There are varieties of herbs that can be used in fresh tea with healthful benefits such as a mixture of peppermint, tarragon and stevia. Growing them yourself makes natural medicine readily available when you need it. I learned to use herbs when I attended training on herb production, utilization, and processing conducted by Remnant Institute of Alternative Medicine. I grow herbs in pots for my family’s use and as something to serve my guests. I also sell seedlings, which makes some additional income for my family and for the communities where I introduced this as their supplemental livelihood.
Growing Peppermint, Tarragon and Stevia
- Prepare potting media by mixing garden soil and compost at 50:50 ratio.
- Fill seedling bags, pots, or recyclable containers with your prepared media.
- Cut stems from the mother plant. Look for a leaf joint below the part of the stem. Make the cut just above the joint. Your planting material should have at least 3 nodes from the top where you will do the cutting.
- Plant the stems right away after cutting for higher chances of survival.
- Place the plants in shady areas and protect them from animals.
- After two weeks, move the plants to half-shade areas where they can be exposed to morning sun.
Note: Tarragon and Stevia are fragile. It helps if the newly planted cuttings are covered with half of a transparent water bottle for the first two weeks.
Harvesting
When leaves are abundant you can start cutting them for tea. Cut the leaves in the morning before the heat of the day. Leave at least 25% of the mother plant so it will produce new growth after harvest. The secret of keeping the mother plant robust is to keep trimming. Stevia should not be allowed to reach flowering stage because then the sweetness of the leaves are drawn to the flowers. (If they do flower, just use the flowers to sweeten your tea!)
Making Tea
To make infusion, use 50 grams of fresh leaves in 500 ml boiling water. This can be a mixture of these 3 herbs. For just one cup of tea, use 5-7 peppermint leaves, 7 leaves of stevia, and 3 leaves of tarragon. Pour boiling water on the leaves and squeeze half a calamansi over the mixture. Steep for 1-2 minutes.
