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Overnight infusion.
Nettle and red clover chais as overnight infusions.
Hmmm, a Susun Weed -style overnight infusion? That's what Persimmon wrote here. That sounded intriguing, so I decided to try it. A quick websearch gave a recipe: boil up 1 oz of herb in 1 quart water, pour into a jar, cover with a tight lid, let sit overnight, strain, drink.
I like nettles (Urtica dioica), so here's a pic of my overnight nettle infusion in a 700 ml (3/4 quart) jar, in the morning.
Susun doesn't reheat her overnight teas, but I like things hot - it's winter up here, teas should be warming, not cooling. So I boiled it up again with a few cardamom pods, strained, added some milk, and let it cool a tad.
It's much stronger than my usual nettle tea, and it's very good.
Next I tried red clover (Trifolium pratense) the same way.
Again, I boiled it up in the morning, this time adding cinnamon as well as cardamom. It was much too strong to drink straight, so I added a bit of milk. There's still a soapy taste that I don't like.
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It occurs to me that the "add spices and milk" thing is more a chai than a latte. Michelle's original is more a latte than a chai, with milk and sugar - and no spices.
Related entry: Nettle latte
Comments
Yeah, I like warm tea too,
Yeah, I like warm tea too, so I strain into a hotpot--one of those water-boilers that college kids make ramen in.
For a spicy chai, I like red raspberry leaf infused Susun-style best, as it has more tastes in common with black tea and is easy to blend. It's good with black peppercorns, a few cloves and a dash of nutmeg.
Ahhhh, yes. The herbal
Ahhhh, yes. The herbal infusion. I drink these babies almost daily. Both nettles and red clover find their way into my body at least once a week. Also, linden flower & leaf, oatstraw and lately, raspberry leaf (which I never had a taste for until this past year - which actually makes perfect sense to me).
More recently I discovered parsley leaf infusion. I was delighted by it's flavor - rather savory, but that may be my association to the way I "cook" with it. A little cayenne pepper and a touch of sea salt in a parsley leaf infusion makes a delightful, nutritious and warming lunchtime complement.
Blending parsley leaf *with* red clover is good and covers the flavor that so many don't care for in red clover. But then again, if red clover doesn't appeal to you now, your body may simply have no need for it at this time . . . kinda like my relationship with raspberry leaf.
Joyce Wardwell told me 'bout
Joyce Wardwell told me 'bout doing overnight infusions with room temp water, and that they seem to extract minerals just as well. She said its nice on herbs that get a tad more bitter, soapy, or astringent than you want em. I tried making two quart overnight infusions, with an ounce of herb each, one with boiling water, one with room temp water, and felt they were equally strong, in terms of mineral content, though the room temp infusion had a just barely slightly mellower taste.
...oh yeah: be sure to suspend the herbs in a strainer. THe minerals and such extract via passive diffusion; as the water picks up minerals, it gets heavier, sinks to the bottom of the jar, and un-laden water rises, creating a flux that you won't have if your herbs sink to the bottom of the jar.
Rose: are you talking normal
Rose: are you talking normal herbal teas or overnight infusions?
Jim: I know about overnight cold infusions - I call them cold macerations. The "boil it then let sit" thing was new to me [1], as was the "do lots in one go" thing [2] and the "use more herb than you would otherwise" thing [3].
I'll try the suspend thing to see if it makes a difference in taste. I've done that with mucilaginous herbs, earlier. Mmmm, herb slime.
[1] Or at least, I hadn't tried it before. Or, if I had, I've managed to forget all about it.
[2] Or, well, I make a liter of a herbal tea in the morning and drink that during the day. Making lots of an overnight tea is reasonable, cos if you didn't and wanted more, you'd have to wait for a few hours. Or even overnight.
[3] I've measured things now, and use 2 heaped tablespoons dried herb to 7 dl water for this. My usual is 1 teaspoon dried herb to 2 dl water; this, then, is about double the usual strength of my teas in terms of herb used.
I'll play with it some more.
I'm talkin' about overnight
I'm talkin' about overnight infusions (or at least 4-hours).
Right, I'll give your
Right, I'll give your parsley leaf++ a try, too. Thanks!
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