How to make herbal tea.

Herbal teas are one of the simplest, and oldest ways of including beneficial herbs in your diet and enjoying their therapeutic benefits.

Many herbs, both medicinal and culinary, make excellent and delicious teas. The of making tea itself is seen as an almost magical ritual in many cultures. And a nice cup of tea is still an important part of anyone's day whether you are a Chinese Emperor in a grandiose palace, a desparate mountaineer huddled in a snow hole high up in the stratosphere or a heroic citizen taking a pause from a busy schedule of kids and shopping.

There are basically two tea preparations that can be made from loose herbs, infusions and decoctions.

How to make a basic tea, infusion, tisane or ptisan

1. Add 1-2 teaspoons of leaves, roots, seeds or flowers into a cup

2. Fill cup with boiling water

4. Allow to stew for 5 minutes

5. Drink

Of course you will have to put up with herbs, leaves, flowers and other plant bits in your cup...for a better method, see below.

How to make a perfect herbal decoction.

A herbal decoction is made from the roots, bark, seeds or other tough woody parts of a plant. These herbs won't yield their active ingredients as easily as leaves, flowers or aerial parts and need prolonged heating in order to extract them.

To make a perfect cup of herbal tea decoction for one person you will need a saucepan or coffee pot that can be heated in a stove, 500 ml of spring or filtered water and the required amoun of quality cut, dried herbal roots, bark etc.

1. Add all the water and the herbs to the pan or pot. The exact quantity of herb will vary but a good amount for the average herbal tea is roughly 2 teaspoons

2. Place on a stive and bring the mixture to the boil. Once boiling turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 10 to 30 minutes.

3. Allow the mixture to cool a little then pour through a tea strainer into a cup

4. Drink and enjoy

Herbal tea decoctions can also be made in larger quantities and will keep for 3 days or so if covered and refrigerated.

How to make a perfect herbal tea infusion.

The word 'tea' here is a bit of a misnomer. Tea in this context refers, not to camellia sinensis (who's various leaves are used to make make black tea, green tea and white tea) but to what a herbalist would call an infusion, tisane or ptisan. Making a herbal tea is effectively a method of extracting the active ingredients of a herb into an easy to digest form.

To make a perfect cup of herbal tea for one person,you will need a teapot or cafetiere, 750 ml of spring water (or filtered water will do) and enough top quality cut, dried herb depending on your herb of chioce and how strong you want your tea to be.

1. Bring all the water to the boil

2. Add roughly a third of the water to your empty, clean teapot or cafetiere, replace the lid and allow the vessel to warm for a few moments.

3. Empty the teapot of it's warming water and add the herbs. The amount you add will depend on which herbal tea you are making and how strong you want it but a good amount is usually about 2 heaped teaspoons.

4. Immediately pour over the remaining boiling water (make sure it is still boiling) and quickly and calmly put the lid on the teapot and cover with a tea cosy or other insulating cover.

5. Leave the tea for between 5 and 15 minutes allowing the herbs to infuse into the water.

6. Pour your delicious herbal tea into a clean cup, through a tea strainer and drink.

Larger volumes of herbal tea infusions can be stored for up to 3 days if kept covered and refrigerated