Two jars of tea on a white ribbed table cloth, with some grass in the background. Sunlight comes through the jars. The tea in each is a different color. The tea on the left is lighter and the tea on the right is darker.

Question: Why did these two cups of nettle tea turn out to be different colors? Same amount of dried herb, same amount of water. The herbs were from the same source. The tea was prepared in the same way, except for which variable?

Answer: Steeping time! The jar on the left was steeped for about ten minutes. The jar on the right was steeped overnight. Many people making herbal tea for a pleasant drinking beverage will steep their teas for 5-10 minutes. However, if you are trying to maximize the medicinal benefits of your tea, you want to know some medicinal teas are much more potent if steeped longer. In medicinal herbalism, we call these long-steeped teas infusions.

Infusions are a wonderful way to get the most out of your medicinal preparations. Not all herbs are best as an infusion. It depends on what herb and what the medicinal goals are. Nettle specifically is much more potent as an infusion because more of the vitamins and minerals are extracted.