Unraveling the mystery of Cistus Tea

This post is the 2nd in a two part series about Cistus Incanus tea. If you haven’t read that, I recommend starting there. The first post was focused on the benefits of Cistus tea and why it is so amazing. This post is going to be more focused on how to make it. When I first looked into how to make Cistus tea, I expected the usual tea brewing methods but I found several different vague references to a “labor intensive” three brew method. These posts all had some kind of easier alternative brewing method but none of them actually described what the three brew method, why was traditionally done that way, and why their method was acceptable. I had to dig a little bit more to figure it out. Here is what I discovered!

First of all, it takes a longer brewing period to extract all the beneficial polyphenols out of the Cistus (or Rock Rose) leaves. However, they are also somewhat sensitive to temperature. The water needs to be hot, but not boiling. Ideally it should be between 170 and 195 degrees Fahrenheit. The “easy” methods include brewing it in larger batches just once and leaving it for a longer period of time. Usually this method calls for a french press. The “harder” method includes warming the water up to temperature, pouring into a teapot or smaller vessel to brew for 5-10 minutes, pouring it into a larger vessel, and repeating that two more times with the same leaves. It took me some time digging to figure out what makes the easier method effective because most blog posts just praise the tea, tell you they have a better method, give you instructions and that’s it. They don’t explain why. I’m like a 4 year old that is constantly asking why! Honestly, I’m guessing they don’t say why because they don’t actually know.

I wondered if there was something special about the french press that extracts more of the beneficial compounds. It isn’t a french press per se, but the size that matters. What it boils down to (sorry, I’m a dad so there are dad jokes laced into my posts) is that a larger batch has more water. Water is considered thermal mass. I’ve read about this while researching natural building and passive solar design. Basically it just means that there is something dense enough to hold heat. Using a larger amount of water at once keeps the temperature more constant and therefore extracts more of the beneficial compounds. If you brew your tea this way, you’ll want to let it brew for at least 30 minutes to get the most out of it. Honestly, if you’re like us, you’ll be giving this to your whole family anyway so it doesn’t make sense to brew individual cups. I highly recommend getting an inexpensive infuser and ordering it in loose leaf to brew it in larger batches. It’ll save you a lot of money doing it that way instead of getting individual tea bags.

That being said, I have tried the three brew method and I don’t find it too labor intensive IF I’m already doing other things in the kitchen but I can totally understand not wanting to do it that way.

Another easy alternative is to brew it in whatever size you want, and set it in an insulated place such as a cooler, or wrap it in a towel to keep the temperature at a more constant rate for a 30 minute duration. You could also brew a large batch in a crock pot on warm but I think that transferring the liquid from the crock to something else would not be worth the bother. I’d rather brew it in a jar or glass pitcher and just keep it insulated for a time.

If the tea is bitter, it means you’ve over heated it. That being said, the plain tea is somewhat astringent so we like it with just a touch of whole raw goats milk in it! I’ve also experimented with brewing other things with it. We like a spicy chi tea so I’ve brewed it with a bit of ginger, clove, cardamom, and black pepper. That’s easy to do with an infuser. To summarize, I’ve broken down a list of things that are important to know, and some extra tips.

IMPORTANT:

• Don’t boil the tea! The water should be under 190 degrees. If it is bitter, it has been overcooked.

• Filtered, or distilled water is best. Water with higher mineral content will cause tea creaming and you won’t get as much of the good stuff. We are currently on a well, and don’t have filtered water so I just use the three brew method and don’t worry too much about it but we will be using filtered water in the future.

• Cover while brewing! There are volatile oils that will escape during the brewing process. You want to keep that stuff!

• Use the tea within 36 hours.

TIPS:

• Buy the tea in loose leaf form and use a tea infuser like this one for larger batches.

• It can be a little astringent like black tea. We don’t love that. A little milk/cream helps greatly!

• If you don’t want to do the three brew method, just brew one big batch at a time.

• Make your own blend if you (or your kids) don’t like the taste.

• There are some fancy electric kettles that you can actually set the temperature. If you want to go that route, that would make this whole process easier! I have personally never used one so I can’t make a specific recommendation. When we move soon, we probably won’t even use the electric kettle at all since we’ll be going off grid (until we get a more robust solar power system in place).

I’m planning on continuing to experiment with different blends that my family likes. Having a tea infuser really opens up a lot of possibilities to make your own blends! I’m also planning on making a sweeter batch and once it cools, inoculate it with my ginger bug and make a fermented version similar to kombucha. If it works I’ll report my findings in another post!

What about you? Have you tried Cistus tea? What has your experience been?