Of all the drinks known to mankind, tea is considered the most noble. It does not cause intoxication, it refreshes, and the most sophisticated connoisseurs admire the exquisite tastes of its various varieties. V broad sense tea can be any drink prepared by steeping leaves, herbs, pieces of fruit or berries in boiling water. This drink was originally used as medicine... Depending on the plant raw materials, the properties of tea and its intended purpose changed. This article will discuss the methods of collecting and preparing tea raw materials, methods of brewing tea, blending it, indications and contraindications for the use of this drink.

What plant leaves

Almost all cultivated garden plants are suitable for collecting leaves and then brewing them. This raw material does not contain theine and caffeine, but it gives tannins, sugars and vitamins to boiling water, strengthening the immune system and stimulating digestion.

First of all, pay attention to the foliage of fruit and fruit trees. These include quince, apple, chokeberry, cherry, red cherry, pear, plum, sea buckthorn.

Tea from such foliage turns out to be fragrant and with a lot of tannins. It invigorates, tones, has an immunomodulatory effect. This drink softens the mucous membranes, thins the blood.
The second group includes raw materials from deciduous trees. These are maple, linden, walnut. Not everyone will like this tea, but its benefits are undeniable. The drink strengthens the walls of blood vessels, cleanses the liver, and prevents the occurrence of age-related heart problems. It is recommended to drink it for people who are exhausted by a long illness, those who suffer from overwork.
The third group is foliage from berry and nut bushes. This group includes red and black currants, raspberries, blackberries, hazel, dogwood, rose hips, gooseberries, blackthorns. A real vitamin bomb, a drink made from shrub leaves is useful for hypovitaminosis. It improves the health of the oral cavity, increases the tone of blood vessels, has a slight astringent effect and produces a cleansing effect.
The last group, the leaves of herbs and berries, includes the well-known mint, lemon balm, strawberries, strawberries, chamomile, dandelion. These teas help with disorders nervous system... They have a calming effect, eliminate sleep problems, and quickly quench thirst.

Did you know? Teais an oriental drink, and its homeland is China. The exact origin of the tea remains unknown. There is a version according to which the Chinese Emperor Shen was resting at lunchtime under a camellia tree when his servant brought him a cup of boiling water. A few camellia leaves accidentally fell into the cup. Out of curiosity, the emperor decided to try this gift of nature, and he liked the taste of the drink so much that the emperor ordered to treat it exclusively to him ever since. This happened presumably in the 2700s BC. Camellia leaf tea is still prepared today.- this is known to all of us black and green tea.

When to collect

Leaves of plants reach the peak of their benefits during flowering, so be guided by it. Collection times for different climatic zones in this case will be different. On average, the collection starts in April and ends on the twentieth of July. Plan your gathering for the first half of the day. Do it in clear weather immediately after the dew has dried.
In April-May, collect raw materials from all trees - fruit, fruit and berry and simple deciduous. How younger leaves, the more they will contain tannins, which cause a pleasant pronounced taste. The harvest time for bushes and berry leaves is in early June and lasts until early July.

Important! In rainy weather, you should not collect raw materials for homemade tea. Foliage accumulates a large amount of moisture and becomes too fragile after drying, or deteriorates even during fermentation.

Be sure to leave some of the leaves on the bush so that the plant can recover after harvest and give fruit. Collect herbs throughout July as they begin to bloom. Even if you plan on preparing a tea mixture, collect the raw materials in separate bags or pouches. Each plant needs a separate treatment.

How to dry

Drying on outdoors will take from a week to two, depending on the raw material. Before drying, you need to cut cuttings from the leaves, as they worsen the quality of the raw materials, and sort out the green mass, removing all damaged leaves. The drying room must be dry, warm and well ventilated.
Spread sheets of clean paper on a flat surface. Newspaper will not work, as printing ink gives off toxic substances. Spread the prepared leaves over it with an even thin layer.

Stir the leaves every day, swap the sheets so that the raw material dries evenly. Do not leave the leaves unattended for too long to avoid being infected by mold. To check if the product is ready, you need to bend a few large leaves across the line of the central vein. If there is a distinct crunch, the tea leaves can be stored.

Video: how to dry currant leaves for tea at home Another drying method involves the use of an oven. This method is suitable for those who do not have enough time or space to dry the leaves. the traditional way... Preheat the oven to +100 ° C.

Important! Avoid direct contact with raw materials you dry sun rays... Under their influence, essential oils evaporate, the final product becomes tasteless and loses saturated color.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and spread the leaves in one layer. Leave the oven door a quarter open. Dry the leaves at this temperature for an hour and a half, and then reduce the temperature by half and dry them until tender (30-40 minutes). Please note that some of the nutrients are lost during such processing.

Fermentation

This method of preparing the tea leaves improves taste qualities tea. The juiciest and cleanest leaves are selected for him. Before fermentation, they should be cleaned of dust and fine debris, but not rinsed with water, so as not to disturb the natural microflora.
Leaves harvested in the early maturity phase lend themselves better to fermentation and give the final product a richer flavor. Fermentation begins as soon as the green mass is rolled and leafy juice emerges on the surface.

Did you know? Green and black tea are prepared from the same leaves. The difference in taste and appearance of these teas is due to different ways processing of raw materials. For the production of black tea, raw materials are curled and fermented, while green tea is simply dried and dried. Based on this, it can be argued that green tea- the drink is more natural and healthy, although many people like a more pronounced "black" taste.

The raw material is pre-dried, twisted through a meat grinder or twisted by hand and tightly placed in a container. She can be enamelled pan or a food grade plastic bucket. Tamp the green mass with clean hands until a layer 7-10 cm high is obtained.
Put a clean ceramic plate on top and press it down with oppression (a brick or a kilogram pack of cereals will do). Cover the container with a kitchen towel and leave the mixture to ferment for 6-8 hours at a temperature of + 23-25 ​​° C. If the temperature is lower, fermentation will not start, if it is higher, the deciduous mass will deteriorate.

The finished mass must be chopped with kitchen scissors, if you did not pass it through a meat grinder before fermentation. The pre-shredded sheets will disintegrate themselves into small lumps. The fermented tea leaves must be spread in an even layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment and dried in the oven for an hour and a half at a temperature of + 60 ° C.

Video: Fermentation of Currant Leaf

Twisting

Before sending the leaves for fermentation, you need to destroy their structure and release juices to the surface. For this, twisting in a meat grinder and twisting by hand are suitable. The second way will require more time, but in the end the tea will turn out to be refined leafy, not granular.

Important! If you don't have time to keep an eye on the withering, spread the foliage in a thin layer on a towel and roll it up. Place a towel in an enamel pot and place it in a warm place. The raw materials folded in this way will dry up in five to six hours instead of the usual twelve.

If you are using a meat grinder, then set a coarse mesh on it, otherwise the granules will disintegrate into small particles when dried. If you plan to roll the leaves by hand, then take 7-10 leaves, folded in an even pile, and roll them with effort between your palms. You will get an even, dense roll. Treat the remaining leaves in the same way.

Withering

This is a preparatory stage that allows you to remove excess moisture from the green mass. At this stage, chlorophyll begins to break down, the concentration increases essential oils and tannins, which will give the tea a rich taste. Spread on work surface Using a cotton dishcloth, spread the leaves over it and let them dry for 10-12 hours.

Did you know? The tea leaf, as well as the tradition of brewing tea, entered Europe along with other oriental goods through Portugal. It was this country on the edge of Europe that once paved the sea trade route to China and began to import outlandish varieties of this drink. Remarkably, the most "tea" country in Europe, England, had no idea how to handle tea leaves. When the camellia leaves first came to the chefs of the royal family, they added them to meat salad and without a shadow of a doubt served them to the royal table.

If the humidity outside is high, it can take up to a day to wither. Determining the readiness of raw materials is simple: fold one of the large leaves in half. If it crunches, then leave the mass to dry out for a while. If the body of the leaf is malleable, then you can proceed to the next cooking stage.

Making tea from the leaves

You can only brew one type of leaves, or you can make a tea mixture. Boil water in a teapot until bubbles appear, pour it into the teapot, add tea leaves at the rate of 1 tsp. leaves in 250 ml of water. Cover the teapot with a lid and leave to infuse for 5-7 minutes. There is no need to dilute such an infusion with water, but if the tea leaves are too strong, dilute it in a cup warm water in a 1: 1 ratio.

Recipes

There are many herbal teas and leaf teas, but there are some particularly popular recipes among them.

It is made from raw fireweed, also known as Koporye tea. Its unique taste properties are due to the long fermentation process (up to 48 hours) and the high juiciness of the raw materials.

Ingredients:

• Ivan tea leaves - 2 tsp;
• hot water - 0.5 l.

Preparation:

Pour the tea leaves into the teapot, pour boiling water over it and close the teapot tightly with a lid. Leave the tea leaves to infuse for ten minutes. Strain through a strainer. This infusion can be drunk with dried fruits, homemade cakes and honey.

To make experimenting easier, start mixing two or three flavors. When you figure out which leaves give the best flavor in the blend, move on to four- and five-part blends.

Important! Before twisting, the withered mass can be put in the refrigerator for an hour and a half, and then let it thaw. The mass processed in this way will give a lot of juice, and the fermentation process will be more intense.

Ingredients:

• mint leaves - 2 tsp;
• strawberry leaves - 0.5 tsp;
• raspberry leaves - 1 tsp;
• apple leaves - 1 tsp;
• hot water - 1 liter.

Preparation:

Pour boiling water into a teapot. Add the mint and leave, covered for one minute. Add raspberry and apple leaves and soak under the lid for two minutes. Add strawberry leaves, brew for another two minutes. Strain the resulting infusion, dilute hot water in a 1: 1 ratio before use.

From rosehip leaves

When chilled, this tea has best taste... In addition, it is better to insist it not on boiling water, but on hot water in order to preserve vitamin C and get the maximum benefit.

Ingredients:

• rosehip leaves - 5 tsp;
• hot water - 1 liter.

Preparation:

Pour the tea leaves into the teapot. Pour in hot water and leave under the lid for half an hour. Strain through a strainer, refrigerate and serve with dried fruit.

Contraindications and harm

For all its benefits, leaf teas have a number of contraindications. Infusions with thyme, nettle and maple should be used with caution by nursing and pregnant women. People with a tendency to allergic reactions should beware of dogwood and rose hips.

Did you know? Down to d From the beginning of the 20th century, all tea was sold in cans. A lucky chance changed the situation. One American tea supplier named Sullivan began packing tea leaves in small silk bags to save on tin packaging. One of Sullivan's clients accidentally dropped such a bag into a teapot of boiling water and saw that the tea leaves were infused even through a silk cloth. So, in 1903, a patent appeared for the use of tea bags.

For those who suffer from a weak stomach, it is not recommended to consume teas based on walnut, hazel and chokeberry too often. If you plan to give tea from the leaves to a small child, consult a pediatrician so as not to harm the baby.

Storage

First of all, make sure that the storage container is minimally permeable to air. In a relatively sealed package, the infusion will retain its properties longer. Suitable for this purpose are porcelain and ceramic dishes with tight-fitting sealed lids, polypropylene bags with a string fastener along the top edge.

If you plan on storing small portions of different infusions, place them in separate paper bags and close them in a large, airtight bag. The room in which you will store teas should be dry, warm (+ 18-20 ° C) and dark. Once every three months, take out your supplies and air them by pouring them into new bags.
Leaf tea garden plants- these are guaranteed high-quality products that you can prepare yourself. Choose the plants from which you will collect raw materials, prepare the leaves in the early maturity phase, sort them carefully and dry or ferment for the best taste.

Store the brew in a suitable environment for maximum flavor and health benefits. Drink a cup of healthy homemade tea every day and then you will remain healthy even in winter period hypovitaminosis.

Herbal tea is a mixture of dried or fresh flowers, leaves, stems and roots of various medicinal plants. Exists great amount recipes for medicinal herbal infusions that are used for this or that disease. They must be taken in the strict dosage required for the amount of time required for treatment.

In addition to plants of a narrow therapeutic orientation, there are a large number of representatives of the flora, which have a general healing effect on the body. They are used to prepare teas that can be drunk every day. Such drinks well quench thirst, energize, strengthen our health.

What herbal teas can be prepared for every day, recipes at home, interesting, useful properties, what are they? This is what I will tell you today at www.site:

Herbal teas - beneficial properties

Fresh drinks made from aromatic, medicinal herbs are extremely beneficial for the human body. Almost all of them have a rich vitamin and mineral composition. Any herbal tea from which you make tea contains natural substances that are beneficial to health. Regular consumption of such a drink will strengthen immune system, will increase tone, give strength and improve mood. Homemade herbal tea will invigorate in the morning, soothe before bedtime.

Unlike medicinal infusions and decoctions, herbal teas for every day can be drunk much more often. They do not have side effects and contraindications. Many of them can be drunk by children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers.

Of course, it is also not worth overusing and drinking herbal teas at home. No matter how you like them ... Any, even the safest and most useful product can be harmful if used without measure.

Tea collection composition

You need to understand that not every plant is suitable for daily intake. For example, strong herbs with a pronounced therapeutic effect, for example, tansy or celandine will not work here.

Plants that have a general preventive effect can become a good basis for a drink for every day. For example: willow tea, leaves of garden or forest raspberries, blackberries, strawberries. Leaves of black currant, apple, pear, garden cherry, or mulberry are great. It is very good to use echinacea flowers and leaves, marigold inflorescences, calendula, linden flowers as a basis.

To the selected base, add plants with a pronounced taste, aroma: mint, lemon balm, rose or jasmine petals. You can add anise, motherboard, hyssop, clover, etc.

At home, it is not at all difficult to compose the desired herbal collection and prepare a fragrant, healthy tea. Here are some recipes you can use every day.

Herbal teas - recipes

General strengthening:

Mix in 3 tbsp. l. leaves of strawberries, blackberries, currants (black or red). Add 1 tbsp. l. thyme, flowers or crushed rose hips, finely crushed dandelion root. Stir. Add 1 tsp. in a teapot or thermos. Top up a glass of boiling water. Healthy tea will be ready in 20 minutes. Cool it a little, pour it into a cup through a strainer. Add honey for more benefits and flavor.

Collecting herbs that boost immunity

Mix equal amounts of lime blossom, lemon balm and peppermint, rose hips (you can also add crushed fruits). Then we do everything as usual: pour 1 tsp of the collection into a teapot or thermos. Fill with a glass of boiling water. Wait 10-15 minutes. It is recommended to drink in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Refreshing, invigorating:

Great drink for roasts summer day... It is good to drink it in the morning, as well as in the afternoon to tone up and improve performance. It will take 1 tsp. green tea, 1 tsp. crushed fruits of barberry, rose hips. You can also add a pinch of lemongrass leaves. Also fill in 1 tsp. a glass of boiling water. Wait 15 minutes.

Warming:

On a cold winter day, herbal tea with warming properties will be useful: combine 1 tbsp each in a dry bowl. l. raspberry leaves, currants. Add 1 tsp. powder from ginger root. Pour 1 tsp into the teapot. black tea, 1 tsp. mixtures. Add a pinch of ground cinnamon or cloves. Pour in 400 l. boiling water, wait 10-15 minutes. Drink the finished drink when you need to warm up.

True, it has an unusual, slightly harsh taste. Therefore, if necessary, dilute it with boiling water. But this tea also has antiseptic, expectorant and stimulating properties, activates blood circulation.

Vitamin:

This tea is prepared from leaves of useful plants, rich in vitamins and microelements. Mix 1 tbsp. l. finely chopped dried leaves of strawberries, raspberries and black currant... Add 1 tsp each. nettle, carrot tops, flowers and rose hips, St. John's wort herb. Stir. Pour 1 tbsp into the teapot. l. mixture, add 400 ml of boiling water. After 10-15 minutes, you can drink tea. Just strain it.

Tea for pregnant women

This drink, unlike most infusions medicinal plants you can drink to expectant mothers. This is a good prophylactic remedy for the deficiency of nutrients, which are required more than usual - for the mother herself and her unborn baby.

To prepare a drink, combine 1 tbsp. l. chopped leaves of black currant, strawberries and pounded almost to the state of powder rose hips. You can add a pinch of mint.

Pour 1 tbsp into the teapot. l., add 400 ml. boiling water. wrap with a warm towel. After 15 minutes, pour into the cup through a strainer. Just don't drink tea very often. Enough 3-4 times a day.

Cherry tea for every day

Grind dry or fresh cherry leaves. You can also add finely chopped twigs. This will give the tea a richer color and aroma. Pour 1 tsp into a thermos. Pour a glass of boiling water over. If you cook with only leaves, it will be ready in about 10 minutes. If you added twigs - after 15-20.

Herbal teas for every day, the recipes of which we have reviewed today, are easy to make at home. They may well replace the usual, traditional tea. However, it is still better to alternate drinks from plants and regular black or green tea, since they also have useful properties... You can also combine traditional tea leaves with your favorite plant. Be healthy!

Herbal tea recipes for all occasions.

It remains only to be surprised at the variety of forms, colors and smells of plants. All field and forest herbs have their own unique properties.

What herbs can be used to make a soothing tea for adults and children at night?

This is not entirely true because each plant contains a set chemical elements... Each of them acts on the body in a specific way, and it is difficult to predict how the body will react to herbal treatment.

However, in folk medicine there are proven herbs for the treatment of neuroses, mental fatigue, insomnia. The following herbs have a pronounced calming effect:

• initial letter medicinal
• Valerian officinalis
• prickly hawthorn
• spring adonis
• motherwort ordinary
• peppermint
• St. John's wort
• hop cones
• cyanosis blue
• blooming Sally

Some of these herbs are available in drug stores.

So valerian is sold in tablets and is part of herbal anti-anxiety medicines. Motherwort tincture is in any pharmacy and has an annotation with a clearly indicated dosage of drops.

You can make decoctions and teas from these herbs at home, but you need to remember that an overdose of herbal decoctions is just as dangerous as an overdose of ready-made medicines from a pharmacy.

• For a soothing flower tea hawthorn and motherwort ordinary take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and brew with 1 glass of boiling water. Drink one glass 3 times a day
• From a mixture of herbs valerian, peppermint and hop cones make a soothing tea. Mix two parts peppermint and one part chopped valerian roots and hop cones. Take one tablespoon of this collection and pour 500 ml of boiling water. Insist half an hour and drink half a glass 2 times a day
• If you need to calm your child down before bed, offer your mind some quiet games, such as putting dolls in cribs and letting them sit half an hour before bed. herbal tea... The dosage of the infusion depends on the age of the child. For children five to twelve years old, 1/4 or 1/2 of the adult dosage is recommended.

What herbs can be used to make vitamin tea for children

Vitamin tea for children should be both tasty and healthy. It can be prepared from the following herbs and berries:

• rosehip brown
• wild strawberry
• common lingonberry
• chokeberry
• common raspberry
• buckthorn buckthorn
• black currant

In summer, it's time to think about winter colds, colds and preparations for vitamin tea for children. If it is possible to collect wild strawberries, make vitamin jam from berries and collect young green leaves. The leaves need to be dried and added to tea and berries and herbs in winter.

Jam made from raspberries, dried berries and leaves can be not only a vitamin supplement, but also a treatment for colds.

Blackcurrant jam contains a large amount of vitamin C. Blackcurrant leaf tea is tasty, aromatic and healthy.

Aromatic, fragrant herbs for tea: a recipe

If you add a pinch of aromatic herbs to black tea, the taste of the drink will sparkle in a new way. For aromatization, you can use herbs that have a spicy-tart smell and taste. These are common thyme, oregano, yarrow, chicory, black currant leaf, sage, lemon catnip, mint, common chandra.

• For one serving, use a teaspoon of black tea and a teaspoon of any of the herbs, or 1 teaspoon of a mixture of these herbs.
• Rinse the teapot with boiling water, put the herbal tea in it and pour in boiling water
• You can wrap the kettle in a warm cloth for a thermos effect
• In 15 minutes aromatic tea ready

Tea drinking with a samovar is a wonderful occasion for communication

Forest herbs for tea: a recipe

The forest, especially dense, does not let the sun through the tree crowns. Therefore, mainly ferns and lichens grow in the shade of trees.

Grasses that love the sun come out to the edges of forests, to clearings and forest glades. On such glades you can find willow-herb, oregano, St. John's wort, galangal, lungwort, chicory, sage, creeping thyme, wild strawberries, raspberries and many other herbs.

You cannot collect unfamiliar herbs for teas and infusions. In addition, there are herbs very similar to each other in outward appearance... If you are not sure whether the herb belongs to one or another botanical species- do not collect it.

• Mix equal proportions of oregano, creeping thyme, sage and raspberry leaves
• Brew at the rate of 2 teaspoons of the collection per 200 ml of water
• Or, one teaspoon each of black tea and herbal tea, brew 200 ml of water
• You can drink this tea as a general tonic.

Diuretic herbs for tea: a recipe

Herbal tea from blue cornflower, plowed steel, orthosiphon has a pronounced diuretic effect.

Diuretic tea recipe # 1

Boil 1 teaspoon of orthosiphon herb and lingonberry leaves in equal parts for 10 minutes in 1 glass of water. Drink 1/2 broth 4 times a day.

Diuretic tea recipe # 2

1 teaspoon of blue cornflower flowers is brewed with 1 glass of boiling water and infused for 30 minutes. Drink 1/2 cup of broth 2 - 3 times a day.

Cornflower blue. Everyone has seen these flowers, but not everyone knows about healing properties this plant

Medicinal herbs for tea: recipe

For tea that can be drunk every day with a tonic purpose, herbs that do not have pronounced contraindications can be used. You need to know the properties of these herbs, and also know whether these herbs are right for you, if there are certain diseases or deviations from the norm.

Herbs have a whole complex organic acids, mineral salts of inorganic acids, vitamins, essential oils, cellulose, alkaloids, glycosides, tannins and other compounds.

It is difficult to predict how they will affect the body, and if you choose an herb for everyday tea drinking, carefully read the method of using the herb and contraindications. This information is easy to find right on the package if you buy herbs from a pharmacy.

Field herbs for tea

Almost every grass growing in a field has some form of medicinal properties... There are a lot of plants used for medicinal purposes, and even a modest reference book on medicinal plants can contain more than 200 species.

For centuries, people have used these plants to make teas and infusions. Field herbs such as clover, dandelion, wheatgrass, plantain, yarrow, oregano, sage are familiar to almost everyone, but they also have healing properties.

• Clover flower tea is made as follows: 1 tablespoon of flowers is poured with a glass of boiling water, let it brew for 10 minutes
• 1 teaspoon of a mixture of oregano and yarrow herb is brewed with a glass of boiling water, a spoonful of honey is added and infused for 10 minutes

Delicious herbal teas, recipes

Tasty tea is obtained from many herbs, this is St. John's wort, and chamomile, and lemon balm, and many others.

• To make an aromatic tea with a bitter-tart taste, mix 0.5 tsp each St. John's wort, yarrow and lemon balm leaf for one serving of tea. Pour the mixture into the teapot and leave for 7-10 minutes
• Sweet and sour and delicious tea can be prepared from the following plants: 5 rose hips, which should be cut into several pieces with a knife, 0.5 tsp of barberry leaves and 2-3 chokeberries per cup of tea. Plants are poured with boiling water and infused for 20 minutes
• Children should enjoy strawberry leaf and currant tea. Dry leaves are mixed, brewed at the rate of 1 tsp. per serving of tea and infused for at least 10 minutes

Herbal tea for immunity

Tea to increase resistance to colds and to raise the general tone of the body with overwork, you can prepare from the following herbs: common shandra, mint, creeping thyme, lemon catnip, rosea rhodiola, Birch buds, burdock, cucumber herb. One or more of these plants are added to regular tea.

Herbal tea for every day

It is better to make tea for every day by adding a pinch of your favorite herb to the infusion with regular black tea. If you are using multiple herbs, alternate between them. Do not get too carried away with tea drinking only on herbs, and if you drink such teas regularly, take breaks from drinking.

It happens that people after drinking herbal tea notice a deterioration in their health. In such cases, the use of herbal tea should be discontinued. If you feel a surge of vivacity and strength after a cup of herbal tea, drink this tea for health.

VIDEO: The most popular and useful herbs for tea

Herbal teas: Top 5 most beneficial herbs for tea from the site magazine

Don't rush to drink your third cup of coffee of the day if you find it difficult to concentrate, or swallow sleeping pills when you can't sleep after a tiring day. A drink made from lemon balm with mint will help you to cheer up in the early morning, and sweet Dreams will provide acacia tea with honey.

Today, health conscious people are happy to trade traditional tea bags for herbal teas. They are very diverse: cooling and warming, vitamin and medicinal, tonic and soothing, but in any case, all these drinks are very useful, they have a beneficial effect on physical health and on the emotional state of a person. And the best part is that each of us can make up our own unique bouquet of those herbs that we like the most.

The healthiest herbs for tea

Leaves, roots, flowers and berries of a wild rose are suitable for preparing medicinal drinks. But most often tea is made from dried rose hips. In terms of the concentration of nutrients, few gifts of nature can compete with these small red berries. Dried rose hips have 2 times more vitamin C than black currant fruits (800 mg per 100 g of product). This explains the fact that rosehip tea raises immunity, cures colds, accelerates recovery from many ailments, helps the body fight inflammation, including in the joints. This healing drink is recommended for capillary network, gastrointestinal disorders, blood pressure problems, urinary tract diseases. Rosehip tea strengthens the walls of blood vessels, improves metabolism, heals the liver, and improves the functioning of the gallbladder.

How to cook: 1 tablespoon of dry fruits is crushed, placed in a thermos, half a liter of hot boiled water is added and left overnight. Drink, straining, 100 ml 30 minutes before meals.

2. Chamomile flowers

Headaches, bloating, illness respiratory tract, nervousness, insomnia - all these problems can be overcome by ordinary chamomile. Tea from the flowers of the plant is useful for diabetes, ulcers, gastritis, liver diseases. It is recommended to drink it for weight loss: the healing properties of chamomile tea - the ability to remove excess fluid from the body, control appetite, improve digestion, and have a calming effect are very important in losing weight. A healing drink made from sunny flowers has a positive effect on women Health... It is used to treat and prevent gynecological diseases, eliminate disorders in the endocrine system. Chamomile tea is useful for both small children and pregnant women, the main thing is to adhere to the correct dosage, and prepare a weak broth for babies. He will come to the rescue when the crumbs have a cold, a stomach ache or teeth are teething. For colds, chamomile is brewed with linden flowers.

How to cook: 1.5 teaspoons of dried chamomile inflorescences are poured into 200 ml of cool boiling water, cover the mug with a saucer, leave for 10-15 minutes, filter and drink fresh, as chamomile tea quickly loses its healing properties.

3. Mint leaves

Mint tea can be drunk at any time of the day. Early morning delicate aroma fragrant leaves refreshes, gives a feeling of coolness, gives strength, at lunchtime helps digestion, and in the evening relaxes and relieves stress. Mint is considered a female herb: its fragrant leaves contain plant estrogens, close to female sex hormones, so men should not get too carried away with mint tea. Peppermint tea is very beneficial for digestion. It will come to the rescue if you suffer from bloating, as it can destroy pathogenic microflora in the intestines, make breathing easier in case of colds, and with regular use, it will help prevent allergies and the formation of tumors. Mint tea helps in the treatment of inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary system, has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart and nervous system: relieves anxiety, improves brain activity, lowers blood pressure, relieves headaches, and normalizes sleep. To enhance the soothing effect, mint is brewed with lemon balm.

How to cook: 1 teaspoon of finely chopped leaves are poured into 300 ml of cool boiling water and insisted for 15 minutes. They drink it fresh until the essential oils and vitamins have evaporated. A wonderful drink is obtained from mint taken equally with green tea.

4. Linden inflorescences

Linden tea relieves intoxication in case of poisoning, normalizes digestion, improves blood circulation, and has a positive effect on metabolic processes in the body. It will help you fall asleep faster, reduce the chances of getting sick if you feel unwell. Linden tea, like chamomile tea, is indispensable for colds, especially for pregnant women: it relieves fever, helps to get rid of headaches and nasal congestion, and stimulates the immune system. To enhance the healing effect of linden for colds, it can be brewed with plantain, licorice and sage. Since linden tea belongs to medicinal drinks, it should not be drunk all the time, it is imperative to take breaks. Linden tea is especially beneficial for people who have vascular problems. It treats inflammation, relieves swelling, and prevents atherosclerosis. With its golden color, sweetish taste with honey notes and pleasant fragrant aroma, lime blossom can ennoble any herbal tea. Whatever medicinal collection you take, he will only benefit from the presence of linden in it.

How to cook: dried flowers and bracts (wings) are poured with hot water, covered with a lid and tightly wrapped for 20 minutes. For 300 ml of water, you will need one and a half tablespoon of raw materials.

Popularly, this fragrant plant with a pleasant lemon flavor is called lemon mint, lemongrass, mint and honey. First of all, lemon balm is appreciated as depressant... Traditional healers have long been preparing a drug from the leaves of a plant that drives away melancholy. A fragrant drink made from lemon grass is drunk with irritability, insomnia, depression, neuroses. Lemon balm tea is useful in case of lack of appetite, poor digestion, loss of energy. It helps with muscle cramps, lowers blood pressure, raises the tone of the body, and is used as a remedy to fight colds, which are accompanied by chills. For stomach pains, brew lemongrass in half with peppermint. Lemon balm tea can be drunk during pregnancy: it will help expectant mothers with toxicosis. Melissa, like mint, is a female herb: it is equally useful for both young girls and older women. Inflammation of the appendages, climacteric neuroses, painful periods - lemon balm can be a reliable assistant in the fight against these problems.

How to cook: 1 teaspoon of fresh or dried herb lemon balm is poured into 200 ml of cool boiling water and insisted in a thermos or sealed container for 20-30 minutes. They drink only freshly prepared tea (you cannot warm it up).

What other herbs can you use to make tea?

If you like green tea, you can make it in half with lime, chamomile and lemon balm. To strengthen the immune system, fight colds and inflammation, it is useful to prepare drinks with the addition of raspberry leaves, blackberries, strawberries, cherries and black currants, brew echinacea herb, thyme, add cranberries, lingonberries, sea buckthorn and rowan berries to tea.

Stevia tea with lemon balm is indispensable for mental stress: it helps to concentrate, improves memory, and normalizes cerebral circulation. An infusion of flowers and leaves of angelica, lemongrass, clover, lovage, strawberry has a tonic effect. And yarrow, sage, oregano, rose petals, acacia flowers, citrus peels and raspberry leaves have a soothing effect.

Contraindications

Some herbs have a pronounced healing effect, therefore it is recommended to brew them, strictly adhering to the recipe, and only after familiarization with all the contraindications. Before consuming such drinks, it will be useful to consult a doctor, especially if they are intended for pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children.

How to brew herbal tea properly?

When brewing medicinal herbs, it is important to preserve useful material with which they are enriched. Correctly prepared tea has a rich taste, wonderful aroma and is a storehouse of bioactive substances. Herbs, leaves and fruits of medicinal plants are brewed in a heated bowl (pre-rinsed with boiling water). Better if it is an enamel saucepan, glass or porcelain teapot. Dry berries need to be crushed, roots and fruits - finely chopped, and it is better to brew them in a thermos, leaving overnight. For example, rose hips need to be infused for at least 8 hours. To preserve vitamins, herbs are poured with water cooled to 90º (but not boiling water!).

Rules for the preparation of herbs for tea

Young leaves of raspberries, strawberries, black currants are plucked when they are fully unfolded. Berries for tea are harvested fully ripe, flowers (linden, wild rose, chamomile, jasmine) - fully blossomed. Procurement of raw materials is done in sunny weather (in the morning after the dew has melted). The collected herbs are dried in a shaded room (in a well-ventilated room, in the attic or under a canopy on the street). Store ready-made raw materials away from strong-smelling products, in linen bags, paper bags, tightly closed glass and ceramic jars from 1 to 3-4 years. The drying temperature and shelf life of medicinal raw materials depends on its type. All bags and jars must be labeled with the name of the herb and the time of its collection.

Observing all the rules for the preparation, storage, preparation and consumption of herbal tea, we get the opportunity to be nourished with the freshness and power of healing natural gifts. Having collected the raw materials ourselves, we can be sure of the naturalness of the product, which cannot be said about tea in bags: it is not known what it is made of. Herbal teas do not contain caffeine, unlike traditional black and green teas. In general, they have many advantages. Drink to your health!

Used hundreds of years ago, useful and fragrant herbs are now regaining their well-deserved popularity. Everything more people health-conscious people prefer natural herbal drinks to their usual tea or coffee. What herbal drinks are there and how can you make them at home?

Efficiency and application

In Russia, herbal teas were popular until the end of the 18th century, when Chinese long tea was imported here. For centuries, people have 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, 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. The so-called aromatic herbs are suitable for use every day, which do not have a systemic effect on the problem and have mild medicinal properties. These include drinks with oregano, mint, lemon balm, sweet clover and other aromatic plants or flowers.

Healing tea drink on the recommendation of a doctor, in courses at a certain dosage. Since the beneficial ingredients from the drink accumulate over time, their effectiveness increases with each new cup. When treating in this way, obligatory breaks between courses should be arranged.

If the problem is mild, a herbal drink will help alleviate the problem. For more serious diseases, drinks from medicinal plants are used as an additional tool for drug treatment.

Peppermint is most commonly used to flavor tea

The most popular Russian herbal tea is ivan tea, or fireweed. For the first time they began to procure it in the town of Kaporye, which is not far from St. Petersburg. This immune-boosting, tonic and aromatic beverage has been exported to the UK for a long time and was one of the most important export commodities. The Russian state.

Today, the traditions of making and using fireweed are renewed, and many lovers are independently engaged in its preparation, fermentation and drying. Tea is harvested during the flowering period. Both leaves and blossoming flowers are collected.

Useful herbs

Tea at home can be made different ways, because there is a great variety of vegetable raw materials for these purposes. You can add a few leaves or inflorescences of fragrant plants to a regular tea leaves. So the tea will acquire new notes and benefit the body. Herbal drinks that are intended to heal do not include infusions.

To make an aromatic tea drink at home, you can add aromatic herbs for tea to the teapot:

• oregano;
• sage;
• mint;
• currant leaves;
• spiraea;
• heather;
• lavender;
• sweet clover medicinal;
• chamomile;
• Linden;
• Clover.

These tea herbs have a pleasant aroma, give the infusion beautiful colour and a light aftertaste. If the harvesting of plant materials is carried out independently, you need to be careful with the names of fragrant herbs. In traditional medicine and official reference books, they often differ.

The names of herbs with healing effects:

• St. John's wort;
• strawberries;
• anise;
• violet tricolor;
• primrose;
• bear ears;
• cowberry;
• tansy;
• sagebrush;
• chamomile;
• elderberry black;
• thyme.

This is a very modest list of useful herbs that are most often used in the composition of medicinal preparations. Some of them can be planted on your site, others will have to be collected in the forest and in the meadow. Mint, lemon balm, chamomile and wormwood feel good in the garden. Thyme, tarragon, fennel and others can grow.

How to harvest tea plants correctly? They all gather on a clear day in the morning after the dew melts. 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 must be caught when collecting field herbs for tea.

After collecting the herbaceous parts, they are dried in a shaded, ventilated room. Raw materials must be periodically agitated so that there is no rot, and it dries better. After 3-4 days, it can be laid out in linen bags and stored at room temperature away from smelling 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 are made up of more than just plants and flowers. There are also numerous fruits, roots and bark of trees, which contain many biologically active components. Most often, herbal tea contains:

• rose hip;
• blueberry;
• currant;
• cowberry;
• cranberry;
• apples;
• plum;
• Rowan;
• dandelion roots;
• burdock roots;
• mountain ash bark, buckthorn, oak, bird cherry.

Before adding dried fruits to tea, they are crushed in a mortar and only then placed in a teapot and poured with hot water. Such drinks can be drunk every day, because they are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, pectins and other useful components. You can drink berry broths for children instead of the usual compote.

If the collection includes roots and bark, they are prepared in a special way. Usually, the preparation of the infusion in a water bath is practiced, when plant materials are poured with cold water and languished in a water bath for 15 to 30 minutes. Later, the infusion is filtered, its volume is brought to the desired level and drunk at the indicated dosage.

The roots and bark have a healing power that is more intense than herbs and fruits. They often contain glycosides, tannins, phytoncides, astringent components. A striking 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, problems with digestion. Suitable for rinsing and external use.

Cooking recipes

Healing power of varying intensity is possessed by a mass of herbs. Some can be brewed regularly for a delicious drink, while others are added at a calculated dosage. If tea is made from herbs, it is poured with slightly cold boiled water. Steep boiling water is not suitable, as it destroys some useful elements and provokes the 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 consumption is rosehip tea. For its preparation, dry fruits are used. If the drink is prepared in a cup, the rosehip is ground in a mortar and 1 tsp. raw materials are poured with hot water. Insist for 15-20 minutes. You can also prepare tea by brewing in a thermos. To do this, fill the whole fruits with hot water, close the lid of the thermos and insist for 3-4 hours. You can withstand 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

Herbal and Berry Tea Recipe:

1. Prepare a mixture of equal amounts of currant and raspberry leaves and fruits.
2. 1 tbsp. l. pour the mixture with hot water and leave for 30 minutes.

A delicious tea for every day is obtained 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 poured with cold water, let it brew for 1-2 hours, and later bring the infusion to a boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. The tea is amber in color and very aromatic.

Which herbs can be combined with each other for daily consumption? These are willow tea and rose, cherry and birch leaves, mint and sage, lingonberry, blueberry and currant. If a tea collection is prepared for consumption in a cold form, then the berry-fruit component should prevail 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 system, genitourinary, cardiovascular, and digestive.

Recipes for sedative and calming herbal teas:

1. Take 10 g of motherwort herb, mint and valerian root. Pour hot water over, leave for 15 minutes. Drink 2 times a day after lunch.
2. Take 10 g of lemon balm and veronica leaves, 30 g of strawberry leaves and 40 g of rose hips. A homogeneous mixture in the amount of 1 tbsp. l. pour 250 ml of hot water, leave for 15 minutes and drink in the same way as in the first recipe.
3. Take chamomile, linden and mint flowers in equal proportions, pour 1 tbsp. l. mixture with water, leave for 10-15 minutes. Drink before bed.

Tea collection for weight loss can be used while dieting. It will help to regulate internal metabolic processes and improve the general condition. For its preparation, take 30 g of buckthorn bark and nettle leaves, 10 g of calamus and mint each. For one serving of the drink, 1 tsp is enough. mixtures. Drink 2 glasses during the day. In such drinks for weight loss, you can add spices that stimulate the metabolism. For example, ginger.

Buckthorn bark is included in numerous weight loss fees

Multivitamin tea made from rose hips, parsley seeds, mountain ash, currant leaves is drunk half a glass a day on an empty stomach. The amount of ingredients is arbitrary, you only need to limit the amount of parsley seeds, as it may not give a very pleasant taste.

Herbal teas designed to meet the vitamin needs of pregnant women.

1. Take 1 tsp. dried rose hips and currant leaves. Pour 400 ml of water and drink 100 ml 3-4 times a day.
2. Take 1 tsp. fruits of mountain ash and rose hips, add 500 ml of water, stand for 30 minutes, drink throughout the day in small portions.

How to brew herbal tea correctly, create herbal teas, combine ingredients - all these questions need to be studied before starting to put them into practice. Any plant material may not always be useful at a certain level of health. Especially carefully compose teas for children and people with chronic diseases... They are too sensitive to the intake of complex active ingredients in the body.

It's worth going back to the roots, and it's even pleasant to harvest fragrant and useful plants and fruits. This is another reason to take a break from the bustle of the city and communicate with nature.