The Art of Blending the Perfect Cup of Tea

I love blending and drinking herbal teas. But with so many herbs to choose from it can be daunting to create your own blend. Even if you feel comfortable making a medicinal tea, it’s another thing entirely to create something tasty when many herbs are so bitter.

Here are some principles to keep in mind when formulating a herbal tea blend.

1. Start with a purpose. What kind of tea do you want to create? One to help with relaxation? Digestion? Both? One that’s just tasty and refreshing? Starting here will help you narrow down the herbs you’re choosing from. 
2. Consider the herbs. What are the flavors and energetics of each herb you have? Is the herb bitter? Tart? Astringent? Moistening? Does it complement or clash with the next herb or the effect you’re trying to create?  If you’re trying to make a tea blend for a dry, scratchy throat you wouldn’t necessarily want an astringent herb that might exacerbate the issue. And some herbs, such as peppermint and chamomile, have strong flavors that can easily overpower more delicate herbs like lemon balm or rose.  It helps to taste each herb to get to know them better.
3. Don’t overcomplicate things. Don’t be tempted to add a little bit of every kind of “relaxing herb” you have. By including too many herbs you can end up “watering down” the potency of each one. Choose 3-5 herbs that you have strong reasons for including and stick with those. 
4. Start with equal parts of each herb. Then experiment. Try different combinations until you find a balance that tastes delicious. Tweak and tweak again based on flavor and the desired effect. 
5. Label it. I’ve learned from my decade+ of working with herbs that no matter how certain I am about it, I never remember the details of the genius thing I’ve blended. Herbs all look more or less the same when they’re in broken up bits. Write down both the herbs and the ratios. Even if you can tell what herbs you used, you won’t remember the ratios, and the ratios are where a basic tea blend becomes delicious.

For a few years I sold a variety of tea blends (any OG Wild Origins customers who have been with me that long? I’m always happy to share the recipes for the teas I don’t sell anymore- just ask!)

I feel like I was pretty good at formulating blends. Whenever I’d blend a new tea I always went back to these basic steps above and would tinker and tweak. Sometimes I’d get it on the first try and sometimes it took several days of playing to get it perfect. Please let me know what you come up with!