Anise Hyssop Leaves for Refreshing Herbal Iced Tea

Anise Hyssop Leaves & Flowers for the Best Herbal Iced Tea!

We recently discussed some great reasons why Anise Hyssop is a wonderful plant to add to your herb garden. Now it’s time to discuss how to use the anise hyssop leaves.

Catch up with this post and the following video.

7 Great Reasons to Grow Anise Hyssop

While those posts listed great reasons to get you going, once you’ve planted it, what do you do with the anise hyssop leaves?

I’ve seen several suggestions.

• Use the anise hyssop leaves in culinary applications. While you can get quite imaginative, I’ll share my favorite way to use anise hyssop leaves in our home.

• Anise hyssop leaves and flowers make delicious tea–hot or cold!

We’ve recently discovered just how wonderful iced anise hyssop tea can be! I’ll share my method below.

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Let ’em Wilt!

I learned the secret to concentrate the flavor of anise hyssop leaves or holy basil leaves, which I like to combine with the anise hyssop. That is to allow the herb to wilt after cutting.

Simply cut the fresh herb, hang upside down, or lie it on a well-ventilated sheet or tray, and let the leaves rest for a day. When you come back, the herbs will be wilted, but not shriveled up and dry.

If you taste these wilted herbs, you will find that they have much more intense flavor now! Use these leaves for tea, and you will get a more flavorful experience!

Using Anise Hyssop Leaves for Tea

You can use your Anise Hyssop Leaves (and perfectly edible flowers) alone to make a delightful beverage. They make a soothing hot tea, and the tea can be used to soothe the respiratory tract, especially during a respiratory infection.

For a hot tea, simply steep wilted, fresh, or dried anise hyssop leaves in just boiled water. Cover and steep for about 10 minutes or more if using fresh herbs, 5-10 or more if using dried.

*Use twice the amount of fresh herbs compared to if using dried leaves.

Anise hyssop leaves are delicious alone, but their flavor pairs very well with other herbs, particularly Tulsi (holy basil), Lemon Verbena, or other mints.

How to Collect Anise Hyssop Leaves for Tea

To make a delightful herbal iced tea:

• Collect anise hyssop leaves in the cool part of the day. Snip stems with leaves aka flowers.
• Lay aside for a day to wilt, if desired, to concentrate flavors. Use after a day.
• Hang upside down in bunches to dry in a sheltered location, away from dampness
• Dry, if desired, and store in a glass jar, away from sunlight
• If wilting, use within 24 hours or store wilted anise hyssop leaves in fridge

How to Make a Refreshing Iced Tea from Anise Hyssop

The simplest way to make an anise hyssop iced tea would be to proceed as with any tea.

• Boil filtered water
• Pour water over herbs (amount is really dependent on you! Use more for stronger tea, less for milder flavor. A good tule of thumb is 1 tsp to 1 tbs dried herbs per cup, and at least double that for fresh. Please note this is for culinary herbs, not medicinal. For medicinal herbs, you need to measure more precisely)
• Cover–always cover to avoid losing volatile oils in the steam
• Steep–steeping time will depend on how deep you prefer your flavor. I like to steep mine for several hours, or, best, overnight.
• Strain
• Sweeten, if desired. I use this brand of stevia (best taste, good value)
• Ice
• Enjoy!

Variations

The variations you can add to anise hyssop leaves for tea are endless!

If you want to experience a wonderful symphony of flavors, try switching up your herbs!

The best herbs I’ve discovered that pair well with anise hyssop leaves are:

• Tulsi. (Holy Basil).
• Lemon Verbena
• Lemon Balm
• Spearmint
• Peppermint (any of the varieties)
• The other Agastache varieties (hummingbird mint)

Personally, I usually choose to make blends without the mint.

How to Make an Herbal Infusion Concentrate from Anise Hyssop Leaves and Flowers

Because we are often cramped for fridge space, I like to be efficient. So I often make my herbal teas into a concentrate to store easily and go farther.

For my herbal tea concentrates, I will brew way more than I’d make for a single pitcher or cup. I store the concentrate in the fridge, and we dilute it as we use it.

Depending on how much you’d like to make at one time, please adjust accordingly.

Herbal Infusion Concentrate

• Fill desired jar with filtered water. I used a 1/2 gallon jar.
• Pour water into pan
• Bring to a boil, turn off heat
• Stuff jar about halfway with fresh or wilted herbs (or use less if dried–like about a cup/quart).
• Add boiled water and cover.
• Steep at least overnight. If longer, transfer to refrigerator to continue infusing.

• Strain your herbal tea concentrate, making sure to squeeze all the goodness from your herbs!
• Store in covered jar in fridge.
• When ready to use, simply add 1/2 to 1/3 portion herbal concentrate, and the rest chilled, filtered water.

• Sweeten with Stevia or desired natural sweetener.

• (If using honey, you can add this while the tea concentrate is still warm for best mixing results)
• Delicious!

• This herbal tea concentrate will store for about a week in the fridge.

• Freeze in ice cube trays, if desired, to use for later!
• Use your herbal concentrate for flavoring syrups and fruit salads.

This makes the best herbal sweet tea!

My “recipe”.

• Two parts anise hyssop leaves and flowers
• One part Tulsi (Holy Basil) leaves/flowers
• One part Lemon Verbena leaves.

This makes a complex blend that leaves you wanting to take one more sip!

You get the sweet anise flavor from the anise hyssop leaves. You’ll detect a vanilla-lemon undertone from the lemon verbena, and a hint of vanilla/smoothness with the smallest bit of spice from the tulsi leaves. Delicious!

This truly is the best blend we’ve tried! We like to play around with herb flavor blends.

Grow it or Buy it Dried

If you have not grown your own anise hyssop plant yet, you can obtain dried anise hyssop leaves, which will last for a long time. Same for the holy basil and the lemon verbena, but if you can grow your own, its so much better!

It can be hard to find dried anise hyssop leaves. Amazon.com only sells seeds for planting.

One good source of reputable herbs is Mountain Rose Herbs. You can also check eBay or Etsy, as they often have sources.

For a Live anise hyssop plant, you can find several varieties. Not all Agastache is anise hyssop. Some have a more minty flavor. Some are completely different in flavor and color!

For Anise hyssop seeds to plant you can find more available. Just look for non-GMO organic seeds. It’s not hard to grow from seed.

Let me know if you’ve tried tea, in any form, made from the anise hyssop leaves.

Just a reminder: although the tea is delicious and kind of addicting, it can be made hot or cold, and its very soothing to the respiratory tract, so it’s not just for summertime!

Drink up!

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Laurie