Learn how to make hibiscus tea with this easy 2-ingredient recipe! This flavorful drink is delicious hot or iced, and it has amazing health benefits.
I make this hibiscus tea recipe at least once a week. In the winter, I enjoy it hot, the ruby red drink reviving me when the weather is cold and gray. In the summer, I crave it iced. On a warm day, its bold, tart flavor is intensely refreshing.
I’m sharing my go-to method for how to make hibiscus tea below. If you’ve never tried it, I hope you’ll give it a go! It’s delicious and SO simple to make. This hibiscus tea recipe calls for 2 ingredients and requires under 5 minutes of hands-on prep. Plus, it has some amazing health benefits. Read more about them below.
What is hibiscus?
Used on its own, the term hibiscus refers to a genus of temperate and tropical plants. In this post, I’m talking about a specific type of hibiscus, hibiscus sabdariffa, also called roselle. Native to Central and West Africa, roselle is now cultivated and consumed around the world. Though hibiscus leaves are edible, the calyx and flowers of the hibiscus plant are more widely used for making teas, jams, and syrups. For example, in the Caribbean, dried roselle flowers are used to make Jamaican sorrel drink, a sweetened hibiscus beverage spiked with ginger, cloves, and allspice. In Mexico, these same dried hibiscus flowers create agua de Jamaica, a hibiscus agua fresca.
Among hibiscus drinks, this hibiscus tea recipe is about as simple as it gets. You only need two ingredients: dried hibiscus flowers and water. Because there are no other mix-ins here, it’s a great way to get familiar with the flavor of hibiscus. It’s fruity and tart, not unlike cranberry juice. I think you’re going to love it!
Hibiscus Tea Benefits
Hibiscus tea is a caffeine-free herbal tea. As detailed by this Cleveland Clinic article, it’s thought to have a number of health benefits:
- It’s packed with antioxidants like vitamin C and beta-carotene, which fight harmful free radicals in the body.
- It reduces inflammation.
- Studies have shown that drinking hibiscus tea may even lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol.
Check out this article to learn more about the side effects and health benefits of hibiscus tea!
How to Make Hibiscus Tea
This hibiscus tea recipe is SO simple to make! Here’s how it goes:
- Place 1/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers in a quart-size Mason jar or pitcher.
- Pour in 4 cups of filtered water and stir.
- Chill in the refrigerator until the tea is bright red, at least 20 minutes. Let it chill overnight for a deeper color and flavor.
- Strain the mixture into a pitcher to remove the hibiscus petals.
Serve this tea in glasses filled with ice. If you like, stir in a sweetener such as honey, agave, or maple syrup to taste. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and raspberries, and enjoy!
Variations
- Make it fizzy. Top off a glass of strong iced tea with sparkling water. Add a squeeze of lime juice for a citrusy kick.
- Spice it up. Before you stick the tea in the fridge to chill, add a cinnamon stick to the pitcher or jar. I love its warming flavor with the fruity and floral notes in this drink!
- Make hot tea. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 tablespoon dried hibiscus flowers in a mesh tea infuser. Let steep for 5 minutes. Remove the hibiscus and enjoy the tea with honey and lemon juice.
More Refreshing Drink Recipes
If you loved learning how to make hibiscus tea, try one of these refreshing beverages next:
- Homemade Lemonade
- Watermelon Juice
- Cold Brew Coffee
- Matcha
- Red Sangria
- Mint Mojito
- Strawberry Margarita
- Paloma Cocktail
Hibiscus Tea
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dried hibiscus flowers
- 4 cups cold filtered water
- Ice, for serving
- Sweetener of choice, such as sugar, maple syrup, honey, or agave, optional
- 1 small bunch fresh mint, for garnish
- ¼ cup raspberries, for garnish
Instructions
- Place the hibiscus flowers in a (1-quart) jar or medium pitcher. Add the water, stir to combine, and chill until bright red, at least 20 minutes. For a deeper color and flavor, chill overnight.
- Pour the tea through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl or pitcher to remove the hibiscus flowers. Pour into glasses filled with ice and sweeten to taste, if desired.
- Garnish with fresh mint and raspberries.
Did you use the “cut and sifted” flowers or the whole ones?
5 stars
Very nice 👍
Hibiscus is very much different from Sorrel….two different types of plants
Hibiscus and sorrel are the same thing.
No they are not. The chemical properties are different. Hibiscus is more tangy in flavor.
Like the recipe
This is rated a five star !!!! I loved it !!!! Sorry I forgot to give it a 5 Star on my previous post and I could not add it ! This tea is delicious and very refreshing as well !!!! Thank You Again !!!
This was so delicious !!! I made a hot cup of the tea and sweetened with Organic Honey, Oh it was so good !!! I am going to start drinking this tea on a regular basis to help me with my blood pressure issues ! I read an somewhere in a natural health magazine that in the middle east, they did quite a bit of research on Hibiscus flowers and the results were proven, that it lowers blood pressure and cholesterol !!! This will be my new tea, Hot and Cold style !!! Thank You !
Hi Lisa, I’m so glad you love the tea!
Can you use the spent flowers since they look so good, or do you pick them at full bloom?
Hi Don, we’ve only made this recipe with commercially dried hibiscus flowers, so I can’t speaking to making it with fresh or home-dried ones.
Lest someone try and dry their own hibiscus flowers, it is actually the calyx of the flower of the hibiscus sabdariffa that is used. It becomes thick and fleshy after the petals fall off and it is those parts that are dried for the tea .
This was so easy and so good. We happened upon a dried hibiscus flowers at our local farmers market and found your recipe. We threw in mint to steep with the flowers. So good! Thanks.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This was so easy and so good. We happened upon a dried hibiscus flowers at our local farmers market and found your recipe. We threw in mint to steep with the flowers ? So good! Thanks.
About making tea from growing a hibiscus plant, How? Like picking some leaves or only flower to dry up? Hope to hear about that! Thank you!!
Hibiscus tea has known blood pressure lowering properties, and it’s also delicious! I added some fresh ground ginger to mine, and I used honey as the sweetener. I wonder how it would be to let it steep with the mint leaves instead of just using them for a garnish. I may try that next time!
Spice House sells hibiscus flowers in small quantities if you want to try this. Free shipping on what they call flat packs. I buy the majority of my spices from them fast shipping great quality.