Best Herbs to Grow For Tea

Herbs for making tea can be grown in a home garden with ease. Nothing is better on a cold morning than a cup of tea made with the best, most fragrant herbs right out of your garden. There are many different herbs with flavors and health benefits that combine well to create custom tea blends and tea infusions.

Steps to Planning Your Herb Garden 

Grow your tea herb garden in a well-drained area that receives at least six hours of full sun per day. Pick an area away from regular foot traffic or play areas. The site for the garden will need to be near a water source for easy watering during dry periods.

Prepare the Soil

Remove all grass in the garden area and turn over the soil with a shovel. The garden does not have to be large. A 4-by-4-foot area is adequate for a tea garden. Add a layer of compost across the garden space and till the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.

Plant Your Herbs

Dig a hole as deep as the herbal tea plants’s nursery pot the herb and twice its diameter. Remove the plant from the pot and gently pull apart the roots. Place it in the hole and fill with soil. 

Push down to stabilize the plant in the soil. Water after planting and mulch with straw, cocoa hulls, grass clippings, or other types of mulch to retain the water around the roots.

Think about plant height

Taller Herbs

Plant German chamomile (which blends well with bergamot) and bee balm (monarda) at the back of the garden. These chamomile plants grow 2 to 4 feet high. Harvest the daisy-like flower of chamomile and flowers and leaves from bee balm. 

Dill seeds and foliage can also be used for tea and it is a tall plant.

Medium Tall Herbs

Plant sage, pineapple sage, and basil as they are moderately sized plants growing 1 to 2 feet in height. Leaves can be harvested from all these plants. Basil is the only annual and will not come back in the next year, though it may reseed itself. 

Try regular basil and cinnamon basil. Lavender can also be planted with this group of companion plants. The purple stalks of flowers should be harvested before they completely open.

Low Growing Herbs

Plant low-growing garden herbs at the front of your tea garden. This would include thyme, oregano, and summer savory. Thyme comes in flavors and lemon thyme is considered a tea herb. The leaves of these plants should be harvested for an herbal tea blend.

Take Care with These Invasive Herbs

Sink invasive plants in large pots filled with potting soil among the other herbs in the garden or around the edges of the garden. Mint is invasive and needs to be placed in a pot or it will spread and overtake other plants, according to Herbal Haven. 

There are a variety of mints to try including spearmint, peppermint, lemon, orange, lime, chocolate, apple, and lavender, just to name a few. Position pots containing different varieties at least 2 to 3 feet apart so they do not cross-pollinate and all taste and smell the same. Another invasive tea plant is lemon balm, which is in the mint family.

How to Choose the Best Herbs To Grow For Tea 

It’s so refreshing to have a cold glass of iced tea on a hot summer day! To make that tea healthy and tastier, try growing your own herbs to use for flavoring your tea. Choosing the herbs comes down to your unique taste buds.

Here are some great herbs to grow for an excellent tea in your herbal tea garden:

Mint

Of course, the first herb most people think of that goes with tea is mint. There are many different varieties of mint, from peppermint and spearmint to chocolate mint and pineapple mint. All grow aggressively, so you’ll want to keep them in a pot or separate garden beds, or they will take over the whole garden. 

Mint is great brewed by itself for its strong flavor, or throw a couple of fresh leaves in the water with your regular delicious tea for a refreshing hint of mint.

Mint is the most obvious herb to add to your homemade iced mint tea. This herb grows in well-drained soil hardily and spreads very quickly. You should plan on drying some of this herb. You can do this by removing the fresh herb leaves and drying them on a screen frame. When dried you can put them in a jar. They are good for about one year.

Licorice mint

Licorice mint is another hardy member of the mint family with medicinal properties. In order to use the dried leaves though, and get the right potency from them, you should harvest them for drying before they flower. This is a sun-loving herb.

Chamomile

Another big player in the world of tea herbs is chamomile, known in aromatherapy circles for its relaxation properties. Chamomile is basically a weed, related to ragweed, so if you’re allergic you might not want to grow this one. 

Harvest the flowers to use in your tea (don’t use the leaves as you would with mint) and drink alone or combined with mint, lemon balm, or other herbs.

Lemon grass 

Lemon grass is a wonderful tea treat. It looks like tall grass. You can use it dried or fresh in iced tea. It has a great lemon taste. This is another herb that will spread abundantly in your garden in well-draining soil. 

You can buy herbs in the garden section in stores but they are also selling fresh potted herbs in the produce sections in grocery stores now. You can keep these on your window sill or plant them in your garden.

Lemon balm

An herb with a truly lemony flavor, the leaves of lemon balm plant are wonderful in a tea all by themselves, or as a highlight in a tea of mixed herbs. This plant can grow quite large and bushy in warm climates, so trim often and share with friends.

Lemon verbena

Another good lemon-scented herb, lemon verbena is a little more particular. It is a tender perennial so it will need protection or to be brought inside when the weather is cold. It also drops leaves seemingly without provocation, but it will bounce back with regular watering.

Anise hyssop

If you like the taste of licorice, be sure to plant some anise hyssop (also known as anise mint, licorice mint, or fennel hyssop). The flavor can be a little strong for some people but it makes a nice spicy tea for wintertime and is a beautiful plant besides, with leaves that look like mint and tall purple flowers.

Lavender

A great herb to grow for all sorts of uses, lavender makes a wonderful bedtime tea (alone or with the addition of chamomile). Lavender can be tricky to grow from seed, so buy a plant or two. 

They look sort of like rosemary and can likewise get very woody if not pruned each fall. Lavender is often used in dream pillows and is said to ward off insects and treat insect bites, so it’s good to always have some on hand.

Orange Balsam Thyme

Orange Balsam thyme is very easy to grow. As with the other herbs, you must harvest the leaves for drying before it blooms. This herb has a fantastic citrus taste. It also grows in most soils with no problem.

Grow An Herb Garden and Get Brewing Today!

Growing your own homegrown herbs for your own herbal teas is easy, inexpensive, and fun. These teas are healthier than store-bought teas because the ingredients are fresh and you know where and how they were grown (organically and without pesticides, let’s hope). 

And the herbs make a great addition to purchased teas, so you always have a wide variety of flavors for herb teas on hand for your enjoyment.