Dried or Fresh Herbs for Teas

[DragonDawn]

Which do you think makes better teas, dried or fresh herbs? I was just wondering about this while I was browsing the many tea threads. Plus if you make a tea from dried herbs how much should you use vs. the amount you use for fresh herbs? OK this probably sounds silly, I was just wondering. :huh: ;)

[Ball-Bhreac Ròn]

It's not silly, thanks for bringing it up, I want to know too! :)

[Lavender]

I don't really have a preference from dried vs fresh herbs. I use both. If I have fresh, I would probably use fresh over dried. Some fresh herbs will have more of the volitile oils that dried will not. For roots & bark, I would used dried not fresh.

For dried herbs, it would make a difference if you're using leaves, bark or roots. For leaves & flowers, the average would be 1 tsp of herbs to 1 cup boiling water. For medicinal teas, steep for 15-20 mins and for regular tea steep 5-10 mins. This is just a rough guide...not to be followed to the letter! :)

For roots & bark, I like to boil the herb in water for 5-15 mins, depending on how strong I need the it to be. Same as for leaves, use 1 tsp per 1 cup water. These are just guidelines. You can use more herbs if you want a stronger infusion.

As to fresh, I usually use 1/4 tsp per 1 cup of water. Again, personal preference comes into play here. If you want a stronger tea, use 1/2 tsp & see how you like it. I love peppermint tea & use 1 tsp fresh herbs to 1 cup water sometimes!

[DragonDawn]

Thank you very much. :boing:

[Mystic Wolf]

It really depends on what you plan on doing with the tea and how good your supply is. If you can grow all your own herbs then try and use fresh as much as possible.

However some herbs especially roots make better teas if dried and ground because they will make a better infusion. Where on some roots if you use fresh, you will get a bitter mess when you try to grind them and the resulting tea is weak and bitter.

An added bonus of dried herbs is that you can store them and maintain a store of the various different herbs used. It is sometimes difficult to grow the 300 to 600 different herbs that are used in various teas and infusions.