How to Make Mugwort Tea, the Korean Ssuk Way

Start with the label, because "mugwort" can mean several different plants. Look for the Latin name. Artemisia vulgaris is common mugwort, whose dried leaves and flowering tops fill most Western teas and lucid-dream blends. Artemisia princeps and Artemisia argyi are the East Asian mugworts behind Korean ssuk, Japanese yomogi and Chinese ai ye.

• Common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): sage-like and bitter, sold loose or in tea bags.
• Korean mugwort (Artemisia princeps): the ssuk in Korean cooking. A food scientist at Keimyung University in Daegu notes that two Korean cultivars, ssajuari-ssuk and sajabal-ssuk, are hard to tell apart by anything but the shape of their leaves (3).
• Chinese mugwort (Artemisia argyi): used in medicine, food, bathing and moxibustion for more than two thousand years, according to a 2021 review (4).

Then make sure it's meant to be eaten. Buy leaf sold as a food or tea from a seller who names the species, and skip craft-store bundles and smudge sticks. In the U.S., Artemisia used as a flavoring is allowed only if the finished food is thujone-free (5). Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is a different herb entirely, and our mugwort vs wormwood breakdown explains why that difference matters.

Mugwort tea has a big reputation, so it helps to know where each claim comes from. Here's how the most common mugwort benefits stack up:

• Digestion: mugwort's bitter sesquiterpene lactones, along with its flavonoids and aromatic oils, are why European herbalists have long used it as a digestive bitter after heavy meals. That's tradition, not a tested treatment.
• Menstrual comfort: mugwort is one of the oldest menstrual herbs in Chinese and European medicine. That same reputation is why it's off-limits in pregnancy.
• Relaxation and sleep: plenty of people enjoy a warm, caffeine-free cup in the evening, but no trials show it improves sleep.
• Vivid or lucid dreams: this one is folklore so far. Some people swear by it, and others notice nothing at all.

The lab research is genuinely interesting. Researchers at Pusan National University's School of Korean Medicine found anti-inflammatory activity when they tested Artemisia leaf extract in cells and on the skin of mice (2). Results in a dish or a mouse don't tell you what a cup of tea does in your body, though. And moxibustion, where dried mugwort is burned near the skin, is a separate practice whose research doesn't carry over to drinking it.

Before you brew, take ten seconds for a safety check. NCCIH says mugwort should not be used during pregnancy, and little is known about whether it's safe while breastfeeding (1).

Allergies matter too. Mugwort pollen is a major allergen, and in a study of 7,176 allergy patients in Italy, people sensitized to both mugwort and ragweed pollen proteins had about seven times the odds of reacting to foods like celery (6). If you're allergic to ragweed, chrysanthemums, daisies or other plants in the family, go carefully.

For one 8-ounce mug, use 1 teaspoon of dried mugwort for a mild cup, or up to 2 teaspoons once you know you like it. With fresh leaves, use about 1 tablespoon, chopped or lightly bruised so the water can reach the aromatics.

Start at the low end. Mugwort is strong stuff, and it's much easier to add a little more leaf next time than to rescue a cup that's too bitter.

Bring fresh water to a full boil, then let it sit for 30 to 60 seconds so it lands around 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to pull out mugwort's earthy, sage-like flavor without flattening its brighter aromatic notes.

Pour the water over the leaves, cover the mug with a saucer and set a timer for 3 minutes. Covering keeps the aromatic steam in your cup instead of your kitchen.

• 3 minutes: light, herbal and grassy, with a gentle bitter finish. A good first cup.
• 5 minutes: fuller and earthier, with more noticeable bitterness.
• 7 to 10 minutes: strong, resinous and very bitter. A longer steep with more leaf also makes a more concentrated tea, so save it for when you know how mugwort sits with you.

Taste at 3 minutes and decide from there. With mugwort, longer isn't better!

Lift out the infuser or pour the tea through a fine strainer, then take a sip. Mugwort tastes earthy and sage-like with a pronounced bitter edge, a lot like a cross between green tea and fresh herbs. If it's a bit much, you've got options:

• A teaspoon of honey to round off the bitter edge.
• A squeeze of lemon to brighten it up.
• A half-and-half blend with chamomile, peppermint or lemon balm for a softer cup.
• A shorter steep or a little less leaf next time.

Try it plain first, though. Plenty of mugwort fans end up loving that bitter, grassy backbone!

In Korea, mugwort lands on the dinner table long before it lands in a mug. Tender young ssuk leaves are picked in early spring and cooked into ssukguk, a mugwort and doenjang soup, or pounded into chewy green ssuk tteok. Ssukcha, Korean mugwort tea, is usually made from those same young leaves, dried or pan-roasted for a toastier, rounder flavor.

1. Start with young leaves you bought as food, or that you're certain you've identified correctly, since mugwort has look-alikes. Rinse them and pat them dry.
2. Toss them in a dry pan over low heat for a few minutes until they wilt and smell toasty, then let them cool and dry completely on a clean towel.
3. Brew about 1 teaspoon of the dried leaves per cup, exactly as in steps 5 to 7.

Pan-roasting softens the raw, green edge, so ssukcha is a gentle way in if common mugwort tea tastes too bitter for you.

Treat mugwort tea as a sometimes drink, not a daily habit. Mugwort contains thujone, a compound found in several Artemisia plants, and the amount varies with the species, the part of the plant and how the leaf was dried.

Strong, repeated doses are where things go wrong. Researchers in Milan and Zurich described a 49-year-old man who arrived at a Zurich emergency room in a manic state after drinking about a liter of mugwort infusion, and they confirmed thujone in his blood (7). That's far more than a mug, but it's a good reminder that natural doesn't mean unlimited.