Herbs for tea

Once you've started making your own herbal teas, you'll be spoilt for taste forever. Fresh herbal tea doesn't take any longer to make than a bag in a cup: just pick yourself a generous sprig from the herbs in your garden, dunk in a mug of boiling water and leave there for five minutes. And that's it: instant, delicious, refreshing and health-giving tea.

There are dozens of teas to make from herbs you'll find in our garden centre, with beneficial effects from helping digestion to aiding memory. Here are some suggestions: -

• Peppermint: The herb of choice for an invigorating, refreshing tea that also helps soothe indigestion and clear colds. There are several different mints so try a few for their different flavours: spearmint is the one to go for if you like your tea really minty.

• Rosemary: There are those who swear that the secret to their good memory is a cup of rosemary tea every morning for breakfast. Plus it's also said that rosemary tea is great for relieving headaches and kick-starting your day.

• Lemon verbena: This beautiful and fragrant herb makes a fragrant yellow-green tea with a wonderful flavour like lemon sherbet. Soak three leaves in a mug and drink just before bedtime to send you off to sleep relaxed and soothed.

• Chamomile: You'll need flowers for this one (dry some for winter use). About a tablespoon of flowers steeped in a cup of boiling water gives you a green tea that's both anti-inflammatory and unwinding.

• Fennel: The seeds of tall, stately fennel taste like aniseed. Pop a teaspoonful in your mug and then strain them off like tealeaves for a really refreshing hot winter drink.

Let's stay healthy and look after ourselves this winter.