Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

If there was ever a tea for an improvised life, it is verbena. Although it suits many purposes and moods, it is especially good for emergencies, when the shit is hitting the fan. When a friend calls in anguish or needing support from some trauma, I make verbena tea, or throw some dried verbena in a plastic bag to take with me and make tea on site; it’s famously calming.

It’s also great for less dramatic occasions, to serve after a dinner party, say, when you need something delicious and surprising for folks who don’t drink coffee. When you’re desperate for a house gift to take to someone you’re visiting,  package up some dried verbena in a cello-bag or a canning jar, and get points for bringing something charming and real. Verbena is a useful flavoring in the kitchen, and be steeped into custard sauces, used to flavor jello and dessert syrups, or used sparingly to scent fish en papillote.

Drying fresh verbena could not be easier and is much cheaper than buying it from a good tea store like Takashimaya. The next couple of weeks is the time to do itwhile fresh verbena is still available in farmer’s markets.

You buy a few bunches, spread it on a rack and dry it in a warm oven, then strip off the leaves and pack it into jars. Sealed tight, the tea will last a year, so it’s easy to keep on hand for whatever life brings. (You can use this method to make other herb teas: chocolate peppermint or camomile, for example, or to dry herbs for storage.)

Step 1: Place wire racks on a sheet pan to elevate the herbs. Snip the rubber bands off the bunches, separate the branches and loosely arrange on the racks. You can use as many sheet pans as your oven will accommodate.

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Step 2: Place the rack(s) in the oven and close the door. If you have a gas oven with a ever-lit pilot light, the oven will be warm enough to dry the verbena. I haven’t tried this in an electric oven but here’s the gist of how I would do it. Preheat to the lowest setting possible, 150 to 200’F.  Add the racks and leave 2 hours, then turn the oven off. Check the tea after a few hours. If the oven is cold and the tea does not appear to be drying, heat it again and let the tea continue to dry, feeling your way with heating and turning off the oven.

Leave the racks in the oven overnight or until the leaves are perfectly dry and crumbly.

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Step 3: Place a sheet of wax paper on your worksurface. Pick up a branch of dried verbena and, working in the direction of the leaves, strip the leaves off the branch with your fingers in one or two strokes. Try not to crush the leaves; whole ones look prettiest (especially for gifts), though it doesn’t really matter.

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Transfer the tea to a clean dry jar and seal tightly. The tea will keep for a year.

To brew, crumble leaves in a heated tea pot. (I figure a small handful of whole leaves per cup – maybe a 1/4 cups worth, but you should fool around with amounts). Add boiling water and steep until it is the strength you like. Strain.

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5 replies on “how-to: verbena tea for whatever life brings

  1. Thanks for this intriguing post, Sally. Is this anything like lemon verbena? I bought some at a home store nursery once because it’s what Scarlett O’Hara remembered of her serene mother in “Gone With the Wind.” The little plant grew into a beautiful robust bush with glossy leaves that when pinched smelled of lemon and something new that was rather intoxicating. I’m pessimistic by nature, but a snootful of verbena brought balance, good humor, even peace (however fleeting). It puts things in perspective. At the very least, you breathe. It’ll be cold and gray here soon. I think I’ll get some seeds and a grow light plus one for the office… Thanks again, Sally, for underscoring the senses which some of us cranium-dwellers tend to forget.

  2. Can you find verbena at Union Square? Thanks for the tip. Now I can stop buying the expensive stuff at Takashimaya!

  3. Yes, definitely, I should have mentioned, for those in New York, the herb seller at the NorthWest corner of the Saturday market sells verbena: Stokes Farm.
    I dry 5 or 6 bunches at a time on 2 racks. You will save a small fortune not buying at Takashimaya (which had some of the best verbena tea, but not nearly as good as this!).

  4. Yes, it is also called LEMON verbena: same thing. Thank you so much for your reference to Gone with The Wind, and your description of your own discoveries: “…a snootful of verbena brought balance, good humor, even peace…”. That is it. Please let us know if you are able to grow it under a light, as a perfect office balancer.

  5. where can i buy verbena tea in saudi arabia ?

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