Chinese Medicinal Herbs: Tea To Start Your Day
Caffeine may sound good to get your brain moving, but it’s effects are not long lasting and it provides little if any other benefits. In contrast, my daily morning brew is corrective. In other words, it’s ingredients are Chinese medicinal herbs, which act to strengthen and support the body’s natural functioning. Caffeine is additive. It does nothing to support your health and in fact, it can be detrimental if you are having more than one 6-8 oz cup per day. That’s less then a Tall at Starbucks, for those of you who equate a cup to a Grande!
Full disclosure: it doesn’t taste anything like coffee. And it doesn’t give you that instant jolt. It’s naturally sweet with a slight sour taste. It’s an acquired taste, I’ll admit, but once you get over the hump that it’s not coffee, then it’s quite enjoyable. I drink it hot or cold. I especially like it cold and it’s a great substitute for iced tea. Sweet without the sugar – yay! I like sugar but it doesn’t like me.
So why Chinese medicinal herbs, you ask? These ingredients are particularly designed for aging people with waning Yin and Essence. What’s that? Contact me as it’s too long to explain in a blog, but trust me it is about 80% of us over 50. (*Note, I can substitute herbs targeted to your specific needs.) The ones I’ve described below, however, are safe when taken in the correct dose and can be taken every day. NOT ALL HERBS are safe. You need to know what you’re doing. Also, a little goes a long way; one 6-8 oz cup per day will do it.
You can use all or some raw ingredients purchased at an Asian market. I buy as many things as I can in teabags. More expensive, but easier for me. Or you can contact me and I will source ingredients for you.
Chinese Medicinal Herbs Tea
So let’s make tea! First, boil 4 cups of water. Put all the ingredients in a 4-cup teapot for brewing, then add the boiling water. (Make sure your teapot won’t crack from boiling water). Let it steep for a minimum of 20 minutes (dried flowers require much less steeping, so add the last 5 minutes). Let it cool so you can pour it off into another large container to store in your refrigerator. Then boil 3 cups of water and refill your teapot over the dregs. Double steeping maximizes the ingredients and is very common practice when making Chinese medicinal teas. After the second batch cools, mix it with the original. Yield: about 7 cups of tea, or a one week supply.
Ingredients:
- One teabag of American Ginseng Tea (can substitute Korean Ginseng with slightly different effect). Actions: Builds qi or energy (a better substitute for caffeine); Generates fluids and nourishes yin (as we age we dry up like prunes); clears heat from deficiency (which tends to make us feel hot or sweaty or causes irritability.)
- One teabag Detox tea. There are many brands. I like Yogi brand, but just make sure it has dandelion and if you take many medications or drink alcohol regularly, make sure you get one with Milk Thistle to support your liver. Actions: This is a combo of herbs that help the digestive tract and detoxifies the kidney the liver. We are always coming into contact with toxins. I recommend a detox tea daily for everybody.
- One bag of Green Tea. Get a decent brand so it’s potent enough. Some green tea brands taste like water. Green tea has so many benefits! But mostly its a great antioxidant and has a little of the caffeine boosting effect.
- A handful of plain dried Gogi Berries (Wolfberry). Rinse before putting in the pot. Actions: Enriches yin, blood and essence (youth vitality); Benefits eyes (dizziness, blurred and dry eyes); Mildly boost Kidney Yang. (If you notice stomach sensitivity, omit.)
- About 6-8 Chinese Red Dates, depending on size. Rinse. Actions: Builds qi and blood; Generates fluids; Calms the mind or spirit; Harmonizes the effects of other herbs on the stomach.
- Longan Fruit, depending on level of desired sweetness. Actions: Builds qi and blood; Calms the mind/spirit; Great for over-thinkers and over-workers, like me.
And there you have it – the perfect Chinese medicinal herbs tea to start your day. Happy brewing!
