Ok, so tricks aside, this hydrating electrolyte drink is actually an herbal tea. But it’s an herbal tea that’s made with the most naturally electrolyte-rich herbs. Naturally sweetened and jazzed up with a squeeze of fresh lemon, this herbal tea blows any store-bought electrolyte drink out of the proverbial water! (I’m looking at you, Gatorade!) Here’s how to make an electrolyte drink that’s easy, more affordable, and totally, hands-down 100% good for you.
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About The Herbs Used
The Role of Salt
How To Make This Electrolyte Drink
Electrolyte Drink FAQs
Recipe for Herbal Electrolyte Tea
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What Are Electrolytes & Why Do You Need Them?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I can never drink enough water. No matter how many liquids I drink, I think these Florida summers just suck all the moisture right out from the inside of your body and leave it in a thick layer of sweat on the outside.
TMI? Sorry… it’s just part of life down here in the Sunshine State.
Dehydration is dangerous, and the easiest thing we can do to help prevent it is to drink plenty of fluids and eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The high mineral content in whole foods is the ultimate source of electrolytes.
Isn’t that just the answer to everything? Eat more fruits and vegetables. But I’ll add to that: drink more herbal teas too.
What are electrolytes?
Electrolytes are essential minerals key to so many bodily functions. These minerals, when dissolved in water, produce charged ions that enable the flow of electrical signals throughout the body.
Every day, we lose valuable electrolytes as a normal part of having a human body. We lose them in normal everyday “activities” such as sweating and urinating. But we can also experience increased electrolyte loss with diarrhea or vomiting when we’re sick.
Luckily, we can usually gain these electrolytes back through the foods we eat. Hence, eat more fruits and vegetables.
The 5 main electrolytes found in the body are:
- sodium
- potassium
- calcium
- magnesium
- chloride
What do electrolytes do?
To simplify it, electrolytes essentially keep us alive. They not only help us to absorb fluids and stay hydrated, but electrolytes also help to regulate body pH, brain function, and other important bodily functions such as muscle contractions.
Here are some examples of how electrolytes work in our bodies:
- Calcium ions help to transmit nerve signals, are important in blood clotting, as well as teeth and bone formation, and also aid muscle contraction.
- Chloride ions help to regulate osmotic pressure in the body, as well as how much water our bodies retain. They also aid the secretion of stomach acid for better digestion.
- Potassium ions help to contract muscles, including the heart.
- Magnesium ions help to activate enzymes essential to bodily functions.
About The Herbs Used To Make This Electrolyte Drink
This homemade electrolyte drink relies on mineral-rich herbs to help replenish all those electrolytes you lose every day. Maybe you enjoy lots of intense exercise or have a job that requires a lot of physical labor. Maybe you’re recovering from the flu or your child is recovering from a stomach bug. Or maybe it’s just summer and sitting still is enough to make you sweat profusely.
Regardless of the reason, we could all use a little extra help sometimes and this easy-to-make electrolyte tea is a handy herbal pantry staple to be able to grab whenever you need it.
Here’s a little bit about the herbs used in this tea:
The Health Benefits of Lemon Balm
It’s so hard to pick favorites, but if I was forced to pick my top 10 favorite herbs, lemon balm is definitely on the list. It’s an amazing plant that’s not only incredibly medicinal, but it’s also incredibly delicious and so easy to use as you would any culinary herb.
In medicine today, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) shines brightest as a serious antiviral and calming, but uplifting mild sedative or nerve tonic. It’s included in this electrolyte drink recipe not only for its mineral content but also for its delicious taste.
However, the health benefits of lemon balm don’t stop there. Lemon balm is also an antioxidant, a carminative that helps to support healthy digestion, a mild antidepressant, and more.
The Health Benefits of Rosehips
Rosehips are the fruit of the rose (Rosa spp.). After those romantically aromatic and pretty little petals fall off, the fleshy fruit called a “hip” forms. Hips are incredibly high in vitamin C and antioxidants and are particularly nourishing to the digestive system.
Rosehips can help protect against inflammation in the digestive system, helping us to better absorb vitamins and minerals (including electrolytes), thus helping to prevent dehydration.
The Health Benefits of Elderflower
Elderflower is the sweetest little precursor to the immune-boosting elderberry (Sambucus spp.). While the little blackish-blue berries often get all the attention, the flowers of the elder tree are incredibly medicinal in their own right.
They’re anti-inflammatory, can help to ease stress and anxiety by helping to soothe the nervous system (nervine), and can also help to soothe irritated and inflamed internal tissues (demulcent).
In this electrolyte drink, elderflower helps to promote hydration by decreasing stress and inflammation that may lead to poor vitamin and mineral absorption.
The Health Benefits of Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is often called “nature’s vitamin,” and it’s for good reason. If you ever think to yourself “hey, I feel like I could use an extra dose of minerals today,” nettle is your plant!
The impressive health benefits of stinging nettle make this a beloved herb by herbalists everywhere. Due to its high mineral content, stinging nettle is considered to be a nutritive tonic and an alkalinizing agent that helps to regulate body pH.
Nettle is also considered to be an alterative herb that works to optimize our processes of metabolism to increase overall health and vitality. It’s a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, can help to promote wound healing, and as a diuretic, is very nourishing to the urinary tract.
The Health Benefits of Chickweed
When spring comes in to rescue up from a long winter, chickweed is often one of the first wild edible weeds to pop up. It’s as if nature knows that we’ve been starved of mineral-rich foods, living on winter squash and potatoes for months, and are in serious need of some mineral-rich greens.
Enter chickweed.
Like stinging nettle, chickweed is a veritable nutrient powerhouse. It’s high in chlorophyll, vitamin C and B, and also provides more calcium and iron per serving than spinach. Chickweed is also especially high in magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus, and potassium.
And in addition to being mineral-rich, chickweed actually contains plant compounds called saponins that further aid our ability to absorb its nutrients.
Medicinally, chickweed is used to help cleanse the liver, reduce fevers, clears toxins, and help with inflammatory skin issues.
The Reason Salt Is Included In This Herbal Electrolyte Drink
When dissolved in water, salt breaks down into sodium and chloride ions, two of our main electrolytes. Boom! Saltwater is basically instant electrolytes!
Need I say more?
How to Make This Herbal Electrolyte Drink
This electrolyte drink recipe is adapted from Master Recipes from the Herbal Apothecary by JJ Pursell. And this recipe is as simple as making any herbal tea! In fact, this is an herbal tea!
In this recipe, I’m sharing how to make a quart of electrolyte drink that you can keep in your fridge and enjoy all day long or over the course of a few days.
This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of an herbal tea blend; that’s about 6 quart-sized batches. If you enjoy this recipe, save yourself some time and make a larger batch of the herb blend. Just mix the lemon balm, rosehips, elderflower, nettle, and chickweed together and store the tea blend in an airtight container. That way, when you want to make this electrolyte drink, you don’t need to pull out so many ingredients so often. Your 1-2 week stash could last you 1-2 months instead.
Equipment Needed
- Kitchen Scale or Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Small Mixing Bowl
- Quart-Sized Glass Jar (Canning jars or reclycled glass jars with tight-fitting lids are great options.)
- Fine-Mesh Strainer (This set of 3 strainers is an herbalist’s must-have!)
- Airtight Storage Container (I’m really loving these glass storage jars with bamboo lids for all my herbal tea blends. They make great display jars as long as you can keep them out of direct or bright light.)
Ingredients
- Lemon Balm, dried
- Rosehips, dried
- Elderflowers, dried
- Stinging Nettle, dried
- Chickweed, dried
- Sea Salt
- Water
- Slices of Fresh Lemon
- Optional: Sweetener of Choice (honey, maple syrup, or your favorite herbal syrup)
Method
- Blend all herbs and salt together. Weigh or measure out all the herbs. Combine together in a small mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Make a cold infusion with this herbal electrolyte blend. Add 1/4 cup of herb blend to your jar and fill the jar to the top with cold or room temperature water.
- Add a few slices of lemon. The acidity of the fresh lemon slices will help extract more electrolytes from the mineral-rich herbs. Plus, citrus itself is full of its own electrolytes.
I generally use a 1/4″ thick lemon slice per cup of water (4 slices per quart of water). Pop the slices in the jar and then screw the lid on tightly and give it a few shakes to make sure all the herbs are exposed to the water.
- Let infuse for 8-12 hours or overnight. Set the jar of tea in the fridge and allow to infuse for 8-12 hours or overnight. The longer you let the tea infuse, the more minerals (ie. electrolytes!) will be extracted from the herbs. In the summer, I get in the habit of making this tea before I go to bed. That way I can strain it in the morning and have it ready for the day (or next couple days).
- Strain. Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the herbs. You can strain it directly into another clean, quart-sized glass jar or first into a 4-cup glass measuring cup before transfering to a clean glass jar for storage.
- Start replenishing those electrolytes! Pour a cup of the tea into a drinking glass, add ice and the sweetener of choice if desired. (Or get real herbal fancy and sweeting your electrolyte drink with your homemade lavender syrup!)
Hey fellow tea lover!
Herbal teas are one of the oldest & most accessible herbal remedies on the planet. And it’s incredibly empowering (& easy!) to blend your own. Check out this step-by-step guide:
How to Blend Your Own Nourishing Herbal Teas
Homemade Electrolyte Drink FAQs
How do you know if you need electrolytes?
If you experience headaches, muscle cramping, nausea, or fatigue, you could either be dehydrated or have low sodium levels in your blood (known as hyponatremia). All of these things are a sign that you may benefit from replenishing your electrolyte stores and increasing your fluid intake. Mineral-rich herbal teas are a great way to do both!
Is it okay to drink electrolytes every day?
While we do need electrolytes every day, we don’t need to be supplementing with them every day. Whether they come in store-bought electrolyte drinks, tablets, sports gels, or powders, it is completely possible to have too many electrolytes. And the truth is that we typically get all the electrolytes we need through the foods and beverages we consume.
Unless you are sweating profusely for many hours, whether you’re an endurance athlete or work a job heavy on intense (and sweaty!) manual labor, it’s unlikely you need to be supplementing with electrolytes.
If you’ve been sick for a long period of time with diarrhea and vomiting, electrolytes may be helpful, especially if you’re unable to eat or keep liquids down easily.
Always consult with your licensed health practitioner or a practicing clinical herbalist when using medicinal herbs especially if you are pregnant, nursing, have preexisting health conditions, or are taking prescription medications. While rare, allergies to some of the herbs used in this herbal tea blend do occur.
With that said, this herbal tea, while also high in minerals, isn’t a concentrated electrolyte product. Nor is it full of health-harming artificial flavorings, colors, and sweeteners.
Still thirsty? Try These:
Fresh-Squeezed Calendula Lemonade
Iced Lavender Matcha Latte
Coffee Smoothie with Reishi
Hibiscus Iced Tea
For more plant magic & herbal wellness in your life, be sure to follow along on ➡️ Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, & snag my herbal 📚 eBooks Nourishing Herbal Gifts & Holiday Pies from the (Un)Bakery. 🌿 And please don’t forget to tag me in your snaps 📸 @_botanyculture_. I love to see all the plant magic you make happen!
Herbal Electrolyte Tea
Course: DrinksCuisine: Herbal TeaDifficulty: Easy
Quantity
1.5
cups
Prep time
5
minutes
This hydrating electrolyte drink is an herbal tea that’s made with the most naturally electrolyte-rich herbs. Naturally sweetened and jazzed up with a squeeze of fresh lemon, this herbal tea blows any store-bought electrolyte drink out of the proverbial water! Adapted from Master Recipes from the Herbal Apothecary, this recipe makes enough for 6 batches of electrolyte-rich herbal tea.
Ingredients
- Electrolyte-Rich Herbal Tea Blend
1 oz. (~2/3 cup) dried lemon balm
1/2 oz. (~2 tablespoons) dried rose hips, cut & sifted
1/4 oz. (~1/4 cup) dried elderflower
1/4 oz. (~1/2 cup) dried stinging nettle
1/4 oz. (~7 tablespoons) dried chickweed
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- For each quart of tea made:
~ 4 slices or wedges of fresh lemon
Optional: honey or maple syrup to sweeten to taste
Directions
- Blend all herbs and salt together. Weigh or measure out all the herbs. Combine together in a small mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Make a cold infusion with this herbal electrolyte blend. Add 1/4 cup of the herb blend to your jar and fill the jar to the top with cold or room temperature water.
- Add a squeeze of lemon. The acidity of the fresh-squeezed lemon juice will help extract more electrolytes from the mineral-rich herbs. Then place a tight-fitting lid on the jar and then give a few shakes to make sure all the herbs are exposed to the water.
- Let infuse for 8-12 hours or overnight. Set the jar of tea in the fridge and allow to infuse for 8-12 hours or overnight. The longer you let the tea infuse, the stronger it will be. In the summer’s I get in the habit of making this tea before I go to bed. That way I can strain it in the morning and have it ready for the day.
- Strain. Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the herbs. You can strain it directly into another clean, quart-sized glass jar or first into a 4-cup glass measuring cup before transferring to a clean glass jar for storage.
- Start replenishing those electrolytes! Pour a cup of the tea into a drinking glass, add ice if desired, and sweeten with either honey or maple syrup if desired. (Or get real herbal fancy and sweeten your electrolyte drink with your homemade lavender syrup!)
Keep the prepared tea in the refrigerator and drink it within 3 days.
- Store the leftover herb blend in an airtight container in a cool and dry location out of direct sunlight.
Notes
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Resources & Further Reading
- How To Prevent An Electrolyte Imbalance, Susan York Morris, Healthline.com
- Herbal Medicine From The Heart of the Earth, Dr. Sharol Marie Tilgner
DISCLAIMER: The information given in this article is intended for educational purposes only. Always consult with your healthcare practitioner before consuming certain herbs & medicinal foods, especially if pregnant, nursing, or taking any prescription medications.
