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Here’s how to make basil tea! This fresh herb infuses a beautifully subtle flavor into tea: add lemon for the perfect combination.

Basil tea
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Got leftover basil in your garden? Let’s make basil tea! There are so many ways to use basil, from basil pesto to margherita pizza. But if you want the easiest, healthiest way to use it? Make tea! Alex and I have been making herbal tea recipes with all our garden herbs: oregano, thyme, and mint. Basil tea was next in our list: and this herb tastes best combined with a little black tea and lemon. It adds a subtle, peppery flavor that’s irresistible! Here’s what to do.

How to make basil tea

You need just three ingredients for this basil tea recipe: a bag of black tea, fresh basil, and a lemon slice. While basil is best known for flavoring Italian recipes, its flavor lends intrigue to tea. This recipe has a slightly different method from our other herbal tea recipes. Because the flavor of basil isn’t strong enough on its own, combine it with black tea and lemon for the perfect brew! Here’s what to do:

  1. Boil: Boil a pot of water. We use an electric tea kettle (that we also use for our morning coffee).
  2. Harvest herbs: Grab 6 large leaves of basil.
  3. Muddle: Use a wooden spoon to gently mash the lemon and basil.
  4. Steep: Add a black tea bag to the mug and fill with boiling water. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then enjoy!
Basil tea

Basil tea benefits

Fresh basil is known to be full of anti-oxidants, anti-bacterial properties, and Vitamin K. We can’t promise a cup of basil tea will cure all your ailments, but it can’t be argued that it’s positively soothing to drink a cup! This is a healthy way to enjoy this powerful fresh herb. Read more about the Benefits of Basil.

Basil tea

Grow your own basil

Basil is easy to grow at home! You don’t even need garden space: just a pot and a sunny ledge! You can use it in recipes all summer long (see below). Here are a few of our resources for growing and harvesting basil:

How to store fresh basil

More herbal teas

You can make tea with all sorts of herbs! Here are more herbal tea recipes to try:

Love tea recipes? Also try our Iced Tea, Sweet Tea and Cold Brew Tea.

More ways to use basil

Basil adds the perfect herby punch to foods from pizza to salads! Here are our top basil recipes to use this tasty herb:

This basil tea recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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Easy Basil Tea

Basil tea
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Here’s how to make basil tea! This fresh herb infuses a beautifully subtle flavor into tea: add lemon for the perfect combination.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 drink 1x
  • Category: Drink
  • Method: Tea
  • Cuisine: Herbal
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 bag black tea
  • 6 large leaves basil
  • 1/2 lemon slice

Instructions

  1. Bring the water to a boil.
  2. Use a wooden spoon to gently muddle (mash) the basil leaves and lemon circle in bottom of tea glass.
  3. Add the black tea bag to the mug. Pour over the water and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the basil, lemon, and tea bag and drink immediately.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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3 Comments

  1. putulemlajr93@gmail.com says:

    Thankyou so much

  2. Anonymous says:

    thanks so much

    1. Muzi says:

      Kindly send me more of these herbal plants recipes,as I have a couple of herbs in my garden Thanks