The most useful method of making tea especially in case of a mixture of herbs is the so called method of halving.
I generally prescribe 3×2 dl of tea daily. With account for some loss we prepare 8 dl of water and 1 full spoon of herbal mix to make our tea.
We bring half of the water (4 dl) to slight boiling temperature (35 C) and add all of the herbal mix. We leave it to sit for the night. We strain it in the morning and pour the liquid into a teapot. We add the strained herbs to the other half of the water (4 dl again) and also bring it to boil, then immediately turn the heat off. We leave it to sit for 15 minutes and strain it. Now we can throw away the strained herbs, then mix the two liquids. This way we gain an aqueous extract with agents that can be obtained through boiling and through steeping, in case of the latter these would be destroyed by excessive heat during boiling. Let’s take an example, in case of a respiratory catarrh we mix thyme containing volatile oil and willow bark containing salicylate. We gain extracts of willow bark through boiling, while thyme’s thymol would be lost through that process, yet for an optimal treatment we would need the effect of both. So if time allows, it is advised to apply this method with all types of herbal mixes.
