Making fresh and dry Raspberry Leaf Tea at home

Raspberry leaf tea is very good herbal tea with a lot of vitamin C, E, A, B, and minerals such as Phosphorous, Potassium and tanning. This amazing herbal tea can enhance the immune system, tonic body, skin and reducing the cough when you got a sore throat. In Finland’s summer raspberries grow everywhere and it is very easy to collect the fresh raspberry leaf. That’s why I use fresh raspberry leaf tea in the summer time and dried some raspberry leaf tea for winter time.  

HARVEST FRESH RASPBERRY LEAVES

The best time to collect raspberry leaves is before blossom time. Always remember to harvest only the green and healthier looking leaves.
If you harvest red raspberry leave for only fresh tea, pick only the amount of leaves you will use last for 5 – 6 days.  Raspberry leaves will lose their precious quantities of nutrition after 5 or 6 days.

After picking the leaves don’t put it nylon, plastic bags or closed spaces like in the trunk of your vehicle. Keep the picked leaves in open space such as the basket.  

And don’t:

Don’t pick the leaves with obvious damage.
Don’t harvest the red raspberry leaves growing on roadside or curbs. These leaves are not suitable for consumption.
Don’t put the picked leaves under direct sunlight too.

CLEAN RASPBERRY LEAVES

You can clean raspberry leaves by rinsing the leaves under cool and running water. Do not soak the leaves in water, they will lose many of their much-desired substances (particularly sugars, vitamins, and minerals)

MAKING FRESH RASPBERRY LEAF TEA

Firstly, I will choose 3 fresh and healthy looking raspberry leaves to make tea. You can add more leaves or reduce the leaves depend on your taste. But with me, 3 red raspberry leaves are enough.
I used my favorite ceramic cup with lid and strainer to brew this herb tea.  As I mentioned before in the post of 5 main types of teapot, the ceramic is the best material for brewing herbal tea.

Then, I cut raspberry fresh leaves it into small pieces and put them into the strainer like this. If you do not cut it, the hot water cannot exploit all the benefits of raspberry leaves.
Boil water until fully boiling and pour the water into the cup. Put the lid on and wait for 8-10 minutes. 
The fresh raspberry leaf tea has a light sweet taste and the smell like raspberry. If you like sweet, you can put some sugar or honey as you like. I would prefer to drink this herb tea without sugar. If you need to enhance the berry smell, you can put some fresh raspberry in the tea.

DRY RASPBERRY LEAF TEA

After rinsing the raspberry leaves under running water you can leave them dry by their own. The best way to dry raspberry leaves or other herbs is to make little bunches and rig them upside down on a line in a cool, dry and drafty place. Bunches should be thin so that the circulating air can dry the herbs to the core. Avoid humid areas. Make sure the temperature is steady and the air is dry. The ideal temperature is 20 – 31oC. The faster the drying of herbs is the better. Do not dry raspberry leaves under direct sunlight, or they will wither.

After 4 days, my raspberry leaves were totally dry.


 I plucked raspberry leaves and placed them in airtight jar and stored away in cool and dry place.

Remember to use dried herbs six months later, but not later since they tend to loose their aroma.

You can use one teaspoon of dried raspberry leaf tea for one cup of tea. Put the leaf tea into a strainer and pouring boiling water into the cup. Wait for 10-15 minutes then enjoy the raspberry leaf tea. 

It is not so difficult to make fresh raspberry leaf tea and dry raspberry leaf tea at home. Why don’t you make your own raspberry leaf tea if you can find the suitable leaves? Only after 4 days, you can have a jar of dried raspberry leaf which you can use for 6 months.  I strongly recommend you read more about Raspberry leaf: Benefits and Cautions before using this healthy leaf tea for better results.

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