Teavana is expensive and Celestial Seasonings is boring. So why not learn how to make your own tea blends? When I first had interest in making my own tea blends, I couldn’t find much on the topic. Then I decided to figure it out on my own. It wasn’t difficult, but it took me some time and practice. I will share my process with you here.

How to Make Your Own Tea Blends

1. Identify Your Base Ingredient

First, when learning how to make your own tea blends, decide on your base (main) ingredient. The base ingredient will be the main flavor of your blend…the main character in your play, so to speak. It should be what you taste most prominently.

Base ingredient options:

• Black teas: English Breakfast, Assam, Earl Grey, Irish Breakfast, Darjeeling
• Green teas: Dragonwell, gunpowder, Matcha, Green snail spring, Tie guan yin
• Red teas: red rooibos, honeybush, honeyroo
• Herbs: peppermint, lemon balm, blackberry leaf, raspberry leaf, marshmallow

Do your research on base ingredients and play around with different ones. Don’t use a base ingredient that you know nothing about or have never tasted before. The base ingredient is the foundation for your tea blend…so choose a good one. Put a handful of your base ingredient into a medium sized bowl. A wooden bowl is best, if you have one, but glass/porcelain works well too.

2. Add Complimenting Flavors

Next, add complimenting ingredients/flavors. The amount of complimenting flavors you add is up to you; however, I typically go with at least 2 and up to 4 ingredients. Remember to choose ingredients you’re already familiar with and think about how they would compliment your base ingredient. You want these flavors to support, not overwhelm your base ingredient. Like the supporting characters in a play.

Great Complimenting Herbs to try:

• chamomile and cinnamon
• chamomile and lemon balm
• hibiscus and rosebud
• mint and cacao
• catnip and mint
• rosehips and lavender
• elder flower and vanilla bean
• thyme and lemon verbena
• rosemary and lavender
• cornflower and hibiscus
• basil and mint

Pour your complimenting flavor(s) in with the base ingredient. Blend carefully with your clean hand or a spoon. You’ll want less of the complimenting ingredients than your base ingredient. I honestly just eye it! A tablespoon per ingredient should do it.

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3. Taste Test Your Tea Blend

After you’ve blended the base ingredient with complimenting flavors, taste test your tea blend! Get your water boiling and test out your first tea blend. When learning how to make your own tea blends, it’s important to sample your creations. If you find one of the complimenting flavors overwhelms the tea, repeat steps 1 and 2 but add less of
that ingredient. There are no measurements when I craft my teas, I simply go off of what feels right! So don’t stress out over measurements, just eye it! Crafting the perfect
tea blend is all about finding that heavenly balance between the base and complimenting ingredients.

4. Add Fruits, Nuts, & Sweeteners

Now it gets really fun! When you’ve crafted your perfect tea blend, time to add the finishing touches. Time to get creative! In addition to herbs and teas, add different fruits, nuts, legumes, and sweeteners to make your tea blend one of a kind. As far as fruit, dehydrated fruits work the best because you can mix them right into your tea blend. And your entire tea blend will stay fresh for months.

Dried fruits to try in your tea blends:

• lemon peel
• orange peel
• grapefruit peel
• blueberries
• raspberries
• strawberries
• rosehips
• banana slices
• apple chunks/slices
• peach chunks
• goji berries

Try these nuts and legumes in your blends:

• almonds
• pecans
• walnuts
• salted peanuts
• hazelnuts

And last but not least, if you have a sweet tooth, add a sweetener of your choice. You can do this with each cup or blend it right into your tea blend to save yourself time.

Try these sweeteners:

• sugar (powdered or cubed!)
• organic raw sugar
• brown sugar
• stevia leaf
• sweetened cacao nibs
• chocolate chips
• honey
• monksfruit

My Personal Tea Blend Recipes

I’ve been blending my own teas for many years now and have a few that are my favorite. I’ll share them with you here.

• Oolong (base) with Hibiscus and Lemon (complimenting and fruit)
• Lavender and rosemary (equal parts)
• Black tea (base) with Cinnamon and Apple pieces (complimenting and fruit)
• Chamomile (base) with Cinnamon pieces (complimenting)
• Hibiscus (base) with pink rosebuds (complimenting)
• English Breakfast (base) with Anise and Vanilla Bean (complimenting)
• Peppermint (base) with Spearmint and Strawberries (complimenting and fruit)
• Lemon Balm (base) with Marjoram and Catnip (complimenting)
• Red Rooibos (base) with Bee Balm and Almond slices (complimenting and nut)

Where to Purchase Herbs & Teas

There’s a few ways to purchase your base and complimenting ingredients. I prefer to buy herbs and teas in bulk through Mountain Rose Herbs. Their products are organic and affordable. In addition, I grow some of my own herbs at home including rosemary, mint, lemon balm, oregano, thyme and bee balm (to name a few). I harvest and dry my homegrown herbs and use them often in my tea blends.

How to Drink Your Teas

When I first became interested in loose leaf teas, I had no idea how to properly brew or dispense the tea! Sounds silly but if you’re never worked with loose leaf tea, you might be stumped. There’s a few ways to do it: you can add your tea blend to a tea ball, re-useable tea bags, OR use a tea dispenser/diffuser. I prefer the tea diffuser most, because the tea floats around freely inside and flavors the infusion thoroughly. And if you really want to make the best tea in your neighborhood, research the right temperature and steeping times for your tea blend ingredients.

More on Magical Teas:

• Tea Offerings: How to Craft Teas for the Gods
• 3 Magical Summer Sun Tea Recipes for Joy, Energy and Abundance
• Witchy Book and Tea Pairings for Spring