Create and Brew Your Own Herbal Tea Blends

[Music] hello friends heidi here from rain country god is good all the time well i'm getting ready to prepare my pot of tea that i'll be brewing later tonight and i thought i'd take you through the process it's super easy but the main thing i wanted to focus on because i have tons of herbal infusion slash tea recipes out there that i'll link to that whole playlist down below and the way that i brew my teas now more currently has changed since i first started my channel almost five years ago and that is because i've learned more about these things and the best way to brew your teas now the most common way that people will brew their teas whether they're using dried herbs or fresh herbs which is what i'm doing today usually when i've got the herbs coming in i'm using them fresh that's my favorite way when it comes to my teas but i do dehydrate up a lot for teas through the winter but the most common way is to heat your water first when you're talking delicate herbs like all the things that i have in this colander that i'll be talking about in just a minute you heat your water first then you pour the hot water over the herb and let it steep and then you can strain it out the way i do it is a little bit different but it's still a matter of being careful when you're talking delicate herbs which is pretty much going to be anything like flowers and leaves you've got to be careful not to overheat it and that's why most people will do the heating the water first then pouring over the herbs but when you're talking things more woody things like roots or like i have here i have some marshmallow root from my garden or the astragalus i'm growing it this year but i don't this is a root that i bought or your spices like star anise allspice cloves or cinnamon sticks even dried orange peels these are all things that i would simmer you can actually simmer it down and make a decot what they call a decoction which is you keep simmering it down until it's very very condensed but that's something you only want to do with more woody items again roots and your hard spices like that so let me talk about what i've got in here and i'm going to show you how i do my pots of tea because i don't i'm not making myself just a cup i make a whole pot at a time and i think i figured out this is about a quart i found this silver teapot it is vintage and i actually have a video on this that we'd figured out where it came from i bought it at a garage sale paid five dollars for it because i knew by looking at it was worth it uh but i did a video just on that that's kind of interesting so i'll put that video in the description box down below if you'd like to learn more about it but i should have patrick polish it up for me again it does get a little tarnished and stained over time when it comes to my mints like lemon balm and peppermint this is usually how much i'll use in that pot and i'll put it directly in there i usually like to add now to most of my teas whether it be peppermint or whatever it is lavender leaf i usually like to put in a couple of if they're small like they are right now because of the time i'm shooting this i want to make this clear because this is going to not publish until june i'm shooting this video on april 29th so right now my comfrey leaves are more most of them are on the smaller side so when they're this size i usually put in two of those and then when i get the bigger leaves coming in i'll put in one just one of those leaves comfrey tea is really good for you now you can make any of these teas by themselves you can do a dandelion flower tea you can do a lemon balm tea you can do nettle tea you can do comfrey tea you can do them all separate and i do recommend whenever you're trying a new herb for a tea try it by itself first then try mixing i always like to mix part of the reason i do that is i like the benefits i'm getting from some of these different roots or herbs but i may not care for the flavor of it by itself and so then i like to mix them in with things that i really that either have a real strong flavor or i just really like the flavor of and lemon balm is one of those and as is peppermint so i'll mix some of the real healthy herbs that are healing and nutrient dense i'll put those in with these other things now dandelion flowers do make a tasty tea by themselves and also very nutritious but i just tend to throw a handful of those in looking inside the pot you can see it's pretty full of herbs and this is how i like to do that and then what i'll do is i'll take you want to use some kind of clean water in most cases it's best to to avoid if you're on city water avoid consuming your city tap water if you're able to especially if it has fluoride in it i mean if you don't have any other choice then at least try to dechlorinate your water before you use it and i have a video on how you on them several different ways to de-chlorinate your water but anyway simply i simply take this is filtered rain water so we collect and filter our own rain water and we have a video just about this if you'd like to watch that i'll go ahead and link to it down below along with the other ones and i just pour that water right over the top of the tea and yes you can use distilled water you can use store-bought water just please pay attention to what you're buying at the store i mean you got to do the best you can and not everybody has the a way to collect and filter rain water or to even filter their city tap water and sometimes you just got to do what you got to do but especially if you're trying to heal your thyroid it's really important you get away from fluoride as much as you can when you're buying distilled water from the store read the label because distilled water is not supposed to have anything in it you should be able to take a tds meter to your distilled water that you're buying and it should read zero there shouldn't be anything in it however a lot of the store-bought distilled waters are adding things some even go so far as to add fluoride to them so make sure you're reading the labels and seeing what they're adding in there now it could be healthy things and if that's the case then yeah it'll be fine for making tea so anyway i top that off with the wat with the water like that and then in the case of your del my delica herbs i will usually put this if i'm doing it on the wood stove this does not go directly on the wood stove it goes on a trivet a cast iron trivet and then on the wood stove there and i let it heat slowly now on a day like today where i've got lots of sun and i'm able to use the solar power i use hot plates connected to solar power i'll put the heat on either low to medium depending on the hot plate because i have a couple of different brands they all have different strengths and so it depends on which one i'm using on where i'll set the heat if i'm putting it directly on the heat source like that then i always time it and i get familiar with how long it takes for that to get it very hot and then i'll turn it down as low as i can just to keep it warm and then let it steep and the reason i do that is because i'm usually in the evenings is are when i drink it hot so patrick and i will usually have at least one cup and whatever's left the next day like i have right here this is the same tea that i made i'm making right now that i made last night and i topped off my cup with what was left in this pot before i rinsed it out and then did all this here and then this i'll drink today i'll be drinking it right after this video is done and so that's what i do and i drink it cold i like it cold during the day especially on warmer days i'll drink it cold like that i don't need to heat it up this method is a little trickier because you really got to be paying attention to it when you're using your delicate herbs because you can easily overcook your herbs and what's going to happen is if they get too hot or overcooked it's going to deplete the nutrient and medicinal value in those herbs and it will also change the flavor i can always tell when i wasn't paying attention let my peppermint or lemon balm tea get too hot and the flavor changes completely the peppermint takes on it loses all its minty flavor and it takes on a very odd flavor i would i would say kind of more that green flavor like you might get from a nettle tea but it's not that pleasant at all and so i know what i've done is i've just probably destroyed the the any of the benefits i could be getting from that so i've learned from trial and error to really pay close attention when i'm doing it this way i just prefer doing it this way because i like to throw all that stuff in there put the water in and then just let it get hot and then steep for a while i like my tea very strong as strong flavored as i can get it the best way to do that is to use more herb though than to try to cook it longer because cooking it longer will destroy it and and make it not taste good so pay close attention if you're gonna use the method i'm using now again coming back to your woodier herbs and spices it's okay to do that it's okay to simmer it to put it on there and let it get hot in fact the more you cook it the more you're gonna actually release the benefits within those items like that so it just depends on what you're using by the time you're watching this video i'm gonna be taking the two t's i'll be making most through from june and on is peppermint with a little bit of comfrey for the benefits of that and the lemon balm mixed with the orange mint because by that point i'll have the orange mint and i really like the way the orange mint tastes mixed with the lemon balm so those will be the two i'll be making most of the summer in the winter is usually when i make my spicy teas if you're wanting to do a blend of let's say i want to throw a cinnamon stick in here well what i would do first or even the astragalus root or the marshmallow root because maybe my throat because you know some of you know about my vocal cords and why i sound the way i do and sometimes my voice will sound rougher on some videos and if i feel my throat needs more of that soothing especially my vocal cords because they've they've had a hard life i'm telling you well i've been singing most of my life and then when i had to give that up because of the nodules on my vocal cords then it was i was still teaching whether it be dance martial arts and now youtube and so i put a lot of stress on my vocal cords so the marshmallow root i'll sometimes throw in there what i do now is i'll take those woody items and i'll simmer them first then i'll go back it's nice and hot by that point anyway then i'll go back and add my more delicate herbs whether it be pansy flowers dandelions red clover any of their your mints anything like that and then add those in and then just let it steep and remove it from the heat or put it up on the trivet or turn the heat down as low as i can to keep it from just to keep it warm without allowing it to continue to cook at that point so that's just the way i do it again uh you might want to stick with the tried and true method of pouring the hot water over your herbs if you're using delicate herbs and then the other thing i wanted to share is once you know what herbs are safe for you uh for us most herbs are going to be safe we don't have allergies that we have to worry about the herbs that we take we don't have any ailments we are not on any medications and so i will mix herbs all the time and try different things and so i can do that i can safely do that now if you're on medications or if you're pregnant or you have certain types of ailments you may want to look into each individual herb and find should i be drinking this or taking this herb on a regular basis or at all before you start mixing your herbs together but if you know you can handle any of those herbs then just start trying it out seeing what you like like here's an example that i keep meaning to get around to but if you're a menopausal woman whether you be that you're past that point or you're entering menopause a good tea blend would be something like pineapple weed red clover raspberry leaf because these are all very beneficial these are also beneficial to women who are in childbearing years so that's an example blend them together try it out but make sure it's going to be safe for you because i cannot tell each individual person what herbs or herb combination is best for you i can only share with you what i do and i'm always experimenting with my herbs i'm always mixing and matching different things it just like using the lavender leaf lavender leaf makes a delicious tea but again i still like to mix it with other things and i talk about it in some of those recipes in that playlist that i'll be putting in the description box down below and then one more thing i want to say is that as you can see i really don't measure my herbs i go by sight i just throw things in there again by experience according to how much of that certain flavor i want in there and when it comes to the mints i usually pile those in there heavy and then go a little lighter on the roots because i don't really care for that that very rooty flavor and i don't really care for the taste of nettle tea by itself but i don't mind nettle mixed in with my other herbs i love to eat nettle i love to cook it up and saute it it's so good but i just don't really care for plain nettle tea for some reason so just experiment don't be afraid to try mixing things there's there doesn't have to be this scientific method that you follow it's mostly about again finding out what's best for you what's safe is for you and making sure you don't overcook your delicate herbs okay well i hope you enjoyed this video and found it helpful and go ahead and share with us down below what are your favorite herbal tea blends to drink just share with us down below and if it's specific for helping you with different things like allergies thyroid problems or whatever then share that too so people can learn from you as well all right well thanks for watching take care and god bless

Channel: Rain Country

Views: 3,157

Rating: 4.9911699 out of 5

Keywords: traditional, old-ways, Health, Garden, Frugal, Homesteading, Self-Sustainability, Cooking, DIY, Homemade, natural-living, herbs, prepping, preparedness, food storage, preserving

Id: AR_kSG67j6s

Length: 14min 40sec (880 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 10 2021