I am a chemist so I love to experiment with flavors. I also drink a lot of hot tea. Leaves of trees are a poor source of lemon flavor. Lemon grass is better but it will be hard get to survive in Razorback land.

I have drunk green teas for thirty years and they are fantastic for you but are tough to get down due to a slightly off lingering aftertaste. I use ginger root sliced thin to cancel that problem. Add it while brewing the tea. Ginger aids digestion and helps against cough. Chinese herbalist strongly reccommend ginger for both uses. Then I like to use another flavor added in. Cinnimon is good. Better tasting is some tangerine rind. Or you can use lemon rind.

I sweeten this with local honey to keep a high ammount of pollen exposure year round and it lessens those sesonal hayfever attacks. A Texas Medical Center researcher announced a new drug that works the same way. It has the advantage of taking only several months to be effective rather than the year or so for local honey. It cannot be as good tasting as honey. Many more good things are being learned about honey. Less than two tsp. honey per 8 oz cup of tea, vs how many tsp. pure sugar in in Coke? And honey is part water. (Note: Freeze the rinds for fresh flavor for months)

One more thing, remember when Theraflu was in short supply? Well it is made from star anise. You can put that in your tea in flu season. Vietnamese have used it and cardomon for a very long time in soup for for flu.

Great suggestions!

Josh

Josh, I was going to say that..lol

Fantastic suggestions it is then Tantanman!

Mike:-)

Hmm, all that sounds interesting tantanman, and i bet that cinnamon and honey taste great together. Where do you get the ginger, do you grow it, or buy it ground? And the citrus rind, do you grate it? ...And the star anise? what part of it do you put in your teas? The seed husk things?
I think anise would be fun to grow, and it has that nice smell cut up. And that all sounds great. And ya, i didnt think the leaves hae enough flavor. Maybe Bearrs lime, since they smell so much

Anyone else have anything? The more ideas the better.
-Andrew

Andrew,
Fresh ginger root can be found in the produce section of your grocery store, in the chilled section. Our walmart even has it.

It's usually sold by the pound and will keep for a while in the fridge.

I love all sorts of teas and always have fresh mint around for them. ;-)

JoJo

By now, I hope that you realize that the lemon flavor of a good tea never comes from the leaves of a lemon tree. Ever. Like others, I love the flavor of lemon grass tea (an easy herb to grow), or various white, green, or black teas with added fresh lemon juice or lemon zest (or lemon grass).

I'm very fond of ginger root, which can be found in the produce section of just about any grocery store. It's sold, usually, by the root section, of which you can purchase as large or small a segment as you wish. Don't buy it if it's too dried out and corky, though. Be sure to keep it in a plastic bag in the fridge so that it doesn't continue to lose moisture. A small pinch of ground ginger, found in the spice section, can work, too.

Anise seed can also be purchased in the spice section of your market. So can stick cinnamon, whole cloves, and all kinds of yummy spices suitable for infusing in a tea. Even a few whole black peppercorns (green, red, white and/or black) steeped into a tea can be delightful.

Get yourself a tea strainer or an infusion ball (also at the grocery store so that you can easily brew a good cup. I use honey in something every day...it's a natural cholesterol and blood sugar regulator, among other important medicinal qualities. I think that a little bit makes any cup of tea taste better.

By the way, I think that any hot tea you like can be chilled and poured over ice for a wonderful cold drink. I keep a container of fresh brewed tea in the fridge and will empty it over the course of the day. Any additional herbs or spices are brewed right along with it. I like my cold drinks!

Rhizo: I did not know that! Thanks for the input!

I can't e-mail from here if you know what I mean:)

Later

Mike

In my former life, I was a grand drinker of exotic teas...
but now that I'm living caffeine-free, I find myself missing the classics.

I think I'll try a few of these recipes, and see if I can't come up with a winner.

Josh

Try Orange Pekoe tea with jasmine blossoms. It's much better flavored than Jasmine Tea - I think they must use an inferior quality tea and hope to camouflage it with the jasmine. The jasmine I use is Sambac 'Maid of Orleans' AKA Arabian jasmine. This is the classic jasmine to combine with tea

Cath

Don't forget Lemon Verbena. It is worth growing even if you have to buy a new plant every spring. Plenty of gardeners grow Lemon Balm which has a great citrus aroma but doesn't add much flavor when heated (toss it into the cup last).

I'm in zone 7b and can get Cardamom (a type of ginger) to over winter if I cover it in a deep pile of leaves. It adds a spicy oriental flavor to tea. I also grow my own regular ginger but it takes all year to get sizable roots, but it makes a decent houseplant so you could grow it and never run out of ginger.

I know this isn't even the right forum to ask about this, but I've been wanting to grow ginger inside for AGES! Any advice? :)

I wrote an article for learn2grow about it, you might have to google "growing ginger" to find it.

Buy the root, keep it damp and warm until it starts to sprout, grow in a pot until it is very warm outside and then plant, grow all summer and harvest in the fall, make candied ginger or freeze the roots and remember to store a few to start the following spring.