I've been foraging, growing and drying herbs and flowers all summer so I could have a nice variety of herbal tea ingredient options. Well, now that its the third week of school, the season is changing and we are all a bit sniffly with a cold. Its the perfect time to make some steamy mullein leaf tea.

My basic tea blend I enjoy when I have a head cold consists of: chamomile, mullein, lemon verbena and anise hyssop. The flavor is light but tasty. I love anise flavoring, or black licorice flavor as some people may reference, so this cup is quite enjoyable. If you don’t like licorice, you don’t need to add it! Adding the lemon verbena makes its taste similar to the old Luden’s cough drops I loved as a kid.

Mullein leaves are known to have respiratory-supporting (expectorant properties) and anti-inflammatory traits, so I've included them along with chamomile for its soothing effects, and some anise hyssop, which has cough suppressing properties, and as mentioned, great flavor! The lemon verbena has a deliciously bright, sweet, lemon flavor, so I tend to include this with most of my blends.

I filled a paper teabag with the leaves and flowers and let it steep for 5 minutes. Mullein has fine hairs on its leaves, so its recommended to strain it or use a tea bag to keep the hairs from irritating your throat. I can't say that I've noticed any irritation from the couple cups of tea I've had that included it. It doesn't have much of a flavor either, which is nice. Feel free to add honey or any other preferred sweetener. As a diabetic, I tend to not add sweeteners unless necessary, so I’ve enjoyed it unsweetened and with some Monk Fruit sweetener, its been good either way.

I’ll be enjoying plenty of this tea as I work through my head cold. This is the electric tea kettle I use that I received as a birthday gift from my husband and son. I use it daily! It’s handy to have options to choose different water temperatures.