Lavender Tea Health Benefits and How to Brew Properly
on Sep 18, 2022
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Lavender tea is a herbal drink made from dried lavender flower buds. Get step-by-step directions, from a certified Tea Sommelier, on the proper way to brew this floral beverage.
What is Lavender Tea?
- Lavender tea is an herbal tea (also known as a tisane) made by steeping dried lavender flower buds in water. It’s a caffeine-free drink.
- There are over 40 species of lavender and the English and French species are the most commonly used to make lavender tea.
- The flowers and buds of lavender are purple, resulting in a slightly purple-hued drink.
- Always use food-grade lavender to make sure they weren’t treated with pesticides.
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4 Lavender Health Benefits
1. Promotes Relaxation
One of the most popular benefits of lavender tea involves relaxation.
The plant contains a compound called linalool, which has a sedative effect on the body. This means lavender can calm the central nervous system, making it ideal for relieving stress.
2. Helps You Sleep
As lavender tea relaxes the body, it can also help you sleep.
What’s more, research has found that smelling and consuming lavender can improve the quality of sleep.
This makes it a good drink to enjoy before bed.
3. Reduces Menstrual Pain
The lovely scent of lavender pain has been shown to reduce menstrual pain.
According to scientists, the smell might help by affecting parts of the brain involved in pain.
4. Contains Antioxidants
Linalool, a main compound in lavender, has antioxidant activity.
This means it can fight harmful molecules and protect your cells.
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Side Effect of Lavender
In general, there’s a low risk that lavender tea will cause side effects. Consuming lavender products is considered to be safe.
However, some people might develop skin irritation when using lavender oil. If this happens to you, use caution with lavender tea. Ask your doctor if the drink is safe for you.
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Ingredient Notes
- Lavender tea: Loose lavender tea is higher in quality than tea bags so go for loose whenever possible.
- Water: Better water makes for better tea so use filtered water if possible.
Step-by-Step Brewing Instructions
- Boil water.
Using an electric kettle with temperature settings to boil water for tea makes it easy to get the water temperature just right. Boil more than needed since you want extra to warm up the teapot. - Warm up teapot.
Pour some hot water into the teapot and swirl it around a bit. Discard the water. - Put lavender tea into the teapot and add hot water. Cover teapot and steep.
- Strain lavender buds and pour hot tea into a teacup.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Tea Sommelier’s Tips
Can be brewed with black tea.
To make lavender with black tea, add a tea sachet or 1 ½ teaspoons of loose black tea. Lavender goes great with Earl Grey Tea or chamomile.
Don’t add too much lavender.
The most important thing to remember about making lavender tea is to resist adding too many lavender buds. The taste will be too strong and won’t be pleasant to drink.
Serve lavender tea with or without sugar.
Both hot and iced lavender tea can be had without sugar or milk but if you want to sweeten, use simple syrup which will easily dissolve into the drink. Use my quick simple syrup or lavender simple syrup recipes if you want homemade.
Lavender tea doesn’t get bitter if steeped for longer.
Herbal teas like lavender are a lot easier to brew than other types of teas (like green tea) since it doesn’t get overly bitter if brewed for longer than 5 minutes.
Store it properly.
Lavender tea can be brewed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Keep it covered or airtight glass container or pitcher.
Loose lavender tea and tea sachets should be stored in an airtight container away from light, odors, humidity, and heat.
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Questions You May Have
The taste is heavily floral with a slight minty note. It tastes light and fresh unless you put in too much lavender buds.
There’s absolutely no caffeine in lavender tea when it’s made only with lavender buds. It’s a great nighttime drink since it won’t keep you up.
Lavender tea is NOT a real tea. Real tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant and since lavender comes from the lavender plant, it’s not considered a real tea. Real tea contains caffeine.
Related
- Lavender Lemonade
- Peppermint Tea
- Hibiscus Tea
- Rooibos Tea
- Top 10 Tea Sommelier Tips To Make A Better Cup Of Tea
- Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
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Lavender Tea
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup water, + more to warm teapot
- ½ teaspoon lavender tea, or 1 tea sachet or tea bag
Instructions
- Boil water.If using an electric kettle with temperature setting, set it to 208°F. Boil a little more water than needed so that it can be used to warm up the teapot. Filtered water is best.
- Warm up teapot.Pour hot water into a teapot, halfway, and swirl it around a bit. Discard the water.Warming up the teapot is an extra step that all tea professionals take the time to do, so that when the tea steeps, the water temperature won't drop drastically.
- Put lavender tea into the teapot and add hot water. Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
- Strain lavender buds and pour hot tea into a teacup.
Notes
- Use loose tea instead of tea bags for a better quality cup of tea.
- To make lavender with black tea, add a tea sachet or 1 ½ teaspoons of loose black tea. Lavender goes great with Earl Grey Tea or chamomile.
- The most important thing to remember about making lavender tea is to resist adding too many lavender buds. The taste will be too strong and won’t be pleasant to drink.
- Both hot and iced lavender tea can be had without sugar or milk but if you want to sweeten, use simple syrup which will easily dissolve into the drink. Use my quick simple syrup or lavender simple syrup recipes if you want homemade.
- Herbal teas like lavender are a lot easier to brew than other types of teas (like green tea) since it doesn’t get overly bitter if brewed for longer than 5 minutes.
- Lavender tea can be brewed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Keep it covered or airtight glass container or pitcher.
- Loose lavender tea and tea sachets should be stored in an airtight container away from light, odors, humidity, and heat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very Healthy, good to help you relax and sleep well at night. I myself use milk or Almond milk. a little real raw honey. Not the one in the little bears at the grocery store. That is not even honey at all. I get the milk really hot to the scalding point, put in my lavender tea bag 1/4 tesp.nutmeg and 1/4 tesp. cinanmon. Get this good and hot. for a minute or so and sip and enjoy.
Thanks for the recipe! Do you have any advice how to make lavender tea taste less soapy? What tea does pair well with lavender?
Hi ps, maybe add some sugar to make it less soapy? Lavender is great with Earl Grey!