Herbals/Tisanes
I personally love true tea and it’s health benefits so I never drink herbals, rooibos, honeybush, or mate alone. I always drink it blended w/ true tea in a ratio of 2 parts (2.25g) true tea to 1 part (1.12-1.13g) tisane or tisane blend. My favorite herbal is ginger root followed by rose hips/petals, mints of all kinds, and lemon grass. What about you?
I like herbals, especially at night. But I do get where you are coming from about the health benefits. Overall, though, at least drinking tisanes are better for me tham my old diet coke habit! Good idea about the blending!
By nite I’m in the middle of steeping leaves so I don’t have caffeine in my tea anyway unless I have a cup of dessert tea. And if my mom has one I give her the 1st one.
What is the shelf life for herbal teas?
I’d say at least a year- maybe longer. No different than dried spices. Provided you keep with the typical tea storage guidelines (this answer’s *SoccerMom*’s question) of keeping it away from light and air.
I was thinking a year or so and like herbs as the smell fades so does the flavor of the tea.
I replaced my peppermint tea today with a fresh box.
Yeah I wasn’t sure if smell or taste was the 1st to go, but if the smell is going the flavor probably is as well. As to not waste it, you might be able to get the same flavor by using more.
Cofftea, I haaave to have my Mate in the mornings not unlike you with your Matcha sometimes I have Mate the whole day through and I love a few flavored Rooibos blends too! I’ve don’t think I’ve mixed black tea with either but I mix Mate and Rooibos alot.
Threewhales, I was wondering the same thing. What is the shelf life of herbals, Rooibos and Mates? I also wonder what is the proper storage for Rooibos and Mates?
I would think that storage for herbals, Rooibos and Mates are no different than other loose leaf teas. Air tight, light out tin. Cool storage area.
if i can still smell the herb it’s good (use this rule for cooking, probably apples to tea as well) e.g. basil, pepermint, sage, chamomile, cinnamon, clove…
I love rose bud. It tastes sweet and looks so romantic :-p
Chrysanthemum is another favorite of mine. I like to use it to make ice herbal tea for parties.
Many other herbal drinks, I mostly boil them to make “soup” instead of “tea”. For “soups”, I love hawthorn (it seems this fruit is not harvested in America but is grown as decoration), dried longan (a sweet Asian fruit), and osmanthus.
In Korean stores, you can find jars of “grapefruit tea”. It’s called tea, but not really tea. It’s grapefruit sliced peels infused in honey. Very delicious! One tablespoon in a cup of hot water makes a great hot drink!
Caffeine really bothers me (I stop drinking caffeinated coffee around 2pm and caffeinated teas around 7 pm) so I’ve recently begun to drink herbals/tisanes. My steepster cupboard is flooded with caffeine-free teas right now and it’s working/helping. I’ve discovered Chamomile helps me sleep while the other herbals/tisanes taste good. Rooibos and Honeybush teas are sweet when I crave something like that in the evening while the Teavana herbals are for when I want something really tart.
I do something like what Gingko reported above – I usually have sliced lemons (sans seeds) in a jar that I filled with boiling water, sealed, cooled and then refrigerated. These sliced lemons make a great “tea” with honey or included in other teas if you like lemons.
Recently, I read a book about herbal teas, so every once in a while, will drop in some fresh herbs that I have in the kitchen (e.g., rosemary, thyme, peppermint, fresh ginger) to my teas in the evening. I also have a nice supply of dehydrated fruits (strawberry, pomegranate, blueberry & raspberry, here http://tinyurl.com/y6jenow ) so I drop a handful of that into my evening decaf/uncaf-teas or herbals. Plus, I have Adagios herbal basics (e.g., lemongrass, here http://tinyurl.com/yyongh5) which I add to different decaf/uncaf teas. My decaf tea right now is Harney & Sons decaf tea sampler (here http://tinyurl.com/y5ev53s) which I use as a base.
I guess necessity (um, sleep deprivation, really) has made me experiment with herbals/tisanes!
I have almost a full bag of Chamomile. I don’t seem to like it. What is it suppose to taste like? Any advice or tips on brewing?
I’ve heard it is supposed to have appleish qualities, but I like apple and do not like chamomile.
I love apples, but have never cared for chamomile:(
I bought it to help me sleep…as it sits on my shelf.
Yeah I bought 3 boxes from Puritan’s Pride (B1G2F sale)… sent them w/ my ex when he walked out.
to me it taste like sweetish flowers shrug i enjoy it but i usually need to cut them with something (rooibos, honey, mint)
Too me, chamomile tastes like sweetened butter… I already have some or I could offer you a trade.
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