How to properly prepare tea and when to add lemon and honey

Although you thought that this was a harmless act, the preparation of tea and the time and manner of adding lemon, honey, anise… have their own exact procedure.

For the quality of medicinal herbs, it is important that they are harvested on time and properly dried, and also, and perhaps even more important, how dried herbs are stored until use and how they are prepared.

And, although we often know to ask the question “do you want me to make you tea?”, You know we are wrong, because – tea is not brewed, but prepared. And in order to make the best use of all the healing properties of certain plants and types of tea, you need to know how to properly prepare and drink teas.

Preparation of herbal tea

To prepare herbal tea, it is necessary to put a certain amount of water (as prescribed in the method of using tea) to boil. Depending on the tea you drink, the flowers or finely chopped leaves (quantity according to the instructions) pour boiling water over it.

Cover the pot and cup and let it stand for a while, usually three to 10 minutes, depending on the type of plant. In some recipes, the standing time of the plant in warm water is precisely specified and such instructions should be followed.

The water with which you prepare tea should be completely clean and have slight impurities of lime. If the water used to make tea is relatively alkaline (for example, due to limescale in “hard” water), the color of the tea will be darker.

Tea should not be prepared in metal pots (metal linches), but in ceramic / porcelain cups, for example
If the recipe does not specify the amount of herb to be used to prepare tea, but only states “a little tea”, it means that it is the amount of herb that can be caught between two fingers (1 to 2 g).

If the recipe states “a handful of tea”, it means the amount of the plant that can fit in a handful when it is collected, ie. about 30 to 70 g

What can be added to tea

Tea is mostly drunk unsweetened, unless specifically stated in the recipe. If it is necessary to sweeten the tea, yellow sugar or even better honey can be used instead of sugar. To improve the taste of tea, you can always add a few drops of lemon, a little mint (leaf) or anise.

Lemon is not put in hot tea, but in a little chilled to preserve all the properties of vitamin C. When a drop of lemon is added to tea, it will change color due to the increase in acidity (decrease in pH) of the drink itself.

But teaflavins (tea extracts) are not so affected by the change in acidity and retain their normal color
Honey is also added to slightly chilled tea, never boiling. Best 3 minutes after pouring tea with hot water, in order to preserve all its healing properties.

Because, when honey is added to water / tea up to 40 degrees Celsius, negative chemical changes occur due to which the taste changes, and honey becomes bitter. “Cooking” honey worsens its quality and loses the necessary enzymes and nutrients, and heated honey can actually produce delirium on the body.

When sweetening tea with honey, use a wooden spoon, not a metal one.

Drinking tea as a pleasure

Drinking tea should be a pleasure, just like the English at 5 p.m. It is drunk in small sips, from small and fine cups, even when tea is consumed as a medicine.

However, regardless of the healing properties of tea, we should not overdo it.

You should be moderate and adhere to the prescribed recipes, because only in that way will the organism use all the healing properties of tea.