Ingredients

• Kettle
• Water (for boiling)
• Bluberries (fresh or dried)
• Teacup or Teapot
• Teabag (optional)

 

Directions 
1 Fill the kettle with fresh water. Bring the water to a boil, then pour some into your teacup or teapot to warm it up.

2 Discard the water.

3 For a cup of fresh blueberry tea, put about seven berries (or more, if you like a stronger taste) into a tea bag or teapot.

4 For a cup of dried blueberry tea, you need to grind the berries. Put seven berries into a mortar and pestle and grind until bro­ken up. Put the ground blueberries into a tea bag or teapot.

5 Pour the boiled water (which should be between 176 to 185°F/80 to 85°C) over the tea. Allow the tea to steep for four minutes, lifting the bag up and down to help extract the flavor or stirring if you are using a teapot.

6 Remove the tea bag or pour the tea from the teapot using a tea strainer. The tea is a lovely deep red color and has a refreshing fruity taste.

Tips
1 Blend with hyssop for an antioxi­dant-boosting tea. Put two pinch­es of ground blueberry and a small pinch of dried or fresh hyssop leaves into a tea bag or teapot and steep for three to four minutes. Serve with fresh hyssop flowers.

2 Blend a small pinch of fresh or dried manuka with crushed blue­berries to give a slight fruit flavor to this aromatic tea.

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Excerpted from Homegrown Tea: An Illustrated Guide to Planting, Harvesting and Blending Teas and Tisanes by Cassie Liversidge. Recipes Copyright © 2014 Cassie Liversidge. Photography copyright © Cassie Liversidge. Excerpted by permission of Cassie Liversidge and St. Martins Griffin. All Rights Reserved.