Many teas and herbs you savor as beverages can transform your daily beauty routine into a refreshing interlude. Here are three blends made almost entirely from tea, kitchen herbs, and pantry spices. Each blend has a suggested essential oil that will intensify the fragrance.
Ingredients
Makes 1 cup tea blend
Step 1
In a quart-sized plastic bag, place the tea, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Blow into the bag as if blowing up a balloon. Once inflated, hold the bag shut and shake until the herbs are combined. Store in an opaque glass or ceramic jar with a tight-fitting lid or cork. Give the jar a good shake to distribute the ingredients before removing any. For peak fragrance, using within six months.
Aromatic Herbal Tea Blend:
Step 2
Follow the recipe for Green Chai Spa Tea Blend, using 1/3 cup dried lavender flowers, 1/3 cup dried peppermint leaves, and 1/3 cup dried peppermint leaves, and 1/3 cup dried rose petals. (Essential oil complement: rose.)
Stimulating Herbal Tea Blend:
Step 3
Follow the recipe for Green Chai, using 1/3 cup dried eucalyptus leaves, 1/3 cup dried lemon balm leaves, and 1/3 cup dried rosemary leaves. (Essential oil complement: eucalyptus.)
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopThe second time I made the blend, I tripled the tea to give a 1:1 tea to spice ratio. This seems a lot more reasonable, I think, than the 1:3 ratio given by the recipe. The first time I made it we kept having to add more tea.
BlueMona
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
5/11/2013
All my husband drinks now is this green chai blend. However, we kept adding more tea to the blend. Finally we ran out of it since I gave some away as gifts, so I had to make some again. This time I tripled the amount of tea. That gives a 1:1 ratio of tea to spices (my four sticks of cinnamon ended up yielding 1/4 cup).
BlueMona
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5/11/2013
I can't say anything about the "stimulating" blend, because I don't have eucalyptus leaves and I haven't been able to find them locally. However, I have made both the green chai and the aromatic herbal blend, and they are lovely. I didn't bother with the bag but I assume it helps mix the herbs evenly. As for the essential oils, I would like some more guidance as to how much to add. It took me a long time between first finding out that essential oils can be ingested to actually trying it. I tried taking a couple tablespoons or so of the chai blend and putting it in a small ziploc bag and adding a single drop of "Now" organic orange essential oil (please make sure the essential oils you use are pure; I myself have only dared to do this after extensive online research and using essential oils for almost two years but not for ingestion until very recently). Anyway, I think I can smell the orange in the bag but it is not so evident in the brewed tea. I feel like the one drop just got absorbed by a single piece of cinnamon... perhaps one should let the essential oil sit in the tea for a few weeks, shaking now and then. I have done this with homemade potpourri. I think I'll give that a go. As for the other blend, I only had rose absolute diluted in jojoba oil (I do not recommend using an absolute because it is solvent extracted), but I recently bought rose otto in jojoba oil. The brand is Aura Cacia, and to my knowledge it is not intended for ingestion. Jojoba oil is apparently fine to ingest but not digestible (don't ingest large amounts) but I am reluctant to use that particular oil. Any suggestions for what I can use? I think a cheaper option would be to simply add rose water to the tea after steeping, but I find the floral blend is aromatic enough as-is. I would give four forks if it weren't for the lack of information on the use of essential oils in the recipes.
BlueMona
Montreal, Canada
4/11/2013
