Can't concentrate on work? Do you constantly drink coffee, but the effect is minimal? Not able to fall asleep quickly and have a good night's sleep 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 growing. The recipe for such teas based on natural herbs is incredibly diverse, as is the effect of their use: some are filling, others are, others are tonic, others are soothing - all the effects are difficult to count.
Be that as it may, aromatic drinks are very beneficial for human health, since they improve health and have a beneficial effect on one’s 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 beneficial 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 aromatic 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 beneficial properties. It is in these small fruits that a huge amount of vitamins and microelements is concentrated. In terms of vitamin C, these berries are 2 times superior to their closest “competitor” - black currants. Every 100 g of this product contains at least 800 mg of vitamin.
What is good for the body:
- perfectly resists inflammatory processes;
- helps improve metabolism;
- eliminates problems with high blood pressure;
- strengthens blood vessels and improves their elasticity.
Brewing: 20-30 mg of dried rose hips should be crushed. Then these ingredients are placed in a thermos, 400-500 ml of boiling water is poured in and allowed to steep for 1 night. The drink is consumed after straining. Drink 30 minutes before meals.
Used hundreds of years ago, beneficial and fragrant herbs are today regaining their well-deserved popularity. More and more people who care about their health prefer natural herbal drinks to the usual tea or coffee. What types of herbal drinks are there and how can you prepare them at home?
Efficacy and Application
In Rus', herbal teas were popular until the end of the 18th century, until Chinese long tea was imported here. For centuries, people independently prepared and drank daily warming, medicinal and pain-relieving drinks, the recipes of which were kept in every family.
Conventionally, drinks made from plants, flowers, fruits, and roots can be divided into two types:
- medicinal tea;
- herbal teas for every day.
In the first case, we mean herbal preparations from several types of raw materials, designed to solve existing health problems. So-called fragrant herbs that do not have a systemic effect on the problem and have weak medicinal properties are suitable for use every day. These include drinks with oregano, mint, lemon balm, sweet clover and other aromatic plants or flowers.
Medicinal tea is drunk on the recommendation of a doctor, in courses in a certain dosage. Since the beneficial components from the drink accumulate over time, their effectiveness increases with each new cup. When treating in this way, mandatory breaks between courses must be arranged.
If the problem is mild, a herbal drink will help smooth out its manifestations. For more serious diseases, drinks from medicinal plants are used as an additional remedy to drug treatment.
Mint is most often used to flavor tea.
The most popular Russian herbal tea is Ivan tea, or fireweed. It was first harvested in the town of Kaporye, not far from St. Petersburg. This immune-strengthening, tonic and aromatic drink was supplied to the UK for a long time and was one of the important export goods of the Russian state.
Today, the traditions of making and consuming fireweed are being renewed and many hobbyists are preparing, fermenting and drying it themselves. Tea is harvested during the flowering period. Both leaves and blooming flowers are collected.
Useful herbs
Tea can be prepared at home in different ways, because there are a great variety of plant materials for these purposes. You can add a few leaves or inflorescences of aromatic plants to a regular brew. This way the tea will acquire new notes and benefit the body. Drinks consisting of beneficial herbs, the purpose of which is treatment, do not include tea leaves.
To prepare an aromatic tea drink at home, you can add aromatic tea herbs to the teapot:
- oregano;
- sage;
- mint;
- currant leaves;
- spiraea;
- heather;
- lavender;
- sweet clover;
- chamomile;
- Linden;
- clover.
These tea herbs have a pleasant aroma and give the infusion a beautiful color and light flavor. If you harvest plant materials yourself, you need to be careful with the names of fragrant herbs. In folk medicine and official reference books they often differ.
Names of herbs with medicinal effect:
- St. John's wort;
- strawberries;
- anise;
- tricolor violet;
- primrose;
- bear ears;
- cowberry;
- tansy;
- sagebrush;
- chamomile;
- black elderberry;
- thyme.
This is a very modest list of useful herbs that are most often used in medicinal mixtures. Some of them can be planted on your own plot, others will have to be collected in the forest and meadow. Mint, lemon balm, chamomile and wormwood feel good in the garden. Thyme, tarragon, fennel and others can grow.
How to properly collect plants for tea? They all gather on a clear day in the morning after the dew has disappeared. It is believed that the maximum strength in plants is concentrated during their flowering period, and at the very beginning. It is this moment that needs to be seized when collecting field herbs for tea.
After collecting the herbaceous parts, they are dried in a shaded, ventilated area. The raw materials must be turned periodically so that there is no rot and it dries better. After 3-4 days, it can be placed in linen bags and stored at room temperature away from odorous foods. All aromatic and fragrant herbs are stored in glass or other hermetically sealed containers so that they do not absorb other odors and lose their own.
Fruits and roots
Healthy herbal teas consist of more than just plants and flowers. These are also numerous fruits, roots and tree bark, which contain many biologically active components. Most often, herbal tea includes:
- rose hip;
- blueberry;
- currant;
- cowberry;
- cranberry;
- apples;
- plum;
- Rowan;
- dandelion roots;
- burdock roots;
- bark of rowan, buckthorn, oak, bird cherry.
Before adding dried fruits to tea, they are crushed in a mortar and only after that they are placed in a teapot and filled with hot water. You can drink such drinks every day, because they are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, pectins and other useful components. You can give berry decoctions to children instead of regular compote.
If the collection includes roots and bark, they are prepared in a special way. It is usually practiced to prepare an infusion in a water bath, when the plant material is filled with cold water and simmered in a water bath for 15 to 30 minutes. Later, the infusion is filtered, its volume is adjusted to the desired volume and drunk in the indicated dosage.
The roots and bark have healing powers that are more intense than herbs and fruits. They often contain glycosides, tannins, phytoncides, and astringent components. A prominent representative of such drinks is an infusion of oak bark, which has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent and wound-healing properties. It is recommended to drink it instead of tea for diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract, and digestive problems. Suitable for rinsing and external use.
Cooking recipes
A lot of herbs have healing powers of varying intensity. Some can be brewed regularly to obtain a tasty drink, while others are added in a calculated dosage. If tea is prepared from herbs, it is poured with slightly cold boiled water. Steep boiling water is not suitable, as it destroys some useful elements and provokes complete evaporation of essential oils. The infusion time is on average 10 minutes, the prepared drink is drunk fresh.
Recipes for every day
The most popular vitamin drink for daily use is rosehip tea. Dry fruits are used to prepare it. If the drink is prepared in a cup, grind the rose hips in a mortar and 1 tsp. raw materials are poured with hot water. Leave for 15-20 minutes. You can also prepare tea by brewing it in a thermos. To do this, pour whole fruits with hot water, close the lid of the thermos and leave for 3-4 hours. You can keep the infusion all night, then in the morning it will acquire a beautiful color and rich taste with a slight sourness.
Rosehip is rich in vitamin C and does not cause allergies
Recipe for tea from herbs and berries:
- Prepare a mixture of equal quantities of leaves and fruits of currants and raspberries.
- 1 tbsp. l. Pour hot water over the mixture and leave for 30 minutes.
Delicious tea for every day is made from blackberry and birch leaves, which are combined in a ratio of 8:1. An additional ingredient can be blackberries or raspberries. A drink made from dried blueberries and mint has an original taste. Rose petals are also often added to tea. They are taken fresh or dried, first filled with cold water, allowed to brew for 1-2 hours, and then the infusion is brought to a boil and simmered for 2-3 minutes. The tea is amber in color and very aromatic.
What herbs can be combined with each other for daily use? These are fireweed and rose, cherry and birch leaves, mint and sage, lingonberries, blueberries and currants. If a tea collection is prepared for cold consumption, then the berry and fruit component should predominate in its composition. On the contrary, hot drinks should contain more herbal components.
Medicinal teas
Medicinal drinks can be soothing, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, vitamin, help in the treatment of the reproductive, genitourinary, cardiovascular, and digestive systems.
Recipes for herbal teas with sedative and calming effects:
- Take 10 g of motherwort herb, mint and valerian root. Pour hot water, leave for 15 minutes. Drink 2 times a day after lunch.
- Take 10 g of lemon balm and speedwell leaves, 30 g of strawberry leaves and 40 g of rose hips. A homogeneous mixture in a volume of 1 tbsp. l. pour 250 ml of hot water, leave for 15 minutes and drink similarly to the first recipe.
- Take chamomile, linden and mint flowers in equal proportions, pour 1 tbsp. l. mixture with water, leave for 10-15 minutes. Drink before bed.
The tea mixture for weight loss can be used while on a diet. It will help regulate internal metabolic processes and improve overall condition. To prepare it, take 30 g of buckthorn bark and nettle leaves, 10 g of calamus and mint. For one serving of drink, 1 tsp is enough. mixtures. Drink 2 glasses during the day. You can add spices to such weight loss drinks to stimulate metabolism. For example, ginger.
Buckthorn bark is included in numerous weight loss preparations.
Multivitamin tea from rose hips, parsley seeds, rowan, and currant leaves is drunk half a glass a day on an empty stomach. The volume of ingredients is arbitrary; you only need to limit the number of parsley seeds, as it may not give a very pleasant taste.
Herbal infusions for tea intended to meet the vitamin needs of pregnant women.
- Take 1 tsp. dried rose hips and currant leaves. Pour 400 ml of water and drink 100 ml 3-4 times a day.
- Take 1 tsp. rowan and rosehip fruits, add 500 ml of water, leave for 30 minutes, drink in small portions throughout the day.
How to properly brew herbal tea, create infusions, combine ingredients - all these questions must be studied before you begin to put them into practice. Any plant material may not always be beneficial at a certain level of health. Teas for children and people with chronic diseases are especially carefully prepared. They are too sensitive to the entry of complex active components into the body.
It’s worth returning to the roots, and it’s even nice to harvest fragrant and healthy plants and fruits. This is another reason to take a break from the bustle of the city and commune with nature.
Hello, dear readers and friends!
I remember how once as a large family we drank tea from garden leaves in the summer at the dacha. We collected the leaves of all the fruit and berry crops growing in our area, brewed them in a large teapot and enjoyed. We could drink several glasses because it was so delicious! And even more so in the heat and after working in the beds.
Now my life is a little different, but I still love tea made from fresh leaves of garden plants and often drink it in the summer. True, I don’t prepare leaves for the winter, except mint, but in vain. I want to correct this situation; I will stock up on fruit and berry leaves with you.
On winter evenings with frost and winds, they will come in handy. Let's brew currant or raspberry leaves in a porcelain teapot and remember summer, and at the same time treat a cold.
From the leaves of which garden plants is tea prepared?
Raspberry, strawberry, currant, apple and cherry leaves can perfectly replace regular tea in the country.
Most often they are used. You can also brew tea from the leaves and berries of rosehip, hawthorn, strawberry, blackberry, lingonberry, rowan, as well as fireweed, mint, lemon balm, birch, nettle, dandelion, and tea 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 they contain protein, sugar and fats, so they are very nutritious, in addition, they have healing powers and a pleasant aroma.
If you drink tea from garden leaves more often in summer and winter, the cost of buying regular tea will decrease, and the tea will be varied, tasty and healthy, unlike tea, which you absolutely cannot drink!
Tea made from strawberry leaves has a very pleasant aroma, and most importantly, it is very healthy, as it contains vitamin C, just like tea from black currant leaves is aromatic and very tasty.
Tea made from black currant leaves is useful for gastritis and colds.
Tea made from birch leaves, blackberries and lingonberries stimulates the excretion of urine from the body.
Tea with nettle leaves cleanses the blood, improves liver and kidney function, and is useful for anemia.
Raspberry leaves are wonderful.
A decoction of clover flowers restores the body's 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 garden. Mint helps treat neuroses and angina pectoris, has a choleretic, sedative and analgesic effect. Tea with mint leaves helps relieve headaches, lowers blood pressure, and stimulates the heart. Mint tea will invigorate you in the morning and give you relaxation in the evening.
Dried mint can be put into a beautiful bag (sachet), hung above the head of the bed and you will forget about insomnia forever.
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 deficiency.
If roses grow in your garden, collect and dry their petals; roses greatly enhance the tea and give it a delicate aroma.
When to collect leaves for tea
The leaves, flowers and stems of plants are of greatest value at the beginning of flowering. This is the best time to collect them for tea.
Since the flowering time of all plants is different, we can collect them all summer.
Leaves of birch, currant, cherry, strawberry, and lingonberry are collected in May-June.
In June - July it will be possible to collect leaves and flowers of raspberries, blackberries, thyme, clover, and fireweed.
And the time for collecting flowers of calendula, mint, chamomile is July-August.
Collecting leaves for tea should be done in the first half of the day after there is no longer dew.
You should not collect leaves of different plants in one pile, even if you later intend to make tea mixtures from them.
Collect and dry each plant separately.
How to dry leaves for tea
There is no need to wash the leaves.
Drying tea leaves 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 wilt, turn them over and stir 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.
Fried leaves darken and, when brewed, give a more appetizing and aromatic infusion.
The leaves can also be dried rolled into a tube. Tea made 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 rolled into tubes, covered with a damp cloth (towel, burlap) and left for 3-10 hours. During this time, a fermentation process occurs, which contributes to a particularly rich aromatization of the leaves.
The leaves rolled into a tube are dried in the shade with mandatory air access. Place in well-closed, moisture- and air-tight wooden or clay containers for storage, paper boxes or bags, glass jars.
How to make tea from leaves
Fresh or dried leaves can be used in tea leaves alone or in mixtures.
You can add garden leaves when brewing black or green tea. This is exactly what I do most often and love. Very convenient, and every time the tea has a new taste.
Tea is prepared at the rate of 1 teaspoon of dry leaves per 1 glass of water.
They set the water to boil and monitor it. As soon as it becomes white (bubbles appear), turn off the water, pour it into a cup and add tea from dry leaves so that it is completely immersed in water. Close the lid and leave for 3-5 minutes.
In the summer, I especially don’t 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 pleasure and pleasure!
Leaf tea recipes
In principle, the technology described above is suitable for brewing almost all leaves. But you can experiment, make blends, brew tea in a thermos. Here are some leaf tea recipes.
Rose hip leaf tea
Not only leaves, but also twigs and rose hips are suitable for making tea. Brew a pinch of dry leaves and branches with a glass of boiling water, leave for 5 minutes, add a teaspoon to the aromatic drink, but not sugar!
Black tea with raspberries and currant leaves
Take 1 teaspoon each of black long tea, dried raspberries, black currant leaves, oregano. Brew one spoonful of the mixture with a glass of boiling water.
Tea made from blackcurrant leaves, blueberries and stoneberries
Brew three tablespoons of the mixture with half a liter of water in a thermos. Leave to brew for 2 hours.
This tea is well absorbed by the stomach, it cleanses the body of toxins, reduces cholesterol and blood sugar, treats kidneys, housing and communal services, anemia, and acute respiratory infections.
Blend of garden leaves and herbs
It’s even more interesting to make tea from a mixture of different leaves and herbs. It turns out to be especially aromatic and doubly or even triple useful.
Leaves of several plants are used for blending. Select them according to your taste. But, if you have no experience, at first it is better to take no more than 4-5 components; you can start preparing tea from leaves of 2-3 types.
Before making tea from the leaves, they are collected and mixed, placed in a jar and allowed to become 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.
You can infuse tea from fruit and berry leaves for longer, but the healing properties will increase significantly. But to prevent the tea from getting cold when it is kept for a long time, it is convenient to brew it in a thermos. Although you can drink this tea cold. Both hot and iced garden leaf tea are excellent
Herbal medicinal teas, tinctures, uzvars and decoctions came to us from ancient times. People have long used the magical power of medicinal plants to prevent and treat illnesses, increase immunity and improve health. Each housewife was a bit of a witch and knew how to properly use the generous natural gifts: herbs, berries, flowers, leaves and roots. Ancient recipes for aromatic herbal teas are still used with pleasure by people.
You can prepare delicious and healthy herbal teas yourself at home. The ability to correctly select and combine natural ingredients will help you get continuous benefits and pleasure from the aromatic drink.
A selection of the best herbal teas according to ancient recipes:
1. Healing chamomile tea. Sunny chamomile flowers contain salicylic, nicotinic acid, vitamin C, essential oils, pectins, carotene, gum, proteins and flavonoids. Chamomile tea has a calming, diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and sedative effect. Warm chamomile infusion will help cope with insomnia, stress, overwork and depression. Mix two tablespoons of dried crushed chamomile flowers with a teaspoon of mint and lemon balm. Pour boiling water and cover tightly with a lid. Add a teaspoon of honey to the finished drink.
2. Vitamin herbal tea. Grind a handful of dried wild rose hips. Add a teaspoon each of thyme and strawberry leaves, 1-2 leaves of black or red currant. Pour boiled water over the healing mixture.
3. Winter warming herbal tea. It will help cure colds, increase immunity, and ease breathing and cough. To prepare it, mix sage, chamomile, linden, thyme, coltsfoot, oregano and rosemary in equal parts. Add raspberry, currant leaves, lemon or orange zest. Brew a medicinal herbal mixture in a thermos.
4. Herbal tonic drink. Mix rosemary, Chinese lemongrass, lingonberry and black currant leaves, wild rose flowers, and meadow clover in equal quantities in a glass bowl. Pour 500 ml of hot boiled water into a heaped spoon of the mixture and leave for a third of an hour.
5. Unique eucalyptus tea has the strongest antibacterial properties. Helps with oral diseases, bronchitis and asthma. This is an excellent lifesaver drink for diabetics. Pour a cup of boiling water over a teaspoon of eucalyptus leaves. You can add flower honey to taste.
6. Anti-inflammatory herbal tea. Combine a dessert spoon of dry sage, linden blossom, chamomile and nettle. Brew in a ceramic or glass teapot. Strain after 15 minutes. Add honey and a pinch of cinnamon to the finished drink.
7. Exquisite rose petal tea. Dry fresh rose petals on a thick piece of paper. Then grind them and mix with green or black tea. Brew as usual. The drink will acquire an original taste and divinely delicate aroma.
8. Herbal tea with thyme will invigorate, increase performance, give strength and energy, relieve pain. Pour boiling water over a glass or porcelain teapot. Then add a spoonful of dry or fresh thyme, currant leaves and raspberries. The tea brewing time should not exceed 20 minutes.
9. Ginger tea for weight loss. Finely grate a piece of ginger root. Add half a fresh lemon and a spoonful of coltsfoot. Fill with filtered boiled water. Strain after a quarter of an hour.
10. Soothing herbal tea will help with insomnia, depression and nervous tension. Mix and brew in a thermos a teaspoon of mint, fennel, chamomile, lemon balm, hops, strawberry leaves and valerian.
Prepare and drink fragrant herbal teas with pleasure and be healthy!
Simple changes in diet for the better will quickly affect your health, appearance and vigor. The easiest way to start change is with drinks. Replace sweet sodas with homemade lemonade, and tea and coffee (leaving only a morning cup for those in need of a caffeine awakening) with herbs. Flowers, leaves and plant stems are the healthiest alternative to teas. In addition, it is much more diverse.
Linden
Linden is considered to be a pharmaceutical medicine. And there are reasons for this - brewed tea will help cope with a cold, because it acts as an antipyretic and diaphoretic. It has bactericidal properties, fights inflammation of the oral cavity and stomach, and has a mild calming effect. In the summer, hot tea can make you sweat a little (useful, but not always appropriate in the heat), but chilled tea can easily replace soft drinks and even lemonade; the light natural sweetness from pollen does not require sugar at all.
Chamomile
A popular “cure” for many diseases in folk medicine. Chamomile tea has long been used to treat diseases of the stomach and intestines, mucous membranes, and relieve spasms. Acting as an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent, chamomile also has a cleansing effect on the body. A hot drink increases sweating, and with it unnecessary toxins are released, intestinal function is normalized, which subsequently has a positive effect on the condition of the skin and hair. But you should not overuse this tea - its sedative properties can negatively affect concentration and performance.
Mint
Calms, normalizes blood pressure and relieves pain, eliminates nausea and heaviness in the stomach. Peppermint tea can cope with any discomfort associated with the digestive system. In addition, the menthol contained in the plant is a pleasant cooling bonus, especially in the summer. Interestingly, mint tea is capable of simultaneously doing two seemingly mutually exclusive actions - calming and stimulating brain activity.
Better known as thyme. This herb can often be found in herbal health teas or in detox teas. It envelops, disinfects and gently heals and cleanses the mucous membranes. As a medicine, it is used for bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.
Rose
Tea made from rose leaves, as well as flowers from the entire family from different parts of the planet - hibiscus, hibiscus - is most valued for its red pigment. It contains vitamin P, which is indispensable as a nutrient for the cardiovascular system. This tea increases endurance, strengthens blood vessels, reduces allergic reactions and cleanses. Chilled tea can be used as a mild facial toner.
An unpopular tea, which, however, can be bought in almost any pharmacy. It stimulates appetite, stimulates digestion (while having a mild laxative effect), and has choleretic and anthelmintic properties. This tea is an excellent detox for the liver and kidneys.
Fennel
The greens, dried stems, or even fennel seeds have a powerful cleansing effect on the body. This tea binds and removes toxic metabolic products, various antigens, immune complexes, radionuclides, heavy metal salts, and toxins from the body. Regulates peristalsis and normalizes intestinal motility, acting as a carminative. It is good either alone or in combination with other herbs.
And its Indian variety is tulsi tea. Dried and brewed into tea, the leaves of this basil variety taste like smoky black tea. Without theine in its composition, it is able to invigorate. Izdverna it was considered a powerful adaptogen and immunomodulator.
Spices
You can also add spices to tea - separately or in a mixture. One of the most delicious examples is Indian masala tea. It contains cardamom, cinnamon, dry ginger, cloves, fennel, black pepper; less often - nutmeg or allspice, rose, saffron, anise and licorice. Spices will be useful for poor digestion, general lethargy or drowsiness, and lack of energy. Spices remove waste and toxins, as well as stagnant mucus from the body. Any of the combinations can be added to black tea or coffee (by the way, cardamom reduces the negative effects of caffeine to almost zero). And in combination with milk, such a drink can replace a meal - it will warm, nourish and reduce the feeling of hunger.
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