme cases, filtered water is fine.
• You can not pour boiling water over herbs, because it destroys many of the beneficial properties of plants. The optimum temperature is 80–90 degrees.
• When brewing tea, the container must be covered with a lid.
• The herb should be brewed in enameled glassware. It is not recommended to use a metal container, because in this case the drink will lose its valuable qualities.
• You need to brew tea in a preheated bowl (it is enough to pour boiling water over the container).
• The brewing time for leaves and inflorescences is 3 minutes, for hard leaves - no more than 5 minutes, for bark and roots of plants - 10 minutes. But the dog rose must be insisted for at least 8 hours.

Fragrant and tasty herbal teas are loved by everyone: both adults and children, but not every person buys and brews such a drink. But a properly prepared herbal drink can even replace medicines, become an excellent prophylactic against many diseases.

Undoubtedly, tea made from fragrant herbs grown in one's own garden is fundamentally different from tea brewed from store bags or twisted loose leaves of unknown origin.

The herbs that we have collected in this review are ideal for creating unique homemade herbal tea recipes, fragrant and healthy, rich and invigorating or, on the contrary, soothing and helping to restore strength. All of these herbs you can grow on your site.

1. Hyssop

A perennial shrub, remarkably similar in appearance to lavender, has many healing properties. For the preparation of healthy tea, it is best to use the shoots of the plant at the very beginning of their flowering. This tea is great for "calming the mind", especially recommended for reducing tension and relieving headaches. In addition, hyssop is an excellent antispasmodic. Of its unusual properties, it is worth noting that in folk medicine it is used as a remedy for excessive sweating.

Hyssop is unpretentious, grows best in sunny areas and well-drained soil.

1. Verbena Lemon

The Druids called this plant a cure for all diseases, and in later times it was even attributed the magical properties of getting rid of the evil eye and damage. For the preparation of tea, tender leaves of verbena are used. Its consumption improves digestion, relieves joint pain and helps with asthma. It acts as a tonic on the nervous system. And the plant, due to its attractive aroma, is often used in the perfume industry.

Verbena loves the sun and does not survive the cold winters of Central Russia, so in our climate it is grown as an annual. As a perennial, it can be grown in containers or pots.

1. Mint

Among herbal tea lovers, mint is one of the most popular herbs. In addition, it is one of the easiest plants to grow. Grows in almost any soil, in full sun or light shade. It grows easily, so it must be limited. Peppermint tea fights digestive disorders, pain and spasms in the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, mint tea is good for small children, it stimulates appetite, reduces flatulence and has a very refreshing taste.

1. Melissa

Melissa is a relative of the aforementioned mint, but it has a pronounced citrus flavor.

Melissa grows well not only in sunny areas, but also in dry soil and in partial shade. For the winter, the aerial part of the lemon balm dies off, but grows again in the spring. Like mint, it spreads vigorously, so it is best to plant such plants in a plot limited on all sides or, for example, in a leaky bucket that can be dug into the ground. The properties of lemon balm on the body are similar to those of mint.

1. Thyme

Thyme is an effective component of herbal tea that fights gastrointestinal problems, with diseases of the upper respiratory tract. We, for example, often use this tea as an aid when we have a sore throat.

The leaves and flowers of the plant are used to make tea.

Thyme grows well in the sun and in light shade, is not picky about the soil, grows even on poor soil.

1. pharmaceutical camomile

Chamomile is the queen of medicinal herbs. But not every kind will do. Chamomile is considered to be the most useful. Tea with it is traditionally used as a sedative, sleep aid (for those who have trouble sleeping). In addition, chamomile is an excellent antiseptic (you can also gargle with it). It is best to use chamomile flowers to make tea. And the remnants of such herbal tea can be rinsed with hair after washing, this will give them extra shine.

Chamomile loves sandy soils and lots of sun, and requires occasional watering.

1. Jasmine

Jasmine flowers are also suitable for making tea. It can be prepared directly from jasmine or added to green tea, which pairs well with it.

Jasmine, like others, loves the sun.

1. Marjoram

This culinary plant has a juicy, sour taste with a hint of mint. Marjoram tea will help with gastrointestinal diseases, liver diseases, gallstones, intestinal gases and abdominal cramps.

It grows well in full sun but can tolerate light shade and needs loose and well-drained soil.

1. cilantro

Commonly used in cooking, cilantro is also suitable for making tea. To soften the acidity, honey is added to the tea. It removes toxins from the body and prevents indigestion.

Cilantro grows in both full sun and partial shade and is the perfect plant for planters. Cilantro grows in any climate as an annual herbaceous plant.

1. Rosemary

Rosemary tea improves digestion, boosts cognitive function, and acts as an antioxidant to protect the body from cancer and heart disease.

The plant prefers partial shade, light and well-drained soils.

1. Fennel

Fennel tea is very good for digestion, it suppresses irritable bowel syndrome, bloating and flatulence. You can use this tea from the first days of life, which is very helpful for parents of babies who are unwell due to infantile colic. Fennel loves fertile soil, open sunny places or very light shade. Grows without much care. Easily propagated by self-seeding. Can also be grown in pots/containers on balconies and windowsills.

1. Sage

Sage has many medicinal properties, ranging from bactericidal to fighting depression and Alzheimer's disease. He likes moist soil, so care for him involves periodic watering.

1. Basil

Brew basil, add honey and ginger to this tea, and you will get an incredibly healthy and tasty drink, especially for the cold season. This tea will help with asthma and coughs, flu and colds. In addition, the consumption of basil tea lowers blood sugar levels and helps in heart disease. Basil is also used against bad breath.

The plant loves heat and sun. In our climate, it is grown exclusively as an annual.

1. Valerian

I know that cherry and raspberry leaves are harvested for tea. And what other leaf can be put in a teapot and when is it better to collect it?

The question, of course, is interesting, but still not on the construction topic. Although the builders also drink tea. In addition, if they are on a starvation diet or far from civilization, then it is just right for them to make tea from whatever they have to.

As for tea itself, as such, it is, first of all, a drink that was first obtained in ancient times from the leaves of a tea bush that grows wild in the countries of Southeast Asia. It should be noted that with the discovery of these outlandish countries by medieval tourist travelers, tea bushes began to be widely cultivated, in addition to their original places of growth, also in many countries of the world with a favorable climate, including the Krasnodar Territory of our country.

However, over time, the concept of the term “tea” has expanded significantly and has come to mean also just a “hot drink”, and in the general case, an infusion of various plants. Herbal teas are so diverse and give so much scope to the imagination of our witches, healers and amateur connoisseurs that it is even difficult to describe in general terms the composition-recipe of all types of teas. Especially in rural settlements, many ancient recipes have been preserved and an innumerable number of new recipes for herbal, or otherwise herbal, teas have been invented.

It should be especially noted that herbal teas are a delicate matter. To prepare herbal tea, one plant is brewed or several types are taken, making up the so-called tea composition, the drink from which has a more beautiful color, better taste, and also has a stronger biological effect on the body. At the same time, it is necessary to make herbal preparations and brew tea from them, as they say, with love. This, one might say, is a whole ritual, and tea should not be drunk in a hurry and hastily, but with feeling, sense and arrangement, since this is a kind of ritual, moreover, aimed at healing the soul and body. After all, it is not a secret for anyone that tea herbal preparations, in addition to taste, have a general strengthening effect, and can also have some specific narrowly targeted effect on our body.

Collect herbs, leaves, inflorescences, fruits and twigs for a tea drink, as a rule, in dry and clear weather, in the absence of dew drops on them. As can be seen from the list, each vegetable has its own time. So, for example, herbs and leaves can be collected for a tea drink from warm spring days, when buds open and leaves appear, and grasses hatch from the ground. And at this time, from the prepared collection, you can get tea of ​​a completely certain color, taste and aroma. However, if herbs and leaves are also collected for medicinal purposes, then usually herbal collection, depending on the type of plant, begins in May and ends in September. As for flowers and fruits, everything is clear here and so: the buds have gained strength - collect, the fruits have ripened - the harvest. In order for, for example, the fermentation stage to pass from the collected leaves, they should be decomposed for several days in a shaded, ventilated place. In this case, the tea will be more intense.

In addition to cherry leaves, you can brew tea from the leaves, buds and twigs of trees such as birch and linden, pear and apple, pine (buds) and blackthorn, sea buckthorn, mountain ash and viburnum. Among the shrubs, in addition to raspberries, currants and lemongrass, rose hips and blackberries, lingonberries, blueberries and blueberries are also popular, as well as rosemary and lilacs. As for the herbs themselves, here a variety of plants come into play: the same strawberries with strawberries, snakehead and St. which some connoisseurs find the most outstanding, advising to drink it without sugar and any flavorings. Many have probably read or heard that during the harsh war years they also drank carrot tea.

Thus, walking through the garden, you can, with a hand outstretched, collect tea leaves, and walking through the virgin lands, you can say, you trample it with your feet.