Recipe: Herbal Tea

This isn't really a recipe, I guess. I wanted to make tea the other day, since it helps me focus on studying. When I have a cup of hot tea beside me, I find myself getting up less often and my studies are not as interrupted. Anyway, I wanted tea, but all we had in our bucket of tea bags were Earl Grey and some other flavors I don't particularly like very much. 

I was about to abandon the idea, but then I remembered the little herb garden in the backyard. It had been started and largely forgotten by us, except to clip some sprigs of cilantro to go on top of rice. Oh, and Black Swallowtail butterflies laid eggs on the dill so we now have a lot of adorable chubby caterpillars. 

Realizing that tea is simply tea leaves and that I didn't really need the caffeine in the tea anyway, I wandered out to the herb garden and took some clipping of peppermint, lemon balm, and spearmint. I ripped them up and place them in a glass container, then boiling water and poured it over top of the ripped-up leaves. I let it steep for a few minutes, then strained it through a coffee filter. 

The first batch was a bit weak (you can see the picture below) but the second batch was much stronger, since I added more cuttings of the plants and let it steep for much longer. It was actually really good! I love mint teas but we never get that flavor (because I'm the only one who likes it), so that was nice. I took a few pictures of the process: 



~

So neither the one who plants nor the one 
who waters is anything, but only God, who 
makes things grow. The one who plants and the 
one who waters have one purpose, and they 
will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you 
are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:7-9

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