tisanes

 The brewing of tisanes (pronounced tea-zahns) have crossed over into a small bit of my my day. A glass teapot given to me by a friend, I have discovered, works beautifully for making a variety of herbal teas. The center glass strainer is helpful with keeping most of the plant matter intact.

My first tisanes were prepared this summer with an infusion of dried raspberry leaf brewed for around ten minutes then while the tea was still hot I added about one teaspoon of honey. After straining for the few tiny bits of leaves, it was set  into the refrigerator to cool. This is a delicious and refreshing drink, but I would not hesitate to drinking it hot either.

Lemon Verbena is once more thriving in my herb garden. The leaves of this herb are extremely pungent and it is an ongoing pleasure to brush against them while scavenging and harvesting other herbs. Years ago I stripped the slender leaves and concocted a lemon verbena jelly that turned out lemony and sweet, perfect for serving at tea parties, smeared onto a scone, or even for a topping on a pound cake. But I digress, back to tisanes.

 The other day I brewed a handful of fresh lemon verbena leaves and served the tea hot, since the leaves were whole no straining was necessary.  In my opinion this tea did not even need a sweetener, but honey would have worked fabulously as well.

Tisanes can be made with an assortment of leaves, bark, flowers seeds, berries or roots. May I suggest mint, lavender, cinnamon bark, or echinacea root.