Here are instructions on how we like to prepare our herbal medicinal teas, our herbal coffee, our sun tea, and our herbal powders:
How to Brew Our Tea:
Option One – Quick and Easy
1. Scoop out approximately one tablespoon of herbal mixture to brew 8 ounces of tea.
2. Place herb mixture in the bottom of your tea cup – alternately, you can use a tea ball or tea strainer to neatly contain the herbs.
3. Pour 8 ounces of boiling water over the tea.
4. Allow to steep at least three minutes – we like a good 10 or 15 minute steep personally. Find your own perfect steeping time.
5. You may either remove the herbal mixture at the end of steeping OR allow the tea to continue steeping as you enjoy.
6. Feel free to add a bit of sweeter, milk/alternative, or lemon. Breathe deeply and enjoy!
Option Two – Our Favorite Method
1. Scoop out approximately one tablespoon of herbal mixture to brew 8 ounces of tea.
2. Place herb mixture in the bottom of a clean french press – a standard french press allows for 32 ounces of water and four tablespoons of herb mixture, providing four cups of tea.
3. Pour 8-32 ounces of water over the tea, depending on how many tablespoons of herb mixture you want to brew. Using a french press allows the herbs to circulate and exposes the maximum surface area for the best steep.
4. Allow to steep at least five minutes – we like a good 15 or 20 minute steep personally. Find your own perfect steeping time.
5. Follow steps 5 & 6 from Option One! Enjoy!
Option Three – Iced Tea or Sun Tea
1. Scoop out approximately one tablespoon of herbal mixture to brew 8 ounces of tea, more mixture for more servings.
2. Place herb mixture in a glass for single serving or a jar or pitcher to make multiple servings.
3. Pour the corresponding amount of warm water over the mixture.*
4. Place the container in a bright, sunny spot, allowing the warmth of the sunlight to brew your tea.
5. Steep to taste, we like to steep at least half an hour, but an afternoon is pretty nice, too.
6. After steeping, you may remove the herbal mixture or allow to continue steeping for a stronger flavor.
7. May be stored in the refrigerator and/or poured over ice.
8. Like the first two options, feel free to add a bit of sweeter, milk/alternative, or lemon. Breathe deeply and enjoy!
*Note: Each serving of tea is about one tablespoon to 8 ounces of water, while one cup of herb in one gallon of water is 16 servings. This applies to the hot methods and to the sun tea method.
Option Four – Herbal Coffee
1. Scoop out between one teaspoon to one tablespoon of herbal coffee to brew 8 ounces, to taste
2. Longer steep leads to stronger “coffee”.
3. Follow Option One or Option Two to brew the perfect cup.
How to Prepare Our Herbal Powder into Honey Paste:
1. Add the whole packet of herbal powder to a small jar (we like the 4-ounce canning jars, but any jar with a lid will work).
2. Stir in approximately 1/3 cup of a good quality local honey.
3. Stir well to combine, creating a thick paste.
4. This preparation does not need to be refrigerated, just stored in a cool place with the lid tightly screwed on.
5. Crystals may form, which is perfectly normal. You can gently heat the honey back to its liquid form, or leave the texture.
6. We like to consume one teaspoon daily for tonic effects.
7. Enjoy!
Herbal Powder – Alternate Preparations:
1. Herbal powders are equally wonderful when added to other mediums such as smoothies, yogurt, humus, sour cream, coconut milk, hot cocoa, coffee, tea, oils for cooking, nut butter, dips, oatmeal, soup, etc. The sky is the limit!
2. The serving size of herbal powder for this method is 1/4 of a teaspoon of powder stirred into whatever pleases you.
3. We suggest preparing each day’s serving fresh, consuming 1/4 of a teaspoon of herbal powder, mixed into your medium of choice, daily for tonic effects.
4. Enjoy!
Note: Each packet of herbal powder for honey paste is pre-measured to be 15 grams.