elderberries

Hey y’all! I hope that everyone is doing well.

I thought I’d share a tea that I’ve been drinking since the summer of 2011. What 2011?!! This is 2013! I was reminded by a post from a wonderful friend of mine and health blogger Evelyn Parham last year I believe. Yeah, I’ve been holding out on y’all. Charge it to my head and not my heart as I really did forget to post about it.

So what’s in this tea? Here’s the rundown:

Hibiscus Flower
Elderberries
Ripe elderberries (Sambucus) in Rochester, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Elder Flowers
Nettle
Oatstraw Tops
Lemon Balm
English: lemon balm officalis saint andrews sewanee school herb garden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Red Clover Tops
Red Clover (Photo credit: MFCarter)
Red Raspberry Leaf (I’ve been out of this for a while)

All are dried herbs except for the Lemon Balm which I have growing in a pot on my deck. If you’ve read some of my posts, you’ll notice that some of the herbs listed are herbs I use in my herbal hair concoctions. Yes, the very same herbs.

I put the herbs and water in a pot on low heat for min 30 min, sometimes longer. Now y’all know I’m not a stickler on measurements but I use the same spoon which is a little bigger than a teaspoon. I put in 4 parts (my teaspoon) of hibiscus, elderberries, and nettle, 3 parts of everything else and a few leaves of Lemon Balm. I let the pot cool down and place it in the fridge, straining the plant material out in the next day or two. The boiler that I use yields about 40 ounces of tea.

The elderberries have some sweetness to them so the tea is sweet enough for me therefore I don’t add anything like honey, agave etc. And of course I drink this as my cold beverage.

What herbal teas are you guys drinking?