Harvest Tea

This time of year when I am spending so much time harvesting, I need a hearty tea to keep me going. I found this blend in a book (which book escapes me after all these years.) What I can tell you is the flavor is all about fall its apple base and spicy overtones make it marvelous on a cool evening. The smell is heavenly.


I make all my blends in jars and shake blend them to avoid bruising the herbs which helps give my herb blends and teas a lengthy shelf life. I craft this tea and keep it in a large glass jar in the kitchen to brew whenever I needed a pick-me-up. If it was the time of year I was harvesting late into the night I made this blend with black tea. If in the morning, I used green tea. And once I discovered red bush (rooibos) tea from Africa, I used that all the time.


Harvest Tea

• 1/3 cup dried apple pieces, chopped in small pieces
• ¼ cup hibiscus flowers
• ¼ cup rooibos or black tea
• ¼ cup rose hip shells
• ¼ cup allspice berries
• 1/3 cup wintergreen leaves (substitute spearmint but not peppermint)
• 1 Tbls. Currants or dired cranberries
• 15 inches of cinnamon stick or ¼ cup ground cinnamon
• 1 rounded Tbls. birch bark (You can leave this out. I find its medicinal benefits useful in cool weather)

Combine dry ingredients in a glass jar. Add the wintergreen oil; shake well to blend and distribute the oil. Store away from light for up to a year. Use 1 heaping teaspoon per cup of hot water. Steep 5 minutes and sweeten only with honey.

These recipes are just one aspect of the Backyard Patch. To read our herb research, or see a listing of our 25 different herbal teas visit the Backyard Patch on-line at http://www.backyardpatch.com/