“Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.”
The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The green brew of the Slytherin House Tea is a compelling blend of ancient herbs, snake charms, and the ambitious drive to gain the most while sacrificing little by way of purity.
HORSETAIL Equisetum arvense: To play a whistle made from the stem of the Horsetail plant, is to be able to call and charm Slytherin’s mascot, the snake. Horsetail is an ancient plant lending itself well to a House preoccupied with ancestry.
NETTLES Urtica dioica: Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin House, felt particular anxiety around the admission of the Muggle-born into Hogwarts. So you find Slytherin to be predominantly “pure-blood” students and in their House Tea, the blood-purifying Nettles are included.
LEMON BALM Melissa officinalis: There is always a bit of a nervous, somewhat sour edge to Slytherins, so Lemon Balm adds a hint of sour while soothing the nervous thoughts of ambitious witches and wizards.
HIBISCUS Hibiscus sabdariffa: Known also as sour-sour, the blood-red of Hibiscus adds to the pure-blooded, puckering tendencies of the Slytherin stock.