The Lemongrass tea recipe is for you if you are looking for a refreshing hot beverage.
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🍵 What is Lemongrass Tea?
Lemongrass tea is prepared with fresh or dried green lemongrass leaves, white lemongrass stalks, or roots. It's a herbal tea, tisan.
You might have spotted lemongrass tea on your Asian neighborhood restaurant's menu, or you got introduced to it while at the spa.
Various Asian food joints such as Thai and Vietnamese restaurants will suggest you have a lemongrass tea after food.
In reputable spas, it is commonplace to serve a hot cup of lemongrass tea or even cold fruit infused waters before treatment. It helps you relax your body and mind.
I, personally, came across lemongrass tea for the first time on my first visit to India back in 2007. In the Indian subcontinent, they commonly serve up lemongrass tea prepared with the green leaves.
If you are looking to start a new year with new resolutions or if you just decided to change your ways for the better, then my lemongrass tea recipe will be a useful hot beverage in your repertoire.
🥬 Ingredients
Here is a quick ingredient overview. Us and metric measurement details with step-by-step instructions are located further below in the printable recipe card.
- Lemongrass
- Water
- Sweetener (optional)
- Black Tea (optional)
- Fresh Lemon Slice (optional)
You can choose to make lemongrass tea with fresh or died lemongrass.
Fresh Lemongrass: Use either root bulbs, white stalks or green blades. I use green blades because we grow them at home. If you purchase lemongrass in stores, you will only get bulbs and stalks. All parts make for a good herbal tisan tea.
Dried Lemongrass: Get dried lemongrass chopped or in powder. Both are a fine choice, but organic is preferred or dried oregano without treated pesticides.
🍯 Flavor Variations
Besides adding black tea leave to your lemongrass while your tea is brewing in the pot, you can also add the following ingredients to enhance your tea even further:
- green tea leaves, white tea or oolong
- fresh ginger root slices
- fresh turmeric root slices
- lime instead of lemon slices
- honey to sweeten or dried stevia leaves if you want to make it vegan
- other culinary herbs such as tulsi (holy basil) and peppermint.
You can turn this lemon grass tea into a cool lemongrass iced tea, by placing the strained tea into the fridge to cool down completely.
Serve your lemongrass iced tea with ice cubes and enjoy on a hot sunny day.
🔪 How to make it?
Follow these 3 main steps to prepare lemongrass tea from scratch at home.
Step 1
Rinse your lemongrass to get rid of impurities, but be careful to not cut yourself because lemongrass blades are sharp.
Cut your lemongrass into smaller pieces with a kitchen scissor.
Step 2
Keep a pot with water to cook on the stove and add in your lemongrass leaves.
Optional: Add loose tea leaves to the tea if you want to add caffeine to your lemongrass tea recipe.
Step 3
Simmer your tea in the pot covered for about 10 minutes (and 6 minutes if you add tea leaves).
Keep away from heat and allow the tea leaves to get infused for a few more minutes.
Strain tea from the leaves and serve hot with or without sugar.
🧉 How to prepare Tea Bags with Lemongrass?
Instead of boiling fresh lemongrass, you can prepare your tea bags at home with your dried or fresh homegrown lemongrass.
First, cut and dry your fresh and green lemongrass tea blades OR use dried lemongrass chopped.
Secondly, get these empty tea bags.
Thirdly, stuff your empty tea bags with your dried or fresh lemongrass pieces.
The smaller the lemongrass blade pieces, the better.
At last, you just need to use your teabags like any other tea bag. Place the tea bag in a cup and top with boiling hot water. Steep for 5 minutes or so before taking out the tea bag and discarding it.
💭 FAQ
Find a balance when consuming lemongrass tea. 1–2 cups of hot brewed lemongrass tea can be enjoyed daily if you like.
Whenever you feel like it! I think the best time to enjoy a freshly prepared cup of lemongrass tea is on a rainy day as a little pick me up or to relax after a long day. Paul says, that people in Goa tend to prepare Lemongrass tea during the rainy season, in India. I mainly prepare lemongrass tea in the evening after food to help my digestion and to get me into sleep mode.
No, lemongrass is not acidic because it's a grass and not a citrus fruit.
This Lemongrass tea recipe should be avoided during pregnancy and those who take prescription diuretics. In that case, I highly recommend consulting your physician.
🍶 More Herbal Tea Ideas
- Oregano Tea
- Mixed Detox Herbal Tea
- Honey Ginger Lemon Tea
- Mediterranean Mountain Tea by mediterraneanlatinloveaffair.com
📖 Recipe
Lemongrass Tea Recipe
Ingredients
To prepare Herbal Tea
- 2-3 stalks Lemongrass *see Notes
- 3 cups Water
To Serve up
- Sugar or other sweetener, optional
- Lemon Slice optional
- Black Tea Bags optional (I rarely use this, but it's for example served this way in India)
Instructions
- Pour the water into a small pan and heat up.3 cups Water
- If you use fresh lemongrass, cut your clean and rinsed lemongrass with a pair of scissors into smaller bits.2-3 stalks Lemongrass
- Add the fresh cut lemongrass to the cooking water. If you use dried lemongrass, add that instead to the water.
- Bring the water with the lemongrass to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn down the heat and then let it simmer for 5 minutes covered.
- Take from the heat and keep aside to steep covered for another 5 minutes.
- Strain the herbal lemongrass tisane with a sieve and collect the hot herbal tea in a cup.
- Optional: Serve hot with a slice of lemon and a tea bag, and you may add sugar, although I recommend trying it without sugar.Sugar, Lemon Slice, Black Tea Bags
Notes
- Turn this fresh lemongrass tea into an iced lemongrass tea by cooling it in the fridge and serving with ice cubes.
- Add a tea bag of black tea when serving this lemongrass tea if you are looking for more flavors in your tea.
Nutrition
🌾 What exactly is Lemongrass?
Lemongrass is literally a grass with about 3 feet (ca. 1 meter) elongated ½ inch broad growing bright-green leaves.
Lemongrass is NOT the same as Citronella grass. These are two different plants.
It is a tropical plant, native to India and South East Asia, where lemongrass grows in long slender green and white grass blades.
Lemongrass looks like any other long field grass blade, but you can always recognize it by its fresh lemony smell and taste and because it grows together in a tuft.
The blades, however, are fibrous and rather though, while the root and lower ends are more tender.
The full plant can be used, and while the white roots and stalks are more commonly used in South Eastern cuisine, the green blades are great to infuse water to make a herbal tea.
🍋 What does it taste and smell like?
As the name suggests, the plant got its name because of its resemblance to fresh lemon/citrus in taste and smell, but it does also have a refreshing and welcoming touch of grass.
Compared to lemon juice when heated, lemongrass doesn't alter in flavor, and it tends to be more intense, enriching other foods easily without the flavor profile getting altered.
It's not sour, it's rather sweet.
You can smell lemongrass when you are near a growing patch.
So, in that sense, the smell is strong, but when you drink a herbal brew of lemongrass, you don't feel overwhelmed by the flavors.
🌱 Growing
We have been growing lemongrass for years, in our tropical garden in Goa, India.
In our second base in the Austrian Alps, we didn't have that much success so far. It's too cold!
My conclusion: It doesn't make sense to grow lemongrass in a cold climate or indoors in a pot.
Lemongrass needs a lot of sun and a well-drained mud floor to grow thick, long, and green grass blades.
If there is too much rain during the rainy season, lemongrass can die, although it's quite a sturdy plant.
So, in the Northern Hemisphere, I suggest that you go and buy fresh green Lemongrass blades.
You usually get them nowadays too in regular supermarkets or otherwise at an Asian neighborhood stop.
I am always glad to have my lemongrass blades growing in the garden, as I get fresh grass that way whenever I require some.
Yes, it does make sense to grow your own at home to make this lemongrass tea recipe!
If you want to grow Lemongrass, then don't get seeds but instead the lemongrass plant.
If you have pets, keep the lemongrass away from them, or they are going to finish your plants.
Dogs and cats like to chew on lemongrass frequently in a day. Especially dogs have strong saliva and that destroyed your lemongrass.
I have a huge lemongrass clump.in my garden. Can't wait
I'm trying lemon grass tea for the first as my partner tells me it's good for detoxing my body as I have IBS my partner tells me it definitely helps plus he uses lemon grass tea in is food all the time so fingers grossed it works ? I will let you know the out come .
Yeah it works for me too. I have this problem when I'm in Europe. I suspect it has something to do with the meat-rich diet there. Lemongrass tea helped me to a certain extend.
I thought it was a pretty plant. The couple that helps us saw it in my yard and went out got some for me to smell. I have made the tea and we Love it. Can we make lemongrass oil?!
Hi Patricia, yeah I use it as a decor piece too in my garden. 🙂 To make the oil you will need to distill it and the process ain't easy. I have never done it myself.
Intresting I have never tasted lemon tea before but with so much I have read about lemon tea I will start taking it thanks
First time I have ever made this. I used what I got from my CSA box which was 1 stalk and leaves and 3 cups of water. I had my husband taste it and one of my friends and they both really liked it and neither one drink tea. I need to grow lemongrass it was really good.
Hi Sue, That's great! Do you have a garden? You can also try to grow lemongrass in a pot. It needs a well drained growing environment and it should grow away from dogs. Dogs like to chew on it and destroy the plant.
lemongrass + lemon juice + honey
It cleanses the lungs and all respiratory organs and rid them of any virus.
If you are residing in a Europe, grow it indoor. It is a fantastic grass, which you can use to cure various diseases.
We are now in the storm and I am glad I have my lemongrass right in house (grown indoor for over 15 years, in case some strange lung affecting diseases pops'up).
Added edit:
While growing it indoor, every year you should renew/refresh the ground in which you will plant it (or have planted it). Truly a unique specimen, the lemongrass.
I have a lemongrass plant and go out and cut about the side of a quarter in my hand about 6 inches from the bottom and take it in and rinse it and cut it into about 6 inch strips and keep a little bundle about the size of a quarter and let the rest dry(6 inch strips which I put into a baggie and put into freezer till ready to use. I cut my strips about 1, inch right into my coffee pot and make a full pot and let it set about an hour and then strain it and it is ready to use , hot or cold . Really good and everyone likes it and it keeps me healthy for my 75 years of age.
Cannie, thanks for sharing. I also believe that lemongrass tea benefits the health of the body. 🙂
I've been probably growing lemongrass and Ginger for about 5 years now I absolutely love it I use it to make Thai meatballs and other dishes and the tea itself is amazing cold or hot not to mention the health benefits I add a touch of unrefined sugar and coconut oil which makes it absolutely delicious I even have a coffee plant and various other herbs I've been blessed with a green thum The only downside I have found was when I was trimming cutting my lemongrass plants back and harvesting , I my back looked like a cat had scratched me!
I am so excited to try this recipe! My husband & I just got back from Vietnam & I was served lemongrass tea with a lime slice & totally fell in love!!!
It's quite refreshing, isn't it? 🙂 You can also steep the lemongrass with tea leaves, which is quite interesting as well or with fresh ginger.
I live in South Carolina and decided to grow lemon grass on my porch and it is doing quite well. Today we harvested our first batch for tea and it was wonderful. I plan to try it in cold tea also (maybe it will serve as a healthier alternative to sweet tea). Over the winter I will bring it and my lemon tree in and have a nice natural air freshener.
That's lovely, glad to read that you have been growing lemongrass successfully at home. If I have a lot of extra lemongrass, I trim it off (to keep the plant healthy) and I cut it small and store in a cool place. Later on, I use it in teas etc. I also just enjoy the smell in the house. So refreshing! 🙂
What a fantastic tea! Looks so refreshing and relaxing! Need to pick up some lemongrass. Happy 2018!!!
I love that you actually make your own tea! And you make it sound so easy. I can't wait to try this.
I've been drinking more tea this winter than ever before, and this sounds like a fantastic way to drink even more of it! So cozy and I love all the health benefits!
in İndonesia we call it wedang sereh, wedang=hot drink, sereh=lemongrass. Commonly we drink wedang sereh with palm or rock sugar. And sometimes we add glutinous rice balls and sugar palm fruit in it. Healthy and warm our body during cold days. My mom has few pots of lemongrass plant in my homeland. We use it for cooking a lot as well.
love ur informative post
Thank you for sharing this. I knew that lemongrass tea was common south east Asia, but I didn't know that some people add rice balls and sugar palm fruits in it. I would love to try it that way but locally in Indonesia. 🙂
I love love love tea! But I've never had lemongrass tea and I've never actually made my own. I think it would be so fun to make this recipe!
What a fantastic idea! I love the taste of lemon grass. I can't wait to try this!
This sounds amazing and I love all the health benefits! I wonder....could you use 100% pure lemongrass essential oil instead of the actual lemongrass? Sounds so relaxing! I'll have to try this!
Hi Amanda, thank you for your questions!
to be honest I do not add essential oil to my food, I still feel weird about essential food grade oils. Eventually I suppose we would need to ask an expert, however I will try to inform myself better and do some research if one can add lemongrass essential oils to make lemongrass tea.
I've never had lemongrass, but I do love the scent. I'm thinking I would love this tea!
I've never made lemon grass tea with lemon grass stalks before, but this sounds SO comforting and soothing. Can't wait to try it.
I love lemongrass! I can just imagine how fragrant and tasty this tea is!!
These are some great benefits! I'm obsessed with tea and this sounds delicious!
Wow" I've never tried lemongrass tea before and I think I should try it this new year!
Helene Thanks for this!
I love tea and trying new flavours although I have never tried lemongrsss. I will have to check it out.
I always love trying new teas and this one sounds amazing! I love all of the benefits it comes with as well. I am going to have to try this soon!
this sounds fantastic!!! I love tea and Lemongrass is a favorite so I will definitely be trying this!
I honestly thought this had a regular tea bag too! Thanks for sharing. Now I know better.;)
I love drinking tea and Lemongrass tea sounds so amazing, would love to try this. I like the way you have presented it, and the health benefits of this tea are great, always yes to antioxidants.
Fresh herbs have the tastiest taste ever. The fragrance can be very refreshing and this kind of tea is very healthy too.
I'm not much into herbal or all natural things, so this was great to learn a little more about them and something that is totally do-able at home. Sounds like it smells amazing! Thanks for sharing
I've only used lemongrass in salads before and we've just started seeing fresh lemongrass being sold in the larger supermarkets. I've never thought of buying it though, I was worried we wouldn't be able to use it all, but making tea sounds just prefect
I want to drink more tea this year. I'm an avid coffee drinker, but I want to be healthier (and 4 cups of creamy coffee every day is NOT good!)
Coming from a person who drinks tea everyday. I have to try this Lemongrass tea. It seems worth it to try.
I have been battling with a cough off and on for about a week. I am going to try this and hopefully it's a natural way to help this cough.
I have Lemongrass is essential oil form. It smells good & I like using it in my diffuser. I’m not a big tea drinker (outside of southern sweet tea), but it sounds really beneficial to ingest.
The essential oil is not meant to be ingested. For this lemongrass tea you will need either fresh lemon grass blades or dried lemongrass. 🙂
I am not a huge tea drinker but I do enjoy lemongrass tea. I've never made it fresh, so I am eager to try that now. Also, I had no idea how many benefits there were to lemongrass, thank you so much for sharing. I'm sure my family will not be thrilled at my sudden addition of lemongrass to our routine, lol.
I've never had lemongrass before but I definitely want to give this recipe a try! It sounds so yummy! Happy New Year! 🙂
I have had quite a few afternoon teas and been to events where lemongrass was served and it was rather refreshing! I love that it is so good for your immune system and removing bad toxins x
I love lemon grass but i am not sure i ever had it in tea! i was not aware of all the health benefits! great info!
Sounds like a healthy way to start the New Year. Perfect to warm up with, especially with this cold weather we are having.
I've never tried Lemongrass tea before but it sounds wonderful and I like the idea of both the benefits for relieving toxins and the taste! I will have to give this a go 🙂
My husband uses lemongrass in cooking A LOT! 😉 I've never had it in tea because I'm not a tea drinker, but maybe in the new yìear, I will up my tea consumption and this will definitely be in the list.
I grow it in my back yard so its plentiful most of the year & when I cut back the plants in early Nov I freeze some of the lower bulb like part —about 5 inches—for use in cooking in winter. During the warm months I keep a pitcher of the tea in the fridge. I usually add a couple of fresh slices of giner to the brew—I never use sweetener—I find lemon grass is Naturally sweet enough.