Potion of Delight

A tea blend combining some of my favorite heart opening, relaxing, and sensory illuminating herbs, all gathered together for a cozy evening hang – the kind you might have in your friend's lamp-lit living room with a record playing, and friends laying across a shag carpet giggling at nothing and everything.

It’s a blend conducive to rest, play, and effervescent conversations – a blend to shift one’s awareness from the head to the heart while releasing tension from the body and opening our sensorium to delight of our immediate surroundings.

Ingredients:

• 30g dried Linden flower & bract
• 20g dried Lemon Balm leaf
• 20g dried Chamomile flower
• 15g dried Fennel seed
• 10g dried Damiana leaf
• 5g dried Pedicularis aerial parts

Directions:

Mix all of the dried herbs together and store in a glass jar. This 100 gram batch makes enough to be enjoyed over the course of 2-3 weeks (or more if not drinking everyday).

To make a simple herbal infusion:

1. Add 1 tablespoon (5-6 grams) of the tea blend to 8 ounces hot water and steep 15-30 minutes.
2. Strain and enjoy.

For a strong overnight infusion:

1. Add 1/4 cup (20-25 grams) of the tea blend to a 32 ounce mason jar and fill to the top with hot water. Cover and steep overnight on the countertop.
2. Strain and enjoy. Store in the fridge if you won’t be drinking it all within the day.

Medicinal Brew

If you’re familiar with fermenting beers or wild sodas, you can also make a simple “medicinal brew” by adding raw wildflower honey or light brown sugar equal to about 10–20% of the tea’s volume, stirring in a little ale yeast, and letting it ferment in an airtight jar (or a wide-mouth jar with an airlock).

To make the 'medicinal brew':

1. Prepare a one gallon batch of the tea as usual, then strain.
2. Add sugar or honey while still warm to incorporate more easily; mix gently until fully dissolved.
3. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then pitch 1-2 grams of ale yeast per one gallon of the prepared tea. Cover with lid and airlock.
4. Allow to ferment 2-3 days at room temperature. You should see fermentation starting to occur around the first 12-24 hours.
5. You can strain and bottle now for a very low alcohol 'soda', or strain into a secondary fermentation vessel and ferment until fermentation has halted (between 10-14 days) for a more 'beer'-like potion.
6. Bottle in swing-top bottles and consume a week after bottling once some carbonation has built up in the bottles (make sure to burp the bottles so as not to over-carbonate!).

This will yield a very delightful, slightly sweet, and very low alcohol ‘small beer’/fermented soda that is around 1-2% ABV (or 4-5% ABV if you did a secondary fermentation).

Store the beer in the fridge to slow fermentation once it has reached a level of carbonation you enjoy!

Shelf Life and Other Tips:

Store brewed tea in the fridge for 2-3 days.

If you are attempting the fermented beer version of this recipe, make sure to properly sanitize all equipment (using a food-safe sanitizer like StarSan) to ensure shelf stability after bottling. Since the beer will still have some sugar present along with active yeast after bottling, the bottles will increase in carbonation and may build in pressure. It is recommended to consume the beer within one or two months after bottling.