Summertime Teas

Most of my blog entries come about because there is either something I don't want to think about, or something else I am avoiding doing.  This is true again on both counts today.  So today we make tea! 

First up is a tea made from a walk in the yard.  There are several good, tasty options out there right now.  Some I didn't choose would be nettles, sage, mint, and pine or fir tips.  I had a plan, see?
The leaves of raspberry and blueberry made a tasty infusion, so I wanted to base the blend on them.  Here we go...

First stop was the row of black raspberries.  They're starting to form tiny berries.  They must have blossomed last week when we were busy with other things. 

 

Then the *just* opened-this-very-day-for-the-first-time elder blossoms grabbed me firmly by the nose and dragged me over their way to choose one perfect umbel.

I made my way to the lemon balm and picked a few sprigs.  You may not see that area, though.  It's hard to find the lemon balm through the weeds.  Beside that, there were beautiful leaves from black currant and gooseberry.

On the far end of the yard, the lush and succulent blueberry leaves called.

Headed towards the door, I grabbed two little sprigs of anise hyssop.

 All of it went into the French press.

While it steeped, I put some lemon and blueberries into a quart mason jar.

In the meantime, I chopped the rest of the lemon and put it into the big gallon refrigerator jar, and put more water on to heat. 

 A muslin bag was filled loosely with some flavored green tea.  We've been making gallons of tea a couple times a week this spring, and it is so nice to have it handy and cold.

So here's the verdict.
The Backyard Berry Tea was overtaken by the anise hyssop, but in a very pleasant way.  It will develop overnight in the fridge, and tomorrow Molly will love it!

Now I have to find something else to occupy my mind...