Fun Herbal Questions (and their answers)

An image of three jars of tea up against a brick wall, on a white tablecloth. The tea on the left is light gold, the middle tea is translucent red, and they both have sunlight coming through them. The tea on the right is opaque red.

These three jars came from ONE batch of tea. I took ONE teacup, put looseleaf rosehips in it, poured boiling water over it, and let it steep overnight. What could I have done to make three completely different colored teas? This was AFTER brewing. I’ll repeat: ONE cup of tea. Then what?  It’s something we can all do with our tea to maximize medicinal potency, but is often forgotten or skipped.

 Two cups of lemon balm tea, but they’re different colors! Sourced from the same place, steeped for the same amount of time. There’s only one difference! What is it this time? 

A background of green grass with brown dried leaves on it and two glass jars of gold-colored tea. Sunlight is coming through the jars. The tea on the left is lighter and the tea on the right is darker.

 These two cups of dandelion root tea look very different. Why? I used the same amount of dried herb (sourced from the same place), the same amount of water, and prepared them in the same way.... except for ONE thing I did differently!!! The difference was NOT steeping time - they were both steeped for the same amount of time.  Why is one so much darker?

They taste different too!

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.

These two cups of nettle tea are DIFFERENT COLORS!  I used the same amount of dried herb (sourced from the same place), the same amount of water, and prepared them in the exact same way.... except for ONE thing I did differently!!! Can you guess what the difference is? Click here for the answer!