Are you a big fan of tea and want to create delicious teas on your own? What is holding you back? Why don’t you grow your tea and enjoy a steaming cup of goodness whenever you want? Many people drink tea regularly. While some enjoy the taste, the rest drink it for its medicinal benefits.
In this guide, we will tell about all the plants you can use to make natural tea, their benefits, and how you can make the best tea.
Growing your own Houseplants for Tea
If you are looking for indoor plants, currently available from PlantVine.com, that you can use to brew your own tea, here are some of the best options:
Lemongrass
Pot Size: Large
Cymbopogon citratus, Lemongrass
Lemon grass is a commonly used tea in many East Indian and West Indian countries. The best part about this tea is that you can easily grow the plant at home and make your tea. Not only is keeping the plant easy but you can cut the stalks and make the tea yourself.
There are many benefits of having lemongrass tea on a daily basis. Here are the top benefits:
- Relief From Anxiety: While sipping on a hot tea can be relaxing, Lemongrass has relaxing elements that help reduce anxiety. If you have an anxiety disorder, you must try drinking lemongrass tea regularly. You can also inhale its oil to benefit from its anti-stress properties.
- Pain Relief: Lemongrass is used as a pain management treatment. People experiencing high degrees of pain can use this tea to decrease their sense of feeling the pain.
- Treats Bloating: Because of its diuretic effects, many people prefer to drink lemongrass tea. It causes your kidney to produce more urine, and that helps with the elimination of bloating from your body. With lemongrass tea, you can reduce water retention, one of the biggest reasons for bloating.
- Decreases Cholesterol: Do you suffer from high cholesterol? Lemongrass tea may lower high cholesterol levels if you drink it regularly.
Passiflora caerulea, Blue Passion Flower Vine
Pot Size: Large, Trellis
Passiflora caerulea, Blue Passion Flower Vine
Passionflower is one of the best houseplants as they are very aesthetically pleasing and can be made into amazing tea. There are many benefits of passionflower tea and there are many different species you can use to make the tea. If you want to drink this medicinal tea, then you may experience the following benefits:
- Increases GABA Levels: Our brains naturally have Gamma-aminobutyric acid that helps the brain reduce its activity and induces a state of relaxation. Passionflower has a similar effect on the brain, and it is found to increase GABA in your brain. This is why it helps with better sleep and even pain management.
- Eases Anxiety: Anxiety is a widespread problem; many people nowadays suffer from GAD (general anxiety disorder). Patients usually have to take strong medicines to ease the symptoms of these conditions, but passionflower tea can easily help with the symptoms. If you drink this on a regular basis, then you won’t have to rely on sedatives. You can drink a cup of passionflower tea right before you sleep to get better sleep.
- Decreases Hot Flashes During Menopause: Menopause can be a very difficult time for most women, and they need all the help they can get. One of the worst symptoms of menopause is hot flashes. With passionflower, you can reduce the intensity of these hot flashes.
Arabica Coffee
Scientific Name: Coffea arabica
Common Names: Arabian Coffee Plant, Ethiopian Coffee, Kaffa
Overview: The Coffea Arabica plant is a gorgeous house plant with glossy deep green leaves with jasmine-scented flowers. These plants are natural air purifiers, which is a bonus. This plant performs best in indirect light, with lots of moisture and humidity. These plants can grow up to 8 feet wide and 15 feet tall if properly cared for.
When planted outdoors, the Arabian coffee plant can reach a mature height of 6 feet, but most indoor plants need to be pruned, so they stay in a manageable range of 1 – 2 feet. If you are looking for a decorative plant that also has air-purifying properties, then the Arabian coffee plant is for you.
Coffea arabica, Arabian Coffee
You may already drink coffee, but the coffee plant gives you a lot more than coffee beans. You can also use the coffee leaves to make tea. Coffee leaf tea is a popular drink, and many people prefer it over coffee or tea. If you want to try a new drink with better benefits, you must try out coffee leave tea. You may get the following benefits:
- Rich In Antioxidants: According to research, many antioxidants in coffee leaves can help with several health conditions, such as heart disease and even fighting diabetes.
- Fights Inflammation: If you have an inflammatory disease, then you must invest in coffee leaves and drink tea regularly. These leaves contain a compound called mangiferin that helps reduce inflammatory effects.
- Lowers Blood Cholesterol: Patients suffering from high blood cholesterol levels can consume coffee, leave tea and get its benefits.
Ming Aralia
Scientific Name: Polyscias fruticosa
Common Names: Ming Aralia, Polynesian Aralia
Overview: The Ming Aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) is an exquisite and graceful houseplant, cherished for its finely divided, feathery foliage. This elegant plant showcases layers of rich green leaves, creating a lush, dense canopy atop slender, woody stems. Its unique, oriental look adds a sophisticated, natural beauty to any indoor environment. Typically reaching a height of 6-8 feet when grown indoors, it can be easily pruned to maintain a smaller, more compact shape, suiting various spaces from office corners to cozy living rooms. Ming Aralia thrives in bright, indirect light and prefers a consistently moist soil environment, without being waterlogged. Regular misting helps to maintain the humidity levels it loves. It’s a great choice for plant enthusiasts looking for a slightly challenging yet rewarding plant.
Polyscias Fruticosa, Ming Aralia
Ming Aralia is a great plant to keep indoors. You can easily take care of the plant and then use it to make herbal tea. As it belongs to the Ginseng family, it has many medicinal benefits and has been a popular drink in Vietnam. There are many benefits of consuming Ming Aralia tea, such as:
- Detoxifies Body: If you are looking for a drink that will help detoxify your body then you can go for Ming Aralia as it has a rich history of being used as a detox drink. It will help your body remove all harmful toxins.
- Aids Sleeping Routines: Many people have difficulty sleeping, and the Ming Aralia tea helps ease your mind and ensures sound sleep. You can also use this plant in combination with other plants to get the maximum health benefits.
- Contains B Vitamins: The leaves contain lots of B vitamins that can help you stay on top of your health.
Mexican Honeysuckle
Scientific Name: Justicia spicigera, Justicia ghiesbreghtiana
Common Names: Mexican Honeysuckle, Orange Plume
Overview: Mexican Honeysuckle, scientifically known as Justicia spicigera, is a beautiful flowering shrub that originates from Mexico and Central America. This vibrant plant is renowned for its clusters of tubular, orange flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The Mexican Honeysuckle blooms profusely throughout the warm months, adding a burst of color to gardens and landscapes. Its glossy, dark green leaves provide an attractive backdrop to the striking flowers. This hardy shrub is adaptable and can tolerate a range of soil types, from well-drained to slightly moist. It thrives in full sun to partial shade and requires regular watering to establish and maintain its growth. Mexican Honeysuckle is a popular choice for borders, hedges, or as a standalone specimen plant.
Justicia spicigera, Mexican Honeysuckle, Orange Plume, Justicia ghiesbreghtiana
Mexican Honeysuckle is a fan favorite. With its tubular flowers, it is surely a sight for sore eyes. You can add this plant to your garden to alleviate the aesthetic appeal, or if you want to improve your health, you can also use it to make yourself a fragrant cup of tea.
In history, many people have used it as a medicinal plant and treated multiple ailments. If you want to unlock its power, you can use Mexican Honeysuckle tea in your daily life.
- Cough Relief: If you have a persistent cough and no remedy is working then you can try Mexican honeysuckle tea. It helps get rid of the mucus, which can help you get rid of the cough.
- Improves Breath: Bad breath can be very off-putting, and often medical treatments and remedies cannot get the job done. When all else fails you can try Mexican honeysuckle tea, which will help you remove odor from your mouth.
- Aids Digestion: Mexican honeysuckle helps treat liver problems and constipation. This helps you improve your health and get better metabolism and digestion.
Tropical Hibiscus ‘Double Red’
Scientific Name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Double Red’
Common Names: Tropical Hibiscus ‘Double Red,’ Hybiscus (Alternate spelling)
Overview: The Tropical Hibiscus is a fast-growing shrub that can grow all the way up to 24 inches in a single year. These plants can go all the way up to 15ft, only if they have the ideal conditions for growth. The tropical Hibiscus gives you plenty of beautiful flowers that are the shapes of a trumpet and can be the best asset for the aesthetic of your home. Care for the plant according to your environment to make sure that it grows in the best way possible.
The ‘Double Red’ cultivar is characterized by its flowers that go from deep to bright red towards the edge of the petals.
- Flower coloring may vary due to seasonality.
Hibiscus Rosa-Sinesis, Tropical Hibiscus
Hibiscus flowers have a long history of being used as a medicinal tea and can easily be found commercially in the tea section of your local grocer, however, growing your own is simple and rewarding as the plant produces blooms nearly year round. Hibiscus tea is made from the dried flower portion of the plants and is characterized by its mildly bitter flavor and rich floral aroma. Add a little but of honey and take advantage of its many medicinal effects.
- Can Lower Blood Pressure: Hibiscus tea is renowned for its calming properties as it can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. This allows the heart and vascular system to work more efficiently and can lower the chances of heart disease over a period of time.
- Promotes a Healthy Liver: Several studies have shown that hibiscus extracts are able to combat steatosis by helping break down fatty deposits in the liver, which helps the organ to function better to help cleanse the rest of the body.
- Can Help with Weight Loss: The fat fighting ability of hibiscus along with its appetite suppresing properties, can promote overall weight loss and has shown to reduce the accumulation of fat cells.
How To Make Houseplant Tea
If you want to make tea using your houseplant, you must first dry out your plants completely. Harvest the tea-making parts of your plant, such as tea leaves or buds, that you can use to steep in hot water and extract the tea.
Different plants have different ways of making houseplant tea, but you must be sure not to overboil the water, so it does not burn the tea and that you can get the best taste possible.
