The Lemongrass tea recipe is for you if you are looking to get into a healthier groove in your life.
The fresh aroma of lemongrass has many health benefits as well.
Did you ever want to learn how to make this Asian classic, lemongrass tea, from scratch at home?
Read further below about the Lemongrass tea benefits, how to get fresh lemongrass and how to make fresh lemongrass tea easily at home.
You might have spotted lemongrass tea at 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 to digest easier.
In reputable spas, it is commonplace to serve a hot cup of lemongrass tea before treatment as it relaxes the body and mind and helps in flushing out toxins.
If you are looking start a new year healthy or if you just decided to change your ways to the better, then the lemongrass tea recipe is going to be a useful hot beverage in your repertoire.
What is Lemongrass and what does it look like?
Lemongrass is also known as Citronella or Fevergrass.
It is a tropical plant, native to India and South 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 from its smell and taste and because it grows together in a tuft.
The blades, however, are fibrous and rather though.
What does Lemongrass taste and smell like?
As the name suggests, the plant got its name because of the resemblance to fresh lemon/citrus in taste and smell but it does also have a refreshing and welcoming touch of grass taste.
Compared to lemon juice when heated, lemongrass doesn’t alter in flavor and it tends to be more intense, enriching other food easily without the flavor profile altering at all.
It’s not sour, it’s rather sweet.
You can smell lemongrass when passing next to a patch of this green herb.
So, in that sense the smell is strong but when you drink the lemongrass tea recipe, you don’t feel overwhelmed by the flavors.
What are the health benefits of the Lemongrass Tea Recipe?
Remember, any herb in a fresh form can benefit human health, body, and mind.
Because fresh herbs contain antioxidants and when eaten raw you can get the most out of benefiting properties.
Antioxidants support the human body cells and that means they help in preventing cancerous growth.
Antioxidants basically keep us alive even when we age!
In the case of our lemongrass tea recipe, the benefiting properties are released into the tea, which in turn takes effect after digestion.
So this lemongrass tea, benefits, besides providing essential antioxidants, the following way:
- It has Anti-bacterial, Anti-fungal & Anti-inflammatory benefits. Lemongrass tea properties prevent the growth of certain bacteria and fungus. It may prevent the flu or a cold and it has been used to reduce fever (that’s why it’s also known as fever grass)
- It helps you digest and calms an upset stomach. Lemongrass helps to protect the stomach and promotes a healthy digestive system.
- It’s a natural diuretic, it detoxifies! Lemongrass tea will help you clear your body of toxins. It’s an organ cleanser and if you drink lemongrass tea daily, it will give your skin a healthier look in the long run, as it flushes out any bodily toxins.
- It regulates cholesterol and blood pressure
- It drives your metabolism and that can help you to lose weight! (But understand that it also increases appetite)
- It clears the mind and reduces stress significantly. It can help in treating the nervous disorder and it will help you to relax and calm down after a stressful day.
This Lemongrass tea recipe should be avoided by pregnant ladies and those who take prescription diuretics.
Otherwise, young or old, there are no age limits what so ever to consume lemongrass tea.
Can I grow Lemongrass at home or where can I get Lemongrass?
We have been growing lemongrass for years again and again in Asia.
In the European Alps we didn’t have that much of a success.
My conclusion: It doesn’t make sense to grow lemongrass in a cold climate or indoors in a pot.
Lemongrass needs a lot of suns and 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 need 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 are living in a warm climate, then you can also keep it to grow in a pot as long as it gets enough sun and the pot can be drained of excess water.
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.
Many of my plants have been destroyed because of animals.
Especially dogs have strong saliva and that for some reason doesn’t do the plants too well.
More healthy tea recipes
- Detox Herbal Tea
- Tulsi Ice Tea
- Orange Blossom Tea
- Chamomile Tea
- Mediterranean Mountain Tea by mediterraneanlatinloveaffair.com
Dear Reader, where did you get to know about lemongrass tea for the first time?
Fresh Lemongrass Tea Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-3 stalks Lemongrass fresh or dried Lemongrass
- 3 cups Water
- Sugar optional
- Lemon Slice optional, to serve
- Black Tea Bags optional, to serve
Instructions
- Place the water into a pan and heat up.
- If you use fresh lemongrass, cut your clean and washed lemongrass with a scissor into smaller bits. Add the lemongrass to the cooking water.
- Bring the water with the lemongrass to a boil and then let it simmer for 10 minutes covered. Take from the heat and strain your tea.
- Serve hot with a slice of lemon and you maybe add sugar although I would try it without sugar. It beats the purpose to add sugar or sweetener to a healthy hot tea.
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 when serving this lemongrass tea, for those who want more flavor in their tea.
