Overnight infusion.
Nettle and red clover chais as overnight infusions.
Hmmm, a Susun Weed -style overnight infusion? That's what Persimmon wrote here. That sounded intriguing, so I decided to try it. A quick websearch gave a recipe: boil up 1 oz of herb in 1 quart water, pour into a jar, cover with a tight lid, let sit overnight, strain, drink.
I like nettles (Urtica dioica), so here's a pic of my overnight nettle infusion in a 7 dl (3/4 quart) jar, in the morning.
Susun doesn't reheat her overnight teas, but I like things hot - it's winter up here, teas should be warming, not cooling. So I boiled it up again with a few cardamom pods, strained, added some milk, and let it cool a tad.
It's much stronger than my usual nettle tea, and it's very good.
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Next I tried red clover (Trifolium pratense) the same way.
Again, I boiled it up in the morning, this time adding cinnamon as well as cardamom. It was much too strong to drink straight, so I added a bit of milk. There's still a soapy taste that I don't like.
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It occurs to me that the "add spices and milk" thing is more a chai than a latte. Michelle's original is more a latte than a chai, with milk and sugar - and no spices.
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Related entry: Nettle latte
Rose: are you talking normal
Rose: are you talking normal herbal teas or overnight infusions?
Jim: I know about overnight cold infusions - I call them cold macerations. The "boil it then let sit" thing was new to me [1], as was the "do lots in one go" thing [2] and the "use more herb than you would otherwise" thing [3].
I'll try the suspend thing to see if it makes a difference in taste. I've done that with mucilaginous herbs, earlier. Mmmm, herb slime.
[1] Or at least, I hadn't tried it before. Or, if I had, I've managed to forget all about it.
[2] Or, well, I make a liter of a herbal tea in the morning and drink that during the day. Making lots of an overnight tea is reasonable, cos if you didn't and wanted more, you'd have to wait for a few hours. Or even overnight.
[3] I've measured things now, and use 2 heaped tablespoons dried herb to 7 dl water for this. My usual is 1 teaspoon dried herb to 2 dl water; this, then, is about double the usual strength of my teas in terms of herb used.
I'll play with it some more.
Right, I'll give your
Right, I'll give your parsley leaf++ a try, too. Thanks!