Abby owned her own tea company for 5 years. She started that business to learn more about plants. Part of the reason she ended the business was because she didn't have a direct connection with the plants after ordering the bulk herbs from all over the world. Now she wildcrafts and grows her herbs. It's easy to get frustrated when first making your own tea blends. Blending tea is truly an art! Students in Wildcrafted Herb School learned to do this during their first weekend. Here are a few tips they learned to make it easy for you to make a delicious, nourishing cup of herbal tea: -The biggest mistake new herbalists make is adding too many herbs to their blends. That just dilutes the power of each herb. Start off with simples-one herb at a time-and get to know the taste and feel of that herb in your body. Then make a blend of just a few. Abby likes tea blends with just 3 herbs when possible. -To keep the number of herbs in the blend low, choose herbs that have multiple benefits that you're looking for. For example, catnip is antiinflammatory and supports the digestive system. -Make blends with just hard parts (roots and twigs) or just soft parts (leaves and flowers) of herbs. Then you only need to make a decoction or an infusion, not both. Find out more about what these terms mean in Abby's book The Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders. -Make a small batch of your tea blend first. Try it a few times and make sure you like it. Then make a larger batch that you keep in a jar(s) in your kitchen so it's always on hand when you want it. Be sure to write down your recipe so you can easily make more or tweak it as needed. -Last, but possibly most importantly: Make your tea blends taste good! This is more important than you think. If they don't taste good, you won't want to drink them. Did you try it? How'd it go? What are your favorite blends? Let us know in the comments!
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