A Cup of Tea Before Bed: Brewing It and Drinking It

Herbal tea is hard to ruin, yet in most homes it is drunk flat, and usually three small details explain why. First, the water. Delicate flowers like chamomile and lavender do not want boiling water. Let the kettle stand for a minute after it boils: water that is too hot scorches the flowers and leaves bitterness in the cup. Second, the lid. Put a small saucer over the cup while it steeps. What you see rising with the steam is the aromatic oil you paid for, and covering the cup sends it back down. Third, the time. Five minutes is enough for flowers, seven for roots such as ginger. Take the infuser out afterwards: over-steeping turns a floral taste into a heavy, grassy one. As for drinking it, there is one rule: away from a screen. A cup in your hand and a screen in front of you means you did not really drink anything, the time simply passed. Sit with the cup for ten minutes and let it be the signal the whole house understands: the day is over.