A Complete Guide to making an Herbal COLD INFUSION and
List of Herbs that are BEST prepared
with COLD INFUSION
4 ways to make it and 2 of them are magical!
Out of all the methods to extract herbs, water-based preparations are the simplest and safest (see the fact-sheet on the bottom of this post), because you only need simple tools that most kitchens already have and water. So, if you are a beginner – this is a good starting point for you.
Making a cup of tea by dropping an herbal tea bag into a cap of hot water is fine, but not ideal, especially for some herbs that should be prepared as a cold infusion.
“This is usually due to the presence of mucilage or bitter principles that are denatured, to a certain extent, by boiling water” (Richo Cech, 2000).
Tools you'll need:
One or Two quart size jars with matching lids (wide mouth jars like THIS are easier to wash)
A finely meshed stainless steel strainer large enough to catch a cup or so of herbal material
A cheese cloth or muslin
A label.
Herbs and Cold water.
Ratio:
a standard ratio is 1:32
1(by weight):32(by volume)
1 ounce of herb and 32 ounces of water.
which is about same as 1 cup of loosely packed crashed herbs to 4 cups (1 quart) of water.
other sources suggest different ratios:
- 1 part herb (in grams) in 20 parts cool water (in millilitres) per Todd Caldecott.
- and In Ayurveda a cold infusion is called hima, prepared by allowing 1 part (by weight) of the coarsely ground herb to infuse in eight parts (by volume) of water overnight. Hima is dosed at 100 mL, 2- 3 times daily.
Dosage:
4 cups (1 quart) a day of a nourishing infusion is the standard dose for an adult. But this is a therapeutic dosage for when you are sick. On a normal any given day when you are just trying to support yourself with extra nutrients half of it is fine.
Infants & Children Dosage:
- 6-12 months old – 1/10th of an adult dose
- 1-6 years old – 1/3 adult dose
- 7-12 years old – 1/2 adult dose.
As an example, I made that sun infusion with 2 cups of fresh and dry herbs using 2 quarts (8 cups) of water, and we finished it in 2 days. See the pictures below – this time I doubled the recipe. We treated it as a lemonade!
Nourishing Herbs like these are very hard to overdose on. The worst that can happen is that you will not see any results. If you see worsening of symptoms after starting on herbs with this dosing, do not discontinue, just lower for a few days, because chances are your body is detoxing.
4 ways to make an Herbal COLD INFUSION
1. the simplest way:
I usually do this before I go to bed…
– I take 1 oz (about a cup) of my chosen herbs, crush them and put in one of the clean glass jars.
– fill the jar up with cold water.
– attach the lid firmly.
– shake the jar well.
– label it and leave it on my countertop overnight.
when I wake up in the morning, I shake it and taste. Sometimes it needs more time, so if you feel like this is the case – put it in your fridge till the next morning.
Or if it’s ready you can filter your herbs through the strainer directly into the second jar, squeeze all the tea out the best you can.
Some suggest to add water to the tea to bring the liquid content back to 32 ounces. Others like it stronger, but you choose what you like best. .
Then store for up to 3 days in fridge or freeze for later.
Straining is optional, you can leave the herbs in and strain as needed right into your cup. The longer the herbs are sitting in, the stronger the infusion will be. You can even freeze it without filtering and strain after thawing when ready to drink it.
Strained herbs should be thanked and composted 🙂
2. The most common (traditional) way
is to place the herbs (1 oz by weight) in a cheesecloth or muslin and sink it in cold water (32 fl.oz) then let it sit overnight. In the morning you would squeeze the herbs out through the cheesecloth it’s in.
Here you can also add water to the tea to bring the liquid content back to 32 ounces or leave it as is.
Richo Cech says this method is necessary to allow clear water to flow through the tea bag, while the infused water with herbs is circulating down. This “circulatory displacement” will force the clear water back to the top of the jar where the herbs are floating.
3. Magic Sun Herbal tea. Refreshing summer cold infusion.
Cold infusion powered by a direct sunlight could be made with fresh or dried herbs, flowers; fresh or frozen fruits, berries and veggies.
The water slightly heats up with the Sun’s rays and its powerful energy. The herbs let out its medicinal and healing benefits into the water. Sun tea is especially helpful for those people who tend to be fatigued, cold and depressed.
Solar herbs often have a warming, drying and energizing effects, moving your energy and helping with blockages.
The herbs that are especially good for making a Sun tea have red or yellow colored flowers, are in a sunflower shape, often grow in sunny places and have a good strong aroma and taste. The classic sunny herbs are Calendula, Angelica and St. John’s wort, but many other fresh herbs, berries and flowers will make an awesome cap of sun tea!
Our favorite way to make a fresh plant sun tea is to walk around the garden and pick a few leaves and flowers here and there – clover blossoms, raspberry leaf and flowers, wild violets (flowers and leaves), rosemary, dill, parsley, hibiscus, Ground Ivy, Bergamot (bee balm), spring Nettle, lemon balm, nasturtium flowers…or any combination from the List of Herbs that are BEST prepared with COLD INFUSION methods will make great Sun Tea.
Once you know the steps to making the tea with cold infusion methods, the flavor is all up to you and the possibilities are endless!
How to make it:
Add 1 cup of fresh and dry herbs into a 1-quart glass jar, fill it up with cold water, stir mixture with a spoon to help release the flavorful oils in the herbs. Then just let the sun do its magic… steeping the tea all day. Strain out herbs after the sun goes down or stick it in the fridge and strain the next morning to enjoy the cold summer refreshment throughout your day.
Add a handful of fresh or frozen berries, some sliced cucumber and a lemon wedge or orange slices, and sweeten tea if desired. Serve over ice or as is. Will keep refrigerated for 2 to 3 days.
Fresh or frozen pineapple and thyme is also our favorite flavor.
"The foods we eat are energy reservoirs of transformed Sun energy. Through photosynthesis, plants capture energy from the Sun and lock in that power into their stems, leaves, seeds, roots, and fruits. When we make sun teas, we get a double dose of the sun's potent energy—it's as if the water captures the sunlight!"
6 hours later...
4. Magic Moon Tea. Lunar Tea.
This is so far my favorite way of making tea is with the magical power of the Moon. I like to use a wide crystal bowl instead of a jar, a flat glass lid and place the bowl in the middle of my garden. Since you can only have a few full moons over the summer I like a real life witch doing this! In a good, magical way!
On the night of the Full Moon, follow the same directions as for the Sun tea, except place the crystal bowl outside in the open and let it steep in the moonlight for an entire night, and then drink it in the morning. This is especially helpful for people who run too hot and tend to be anxious and “wired”. Moon tea helps you to become… happier, in a way.
Long ago, people noticed a link between the ups and downs of their mental state and the moon, therefore the word lunatic was derived. Probably this has a lot to do with internal parasites mating around full moon.
In Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbs for the Home Medicine Chest, she says that we are children of the sky and that working with the light of the stars and the moon brings in a special touch to the teas, and that lunar tea is magical and the fairies love it! An excellent remedy for when you are feeling too serious or stressed out, because it brings a bit of that “lunacy” with it 😉
Did you know that Moon in Latin and Russian is “Luna”? That why its called Lunar Tea.
Classic Herbs of the moon are succulent and juicy in nature. Also they are cooling, moistening, and nourishing, helping to regulate fluid and hormones and can often be helpful before and during menstruation.
Lemon balm, willow, nasturtium, Aloe, cleavers, marshmallow are some of the best to make a Lunar tea with.
Save the date to make your next Magic Moon Tea in 2018:
June 28, July 27, August 26, September 24…
for farther dates refer HERE.
"The magic of the moon’s influence on our lives cannot be explained in rational terms. It can only be felt and experienced"
Useful tip:
once you strain the herbs out, before you compost them, wait, because there is much goodness still there and you can make a cup of tea for yourself, as I do all the time. Just pour boiling water over the strained herbs, cover and let sit for few hours or overnight. After that compost them knowing that nothing is wasted. Or if you have chickens, toss it to them, they will pick at what they like and compost the rest.
Summary:
There isn’t much difference between the 4 ways of making the Cold Infusion at all. You can either mix the loose herbs with the water and filter them later or place the herbs in a cloth and not worry about a strainer as they are wrapped in the muslin already.
Also you can either leave your jar to infuse on the countertop, fridge, under the Moon or the Sun. Ether way you will get a very nice cup of tea!
- 1/4 cup dry Hibiscus calyx
- 2 Tbsp Marshmallow root
- 2 Tbsp Dried Bergamot blossoms & leaves
- 2 Tbsp Dry Red Clover blossoms
- 2 Tbsp Dry Calendula petals
- couple of fresh Raspberry leafs
- Couple of fresh stalks of Ground Ivy
- 4 cups Cold Water
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Place all the herbs (it should be about a cup in volume) in a clean glass jar, add the water, put the lid on, give it a shake and place on a sunny spot for the entire day.
-
after the sun goes down, move your jar in your fridge.
-
In the morning, strain the herbs out, thank them for coming and compost them.
-
Add lemon, orange, ginger or cucumber slices and honey and drink your tea through the day!
-
Blessings!
Any mint family herbs are great for this method: lemon balm, peppermint, ground ivy, catnip, lavender, hyssop, lemon thyme, bee balm(bergamot)...
Other combinations:
- Hibiscus, Chamomile, Marshmallow, lemon, and honey.
- Calendula, chamomile, cucumber, blessed thistle, lemon balm, and honey.
- Hibiscus and Marshmallow, with frozen blueberries and fresh celery stick.
- Marshmallow, licorice, and calendula with cucumber and honey
- Lavender, rose petals and mugwort with added cucumber and lemon.
- Hibiscus, orange slices, red clover and burdock root...
...the possibilities of the combinations are truly endless! You can make a different tea each time you make it for the rest of your life, never repeating!
REFERENCES:
Making Plant Medicine, by Cech, Richo
Moore, Michael “Cold Infusion” list of herbs. Retrieved July 2014 from http://www.swsbm.com/ManualsMM/CldInfus.txt
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Helpful optional tools
these jars are the ones I use to make a small batch of cold infusion.
this looks like it would be perfect to make a larger batch of cold infusion, if you want to freeze some for later.
This is if you already have a 64 oz mason jars for it
I had this set for years, and the sizes are perfect to strain anything.
I just got this set recently, after been using a small plastic funnel. these are on a larger side, which will be very very handy! and they just look so sturdy! Very well made.
this muslin is great to strain the tiniest specs of your tea as well as making seed and nut milks. My kids don’t like when herbs floating on top, and it mast be organic, because cotton crops are sprayed with glyphosate the heaviest.
Or just use an old dinner napkin that had been washed a hundred times 🙂 I’ve done it. Worked great too!
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** Information on the traditional uses and properties of herbs that are provided on this site is for educational use only, and is not intended as medical advice. Every attempt has been made for accuracy, but none is guaranteed. Many traditional uses and properties of herbs have not been validated by the FDA. If you have any serious health concerns, you should always check with your health care practitioner before self-administering herbs. **
4 thoughts on “A Complete Guide to making an Herbal COLD INFUSION (FREE printable)”
Thank you for this!
Great post. I will be facing a few of these issues as well..
An amazing read!!! 💜 Thank you. I’m sort of new to all this. My question is should I use a cold water infusion with mullein? I have COPD and need all the benfits I can get from this lovely herb
A cold infusion pulls out the components of mullein that considered to be amazing for the whole respiratory tract and week lungs. So if it is the lungs you want to focus, yes, mullein via cold infusion method is the way to go. a tablespoon of crushed or chopped leaves to a cup of cold water overnight. The lunar infusion will work even better. Blessings!