Hebal tea lineup

This weekend I will be making 4, 1-gallon batches using a variety of teas from Teavana. Some of the ingredients for the "Herbal Teas" sound interesting, and to have them already expertly blended should be helpful.

WILD ORANGE BLOSSOM HERBAL TEA, Ingredients:Apple pieces, hibiscus flowers, rosehip peels, beetroot pieces, citrus peels, citrus slices, flavoring (orange, grapefruit), orange blossom petals, orange juice pulp bits, sunflower petals, pomegranate blossoms, rose petals
ZOCOLATTE SPICE HERBAL TEA, Cocoa kernels, chicory root, cloves, ginger, green cardamom fruit, cinnamon, coconut chips, brazil pepper
SWISS VERVAINE MELANGE HERBAL TEA, Vervaine, apple pieces, carrot pieces, orange peels, ginger pieces, marshmallow leaves, peppermint, green rooibos, candied papaya (papaya, sugar), rosebuds, raisins, mallow blossoms, passion flower petals, flavoring (blood orange, peach) peach pieces, sunflower blossoms

My plan is to make ~1/2 gallon of each herbal tea(depends on strength tea), let it cool mix in honey water mixture to reach 1.25 gallons & SG 1.103, and proceed with normal ferment practices.
thoughts on yeast? im thinking trusty D47

I am doing an herbal tea metheglin right now that I started yesterday. I used STASH Earl grey tea and added cardamom, cinnamon, Clove and nutmeg. D47 was my choice of yeast.

The first thing I thought of when I first walked into Teavana was: "Metheglin!" Still haven't done it, but I'm glad someone else is!

Instead of adding the tea to honeywater, why not just make a larger (1 gallon) batch of tea & add the honey to that? Seems like the flavour would be much less watered down that way. Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards, GF.

biochemedic said:

The first thing I thought of when I first walked into Teavana was: "Metheglin!"

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exactly what happened to me. I went in with a friend and was overwhelmed by the possibilities.

gratus fermentatio said:

Instead of adding the tea to honeywater, why not just make a larger (1 gallon) batch of tea & add the honey to that? Seems like the flavour would be much less watered down that way. Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards, GF.

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I ended up doing this, plus using more loose leaf tea then the package calls for. Ive made an herbal tea metheglin in the past, but the tea was overpowering IMO. This time around the teas seemed very lightly flavored so I just made a judgement calls per tea.

I ended up selecting 4 herbal teas.
Wild orange blossom , which is a very bright red, has a very floral and citrus aroma. very light in flavors but brightened up alot after adding the honey. 1 cup of tea per gallon.
Azteca Fire, looks like chocolate milk, rich chocolate aroma and flavors with a gentle "heat" from chilis. also a hint of fruit in the back. 1.25 cups of tea per gallon.
Swiss vervaine melange, golden color, about the color of a clear traditional mead, very very floral and minty taste. 1.5 cups of tea per gallon.
Honeybush vanilla, orange in color, strong vanilla flavor stronger then my vanilla mead ever had..1.25 cups of tea per gallon
On all the batches I brought the water up to 208, removed from heat and added the tea and steeped for 5 and 1/2 mins then poured through a strainer lined with cheese cloth. covered and let cool to ~100, added 3# of my local goto nuthing spectacular but good honey. let finish cooling to 68, SG on all 4 batches ended up hovering around 1.100. SNA, aeration, D47,....
I might take some pics and upload them when I rack to secondaries since pictures in the white buckets cant really show the color.

I'm starting a 1 gal batch tonight of Sweet Dreams over chamomille honey with D47. What are you using for a yeast feeder while it sits? I think I might add some dried (dehydrated last fall from our trip to the local apple tree farm) apples. Raisins seem to heavy - even golden ones. Oh and the last time I tried this I steeped the tea in hot water and the whole batch turned out pretty bitter. this time I am making a sun tea first so as to not pull out too much tannin from the tea.