Tea balls are not recommended for herbal medicinal infusions.
Feverfew is an herb that is famous for preventing headaches. It has also been a popular method for preventing migraine attacks. Those who use feverfew often use fresh leaves, typically ingesting them to prevent headaches. However, eating them sometimes causes mouth sores or tongue inflammation. Drinking feverfew tea is an effective alternative, without the side effects to the mouth. You can grow your own feverfew at home and steep your own leaves, or you can purchase feverfew leaves online or at health food stores. Preparing a medicinal herb infusion is different than preparing a beverage tea.
Instructions
1. Boil fresh, filtered cold water in the kettle. Avoid aluminum kettles. Soft aluminum can come off in the water. Cast iron or stainless steel are better choices.
2. Pour the boiled water into a mug made of non-metal material. Metallic spoons or mugs can sometimes leave a metallic taste in herbal tea infusions or diminish their effectiveness. Use only glass, wood, ceramics, your hands or plastic in preparing tea once the water has been boiled.
3. Drop the fresh feverfew leaves into the mug with your fingertips. You will want to use fresh herb leaves instead of dried leaves for a more flavorful tea. Fresh leaves are 80 percent water. Dried leaves are only about 20 percent water. Fresh leaves are less potent due to the higher water percentage. Infusions made with fresh feverfew leaves require about four times as many leaves than infusions made with dried leaves. Most herbal tea recipies assume you will be using dried herbal material. Allowing the leaves to steep freely promotes a higher potency of the herb and water infusion.
4. Cover the water and leaves infusion. Covering the mug helps the water to extract the qualities from the herb material. Also, covering the water prevents the herbs' volatile oils from escaping out with the steam.
5. Steep the herbs long enough to allow the water to cool to room temperature. This is important for a proper cup of medicinal herbal tea. The therapeutic phytochemicals need to completely yeild into the water.
6. Strain the feverfew leaves from the water.
7. Adding lemon or honey is enjoyable in feverfew tea.
If you prefer drinking your tea hot, you can reheat the tea gently.
Tags: feverfew leaves, dried leaves, fresh feverfew, fresh feverfew leaves, made with