This past fall I harvested a lot of my herbs for warming winter teas. I should have harvested them all summer long, but I got busy and forgot to do it until winter threatened, so I didn’t get as many as I wanted. When I harvest tea I carry a big bowl around with me and snip the fresh herbs. I keep them all separate in small paper bags that I’ve saved.
I picked about 2 pounds of herbs for tea this winter as well as a few savory herbs for seasoning (I also like savory tea on occasion) and some medicinal herbs.
What herbs made it into my harvest bowl?
-Catmint
-Blue Stocking Bergamot
-Anise Hyssop
-Peppermint
-Mountain Mint
-Lemon Balm
-Chamomile
-Lavender
-Greek Oregano
-Fennel Seed
-Genovese Basil
-Broad Leafed Plantain
-Comfrey
I’ve really been enjoying my chamomile that I harvested. I had one volunteer plant that I harvested a good amount of blossoms from earlier in the summer. These few flowers are from a plant I started later in the summer. For some reason I didn’t have much luck with my chamomile this past year, since I love chamomile tea I hope I have a better harvest this coming year! We’ve been drinking a lot of mint tea and I had my first cup of bergamot tea earlier this week as well. We weren’t able to grow all of the tea we drink, but hopefully if I can get a good chamomile harvest this year we’ll only have buy our favorite Traditional Medicinals Teas Lemon Echinacea and everything else will be homegrown.
I also have a few potted herbs that I bring in as houseplants, these include: rosemary, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and chives. All of these we’ve been enjoying in our food this winter.
Do you dry herbs for seasoning & tea?
This is somethng I want to do for this year’s garden: Get more of a sizable section for herbs – both cooking and tea herbs. I dried a bit of basil and oregano this year, but not that much, and not for teas. I can’t have caffeine, so this would be a great way to have something to drink that’s warm and comforting. My rosemary and thyme are still doing well outside, and I’m looking forward to the mints coming back. I’d like to try some of the herbs your mentioned in the post. Any tips on “care and feeding” of them?
That is such a great idea, but until I can really spend time at home harvesting the the things that I do grow for on the table I will have to wait for the teas but I sure will put that down in my books to remember to grow. I bet it is great to be able to have fresh herb tea in the winter.
yes i dry lots of oregano and mint. it is pretty much ubiquitous in turkish and middle eastern dishes. even when the fresh herbs are available the dry is it’s own thing and used along with turkish or aleppo pepper as we would use salt and pepper.
purchased dried oregano or mint taste pretty much like paper flakes, when i dry my own the flavor is not lost.
What a light bulb moment! I’ve not thought of saving for tea! I see the herb garden expanding
I’m with Katie–definitely a light bulb moment! Growing and harvesting my own tea never occurred to me, even though we buy box after box of it. Definitely going to be the first thing I plant when we have a house (and yard) of our own!
I, too, love tea. The Traditional Medicines teas have a permanent spot in my pantry. The ‘Breathe Easy’ is great for bad colds. This will be my first season to try growing my own herbs for tea. I’ve grown them for cooking, but not tea. So excited!
Melissa
I will work on saving more herbs for teas and seasonings this spring and fall. In the past I have really only picked basil to make up basil pesto to freeze and wild cat nip to dry for the three fur balls in our house. This year I hope to do a lot more than that. Great post. Thanks. Emily in So. TX
I’m with all before me… I do harvest herbs to dry and cook with, and I drink lots and lots of herbal tea.
…. and did not make that connection yet.
Off to reorganize the planning!
Thanks so very much for giving us a headstart on this years winter herbal tea!
If you buy a lot of commercial herb teas, it might be an idea to look at the ingredients and see what the manufacturer is adding for flavour. Otherwise, drinking single herbs as teas, or a combination can be a bit of a shock to the palate!. Commercial herb teas often have hibiscus or rosehips to add sweetness. You can get around this by making a decoction with your own dried rosehips for 20 minutes and then pouring the strained liquid onto your herb leaves for ten minutes. Remember to cover your tea while it is brewing to make sure you don’t lose all the aromatic oils in the steam. A nice way of flavouring herb teas is to add spices to the tea – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, especially during the winter. One of my winter favourites is actually flax seed tea – a teaspoonful of seed with cinnamon quill and orange peel boiled in a pint or so of water until the water has evaporated by half, then sweeten with honey and drink. Nuts are good to make teas with as well – hickory nuts and shells or hazel and walnuts. Don’t make a comfrey tea unless you have researched PSAs and have made your own decision to use the herb internally for a medicinal reason rather than a social one. Plantain can also be quite bitter if you’re not used to it.