I buy a lot of tea, but usually just for work, because bags are easier there and half the time things come up and I can’t even finish my cup or choke it down cold. Tea at home is a completely different matter. I use loose mixes, often homemade ones, brew my tea in a french press, and practically celebrate my tea time. The only thing I’m not too fond of is black tea.

Buying teabags every now and then has an advantage: I get lots of inspiration for new blends when I’m in the supermarket. I often reverse engineer the bagged tea from the listed ingredients and then tweak it to my liking. Today, I copied a new for me supermarket tea that I discovered last week and really love. It’s a herbal chai, and it’s a perfect (for me) mix of sweet and spicy.

To make a tea mix, you need plenty of dried herbs and spices. I grow and dry some myself, but buy a lot of others from the supermarket or the pharmacy. Yes, German pharmacies sell herbs and spices for tea.

• 20g ginger
• 15g basil
• 15g orange peel
• 15g licorice root
• 10g cinnamon flowers (you can substitute “normal” cinnamon)
• 5g fenugreek
• 5g yarrow
• 5g aniseed
• 4g cloves
• 4g cardamom
• 2g black pepper

I use a precision scale to weigh small amounts.

To be able to properly blend the ingredients, they should all be the same size. The basil and yarrow came already cut pretty small, so I dumped them into a pint jar. Everything else was tossed into my spice grinder (old coffee grinder) and got a quick blitz. Be careful that you don’t turn everything into a powder. The smaller the pieces are, the quicker the herbs and spices lose flavor.

All the ingredients ended up in the pint jar and then I shook it for a minute or so until everything was properly mixed. Tadaa, tea mix is done.

Now all you need to do is label your jar and brew yourself a first cup. You need about a tsp of tea for big cup. Due to the aniseed and the licorice root, the tea is already sweet, no sugar or honey necessary. I just like to play around with the sugar sticks on the photos.

Enjoy!