Make Your Own Homegrown Herbal Tea

Do you enjoy a good herbal tea? Let us encourage you to make your own homegrown herbal tea with a soft aroma and a gentle taste. We will cover how to grow, preserve, and prepare homegrown herbal tea. And share a great herbal tea mixture with a long list of herbs to choose from. 

Why grow your own herbal tea?

We grow food, not lawn, on our 1/8 acre town lot. Not all plants here are edible; some are just plain beautiful. But among those edible, beautiful plants, we grow many common herbs (and weeds) that make great herbal tea. 

A good organic herbal tea is expensive and worth every penny. However, if growing it is as easy as it is, why spend money on it?!

First, you need to learn which plants make great herbal tea before planting an herbal tea garden. The Herbal tea mixture below is a great start. Then, see if you already have a good amount of those plants. If not, planting an herbal tea garden might be a great idea. 

As you will see below, most of the herbs for tea are either perennials or easily reseed themselves. And some are plain weeds. Also, berry leaves make great herbal teas. 

Herbs can also be collected, and depending on where you live, it might be a great option. However, to ensure they are not sprayed with unwanted chemicals or peed on, growing them at home in a safe area is your best option. 

If you harvest and dry your herbs yourself, they are your herbs. There is something special about that cup of tea that starts with a plant, not a box in a store.

What herbs to choose

I have been wanting to grow my own herbal tea for a while. But since I’m not an herbalist, I wasn’t sure which herbs are suited for a simple everyday tea and which are more medicinal and should be handled with care. 

A friend gifted me a very practical book: Health through God’s Pharmacy by Maria Treben. I love that book. Among many amazing medicinal herbs, the author shares a simple herbal tea for everyday family use. 

The collection of all these herbs starts in spring and continues throughout the summer. Once all the herbs are harvested, they are combined into a herbal tea. 

Most, if not all, of these herbs can be used in a separate tea. However, we really enjoy the mixture (See below)

Note: My book is in German, and I translated the herb names to the best of my ability. If you have an English book, use that. 

The list also includes little notes on what part of the plant to use and when to harvest, if that matters. 

Herbal tea Mixtue

• Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara L.) flower, later leaves
• Cowslip (Primula veris), heads
• Violet (Viola), flowers and leaves
• Lungworts (Pulmonaria Officinalis) heads
• Woodsorrel (Oxalis) flowers
• Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea), just a little as a spice, the top flowerhead
• Nettle (Urtica), the first young sprouts in spring
• Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla), leaves, and flowers
• Speedwells (Veronica), flowers, stems, and leaves
• Strawberry leaves
• Blackberry and raspberry shoots
• Black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) sprouts and leaves
• Common daisy (Bellis perennis) flower
• Lime (Linden) blossom picked in the sun
• German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) picked in sunshine
• Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) flowers
• Calendula (Calendula officinalis) flowers
• Woodruff (Galium odoratum) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Peppermint/mint (Mentha x Piperita) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Yarrows (Achillea millefolium) picked in the sunshine, use just a little
• Mullein (Verbascum) flowers, picked in the sunshine
• St John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum) flowers picked in sunshine
• Oregano (origanum vulgare) flowers and leaves
• Hoary willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Spruce young shoots/buds
• Lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum) flowers, stem, and leaves
• Rose flower leaves

This list is long and gives us a great place to start. Personally, we do not grow all the herbs listed, and I do not think it matters. I just harvest what is there and use that in our mix. 

The taste will depend on the herbs you have. Ours is heavy on berry leaves, so the taste is sweet and aromatic.

Other common herbs for tea

Besides the long list above of herbs that can be used for tea, there are other herbs that grow in our garden, and we love. 

Seabuckthorn leaves and berries make a calming, delicious tea. 

Lemongrass tea is consumed occasionally and in small amounts. We grow lemongrass for its thicker stems, which we use in our favorite vegetable curry recipe. The thinner leaves we dry for tea. I usually mix it with other herbs, for example, lemon balm. 

Rose flower leaves and hips make great tea. Even though they are included in the mix, it is worth mentioning them separately as well.

Mint of any kind can be used as tea, including sage and chocolate mint. Use separately or in a mixture, whatever appeals to your taste. 

Echinacea is another common herb that grows in the flower garden. Leaves or flowers can be used. 

How to grow herbs for tea

In our garden, the herbs are either part of the flower garden or the perennial berries and fruit trees. 

Flowering herbs like lady’s mantle, St. John’s wort, echinacea, etc., look good in the flower garden. We grow most of them along our driveway in the perennial flower garden. You can read more about it in our perennial favorites. 

Different kinds of mint, including lemon balm and other herbs like thyme, are growing under or between the many berries and trees that we grow on our small town lot. The herbs are beneficial for the permaculture garden, the pollinators love them, and this way, they don’t need extra growing space. 

And herbs that most gardeners consider weeds get a little grace here and there between garden beds or along pathways. 

Now, if space is not limited as it is in our yard, growing a special, dedicated herbal tea garden would be really fun. Choose a sunny location with good drainage. Plant tall plants at the back, north/west, of the bed, and smaller ones in front of them. The herbs will benefit from afternoon shade, and the herbal garden will be an eyecatcher, as well as very practical for harvesting and enjoying. 

Seabuckthorn is a great plant for a permaculture garden. It’s a nitrogen fixer and a great plant for winter teas. It likes full sun and well-drained soil. 

Last but not least, do not forget the berries. Raspberries, strawberries, currants, blackberries, and seabuckthorn leaves plus berries make great herbal teas. Most likely, you already grow some, if not all, of them for the berries, but you can also use the leaves or young shoots for teas. 

How to preserve herbs for tea

Maria Treben recommends not washing freshly picked herbs. For that, of course, you have to know where you pick them. Picking on a sunny day after a good rain might be a good idea.

Spread the freshly picked herbs thinly on a cloth or paper and air-dry quickly in a shaded and well-ventilated area. 

You can also use dehydrator trays (see picture above) to dry herbs. If you live in a humid climate, you might want to use a dehydrator with a low-temperature setting. In our climate, herbs air-dry quickly. 

I learned that herbs store energy in their stems while drying, which is why, if you only want to use the leaves, take them off before dehydrating. 

Fully dry herbs can be stored in a glass container. Tinted green glass is best, or store the clear glass jars in a dark place. 

You can leave the leaves and flowers whole; this way, they will preserve the aroma better, but use up more space. Or for the mixed tea, they can also be blended. 

Making a homegrown herbal tea 

Maria Treben recommends letting fresh herbs steep for only half a minute and dry herbs for 1-2 minutes to make a light herbal tea. She says that a light tea is more wholesome and pleasant to the eye. 

Use a teaspoon of herbs for a cup of tea. A tea steeper or a tea filter bag is helpful when preparing a homegrown tea. 

If the leaves or stems are preserved whole, you will need a bit more than a teaspoon. Just eyeball it to be a teaspoon crushed. 

Now take a good look at the list of mixed herbal teas and see how many you can grow in your garden. You might be surprised how easy it is to grow your own herbs for herbal tea. 

What is your favorite herbal tea?

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