How to make a herbal brew

[TheLancsLass]

Though this may come in useful for someone!

This is how to make a really good herbal brew (herbal tea or tisan) and to get the best from it :)

'Brew' is the old folklore name for an infusion of herbs (and sometimes barks and fruits) mixed with hot water. We now call these herbal teas but for the sake of trying to keep some tradition for this purpose we will call them brews.

Tips & Helpful Advice

1) Always use china, ceramic, stoneware or glass items for your brew making. Plastic and metal can taint the flavour and also react with some herbs.

2) Always make sure your items are clean. Teapots back in Victorian days were never cleaned properly as it was said to improve the flavour. Utter rubbish, what actually happens is that you would probably just end up with a tummy bug!

3) Spring water or filtered water makes the best brews. You can collect rain water if you wish but make sure you boil it thoroughly before you drink it.

4) Make your teas just before you want to drink it. Don't let it sit for half an hour on the side otherwise you will end up with a stew not a brew!

5) If you are making a refreshing cold tea, make sure you cover your tea in the fridge as the tea aroma can taint other items in your fridge.

Never drink more than 3 'brews' in one day because you can have too much herbal remedies and you really don't want a tummy ache!

How To Make Your Brew

Add your herbs (as per your recipe) to your teapot (or bowl if you do not have a teapot, remember make sure it is clean and make sure it is either china, ceramic, stoneware or glass) and pour a mug full of slightly cooled boiled water over the herbs. Slightly cooled means just leave the kettle for a minute after it has boiled before pouring over your herbs.

Allow your brew to steep and infuse for 5 minutes.

When your brew has infused pour, carefully, the herbal brew, into a clean mug or cup using a strainer.

Drink as soon as you can.