Since this will probably be awesome and I will have to make it again and hope I don’t stunt the poor lemon balm, I have decided this will get its own tea listing.
I took 3 sprigs of lemon balm for probably 15 leaves, tore them to bruise them up, then I added some dried peppermint and put some schisandra berries through the food processor just to tear them up a bit.
I wasn’t sure lemon balm was gonna be a good choice until I read it had anti-viral properties, and well, a virus is what I have. Peppermint I already knew was good, I had some of that yesterday. I really wish I had some ginger but I don’t think I even own ground ginger. Meh. Oh and then schisandra is supposed to be good for boosting your immune system since I don’t know why mine has failed me.
Now the worst part is waiting for this to steep. Which means I can complain: it is terrible to have a cold and it’s 80 degrees outside.
So. Taste. I wasn’t really going for taste here. It’s a bit like minty berry juice with a hint of lemon? It’s not terrible. It’s certainly a lot better than last time I thought I was getting a cold, got some Yogi tea thing, and it was just gross. I probably could have used a good bit more water to make this less strong, so I just diluted it.
It’s a mix of like tasting really herby/green and sour. Of course I don’t even know how well I can taste. It might just taste terrible but hey, resteeping these things for later might just help me out. I need to kill off this cold by Monday. Badly.
I would highly recommend mixing up stuff yourself for a cold, it is kind of entertaining in the midst of feeling sick to play herb mixologist. I would like this with a bit more peppermint I think, and I’d love to get ginger and maybe elderflower in here too.
Ohhh also just added in about a tsp of local wildflower honey, that kind of killed off the sourness of what I assume was the schisandra, so it just tastes like grass now. I’m pretty sure I can’t taste anything.
Except cough syrup, it’s gotta be a rule that even if you can down cilantro filled soup with no problems and usually want to be sick from just a little piece, you still taste every terrible drop of that stuff.
That sounds quite nice! I would find that quite soothing and I’m just getting over a cold myself. Feel better!
It really is, I actually feel better already, kind of like it’s reinvigorating. Thank you!