How to Make Calming Passionflower Tea in 6 Easy Steps

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Total Time: 15-20 Minutes

If you’re looking for how to make the perfect cup of tea with the calming effects of passionflower, you’re in the right place. This post explains what a passionflower actually is, how to use passionflower tea, and of course, it includes a passionflower tea recipe. If you want to use passionflower with other herbs that you’re already familiar with or researching, you can use this recipe to concoct your own passionflower tea blends. Read on to learn how to get the most out of known passionflower tea benefits.

What is passionflower?

Passionflower is a bright purple flower with many long, colorful corona filaments (long spindly things coming out from the center part of the flower). It has long been used as a mild anxiolytic or relaxant since ancient times. There are over 500 species of passionflower, and the one used for its sedative properties is commonly called maypop. Its scientific name is passiflora incarnata. This species is pollinated by bees, butterflies, and moths. It grows as a vine fast and hard in gardens and in the wild in the southern United States. It is the official wildflower of Tennessee, and its Cherokee name is ocoee. The wikipedia page mentions possible interactions with sedatives, anticoagulants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Furthermore, the effects of maypop have not been tested with those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Otherwise, it is considered safe to consume. The part typically used for tea is the leaves and stems.

Benefits of Passionflower Tea

Passionflower can be a powerful sleep aid, and can help with dream retention. A good night’s sleep can be had with a cup of passionflower tea, making the next day feel brighter and easier. It has also been used to help with anxiety and depression. Generally, it is a relaxing herb and is considered a nervine by herbalists.

Tips and Tricks:

Of course, as with any recipe, you can scale this to your liking. For example, to make two mugs of tea, you would use 16 oz of water and 2 tbsp of passionflower.
You can also use more leaves for a stronger effect, but if this is your first time, I recommend starting with just a tablespoon, or two grams.
Some people report having nightmares after trying passionflower tea. This plant is known to give people more vivid dreams, so I suspect that these people normally have unpleasant dreams that they don’t remember, and drinking the passionflower makes them remember it.
There are many options to choose from for a container for the leaves while they are dipped in the water. This recipe mentions a reusable muslin bag, and the general term “tea infuser.”
- A muslin bag refers to a small sachet made of muslin, a thin porous cloth. These are great because they are inexpensive and reusable. If you use a muslin bag, make sure to wash it soon after use. I know from experience that they can get pretty nasty if you forget about them.
- A tea infuser can refer to many different things. Generally, a tea infuser is a small container made of metal mesh. There are clamps that can fit up to one tablespoon, attached to either a stem or a chain that can hook onto the side of a vessel. There are also cylindrical tea infusers that dip into the water and have a circular top that rests on the brim of the vessel. These are typically not wide enough to work with a stove pot, though. They are best used with a mug or a teapot.
You also have the option to let the passionflower leaves float loose on the water. If you do this method, you can choose to strain them or you can leave them in while you drink the tea. If you do strain the leaves out, you will need a second vessel for the leaf-free tea to go in, and you will need some kind of strainer. A kitchen strainer or a cheesecloth can work for this. If you’re not familiar with cheesecloth, it’s a type of porous cloth that is traditionally used for straining things in the kitchen. It’s not as common as it used to be since people started using metal strainers. If you choose not to strain it, just keep in mind that the extraction will continue until you are finished with your drink. Even if the tea cools down, some compounds will still transfer from the plant to the water.

*A cup of tea is poured into a delicate teacup on a bed*

*A thin crescent moon hangs over silhouetted treetops*

A cup of tea is poured

Passionflower Tea Recipe:

Tools

Kettle
Mug
Cover for the mug – can be a ceramic saucer or something similar. This is just to help keep the heat from escaping.
Tea infuser or muslin bag – You can also steep it in a pot and strain into a mug with a kitchen strainer or cheesecloth.

Ingredients

1 tbsp (2 grams) of passionflower leaves
8 oz of water (a normal mug)

Steps

Prepare the tea by putting the passionflower leaves in the tea infuser or muslin bag.
Start to heat up the 8 oz of water to a rolling boil.
Put the tea infuser or muslin bag in the mug.
When the water is boiling, pour it into the mug.
Cover the mug and wait ten minutes.
After the passionflower has steeped for ten minutes, drink the infusion about an hour before bed.

A person wearing an eye mask sleeps soundly

Now that you have a relaxing cup of passionflower tea ready to drink, you can drift peacefully into sleep tonight. Whether you’re trying to alleviate some form of insomnia, looking for ways to relax, or just experimenting, I hope you found this post helpful. If you want to see more content like this, subscribe to Herbs and Brew!