Healing Herbal Teas: A Complete Guide to Making Delicious, Healthful Beverages

Introduction

It is through plants that we receive the solar energy that fuels the life process. Indeed, we enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the plant kingdom. Plants give off oxygen, a substance upon which we depend. In turn, the animal kingdom gives off carbon dioxide, upon which plants thrive. We also depend upon plants, which are able to transmute the elements of sunshine and earth into nourishing compounds, for sustenance. But sustenance is not all that humans require. Our bodies also require fluids, and our minds and spirits need uplifting. For these, we turn to tea, the marriage of plants and water.

By some definitions, the word tea pertains to the shrub Camellia sinensis, from which green and black tea are made. However, teas brewed from a wondrous variety of herbs were consumed long before green and black teas became popular, and have been enjoyed by millions of people for thousands of years. These herbal brews are rich in vitamins, minerals, and other nourishing, health-giving compounds. In an age when people are becoming ever more aware of the importance of taking responsibility for their own health, rather than relying on the bureaucratized medical system, herbal tea is an essential ally in the prevention and treatment of illness as well as the nourishment and support of the body, mind, and spirit. But it is up to us to educate ourselves on how to use herbs safely and effectively.

Healing Herbal Teas offers instruction, advice, and encouragement for brewing tea from forty-five common, readily available, wonderfully potent herbs. This book also discusses methods of using herbal teas that you may not have yet explored—from herb baths to steam inhalations to mouth-washes—so that you can learn to use herbs to nourish, soothe, and build immunity from the inside and the outside. By turning first to botanicals for medicine and sustenance, we are encouraging a greener world. And which would you rather have in your neighborhood: another chemical company or a field of rosemary?

The art of herbalism is at a point where we have the ability to bring together the wisdom of many cultures. We can make the most of new technologies that help our lives and also tap into the ancient healing power of plants. Still to come, but with every advocate of botanical medicine a step closer, is the best of healthcare: when we put our hearts and heads together and do what is best for people and the planet.

In today’s complex world, the simple pleasures of tea bring us closer to nature and give us an opportunity to nurture ourselves. There’s healing power, solar energy, and a wealth of nutrients in the leaves, flowers, roots, and seeds of the herbs explored in this book. Make friends with these herbs. Let them become a daily part of your life. Enjoy your herbal allies!

Many blessings!

The Fine Art of Tea

Nothing warms the body and soul like holding a fragrant, steaming cup of herbal tea, inhaling its subtle scents as you slowly sip. Tea is among the most ancient, basic, and simple methods of healing and nourishing body, mind, and spirit. As science has proven time and again, plants are endowed with important nutrients and potent healing compounds. Some of those elements come from the raw earth; for example, a plant grown in calcium- or iron-rich soil draws those elements into its own body. When you brew plants in water, the resulting beverage—herbal tea—is imbued with those constituents, carrying them into the body, where they are quickly absorbed. Even better, teas are easy to prepare, inexpensive, and delicious!

Plant constituents that release their properties into water include carbohydrates, protein, enzymes, mucilage, pectins, saponins, and polysaccharides. Essential oils are soluble but evaporate easily. Gums and tannins are partially soluble. All can play a role in improving and supporting human health.

Even though there is a wide array of medicinal herbal preparations, including capsules, tablets, and tinctures, drinking herbal tea offers unique benefits that should not be overlooked. To begin, teas are readily absorbed in the body. Also, teas are flavorful and aromatic. When we drink herbal tea, the brain is soothed and nourished by the aromas inhaled through the nose and the tasty sensory messages received by the tongue.

Another important benefit of drinking herbal tea is that it gives us an opportunity in our busy day to take a bit of time out for ourselves. Taking time out to taste and savor herbal teas provides an opportunity for reflection. Rather than swallowing a couple tasteless capsules with a gulp of water as we run out the door, we can use our time drinking herbal tea to think about intention—I’m nourishing my nervous system or perhaps I’m strengthening my immune system—as our brain receives signals from the subtle qualities of the plants. Time out for tea can be a pleasant healing ritual, a way to let our bodies and minds know that we are taking care. Whether you’re just getting started on a chilly morning, looking to improve your health, or welcoming a friend that drops by, tea is always appropriate.

SHOPPING FOR HERBS

Nowadays, most grocery stores offer a good-size selection of teas, both caffeinated and noncaffeinated. Most likely you have tried a variety of commercial products, already bagged and boxed. Now I hope to help you go further with the experience. Natural food stores, tea shops, and herb stores generally offer the best selections of quality tea herbs.

Shop Conscientiously

When you are shopping for herbs, support companies that support your ethical and environmental beliefs. That may mean they farm organically, use recycled packaging or hemp tea bags, employ indigenous peoples to harvest herbs, and/or protect the rain forest rather than destroy it. A growing number of companies, especially those dealing with camellia-type teas, are part of the fair-trade movement, where plantation workers are paid a fair wage for their efforts. Fair-trade companies also pay a premium that goes directly to farmers, helping to curb poverty and labor-abuse issues.

Tea Bags

A New York tea merchant named William Sullivan invented tea bags accidentally in 1904. He had the idea of sending samples of tea to customers in hand-sewn silk bags rather than in a tin. He was soon flooded with orders for the convenient tea bags.

Making herbal blends from scratch might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and for that reason, tea bags are a welcome convenience. Although true tea aficionados shun them, tea bags can make an acceptable cup of tea. They’re also readily available and provide convenience for those with a go-go-go lifestyle, for newcomers to the world of herbal teas, and for those who are traveling or dining in restaurants. If you carry a few wrapped tea bags in your purse, briefcase, or backpack, you have only to request, Hot water, please, when you are on the road or in places where herbal teas are not available.

Happily, herbal teas are now more available than ever. Yet, in order for the herbs to be put into tea bags, they are ground into a very fine cut that exposes the surface areas of the herbs thousands of times, thus allowing flavorful and therapeutic essential oils to evaporate more quickly. When the tea bags sit for many months before being used, the herbs they contain lose potency. Many companies compensate for this loss by adding natural or unnatural flavorings to the herbs. Read labels carefully when buying bagged tea. Your desire may be to consume raspberry leaf tea. However, what you may find yourself buying, if you don’t read labels, is black tea with raspberry flavoring.

To make your own tea bags, you can simply tie some herbs in a piece of muslin. You can even buy empty tea bags that you can fill with your favorite brew and seal with a hot iron. These types of tea bags work best for leaves and flowers. However, many commercial tea bags are glued together with a toxic plastic called polyvinyl chloride, which is best avoided. Ask the retailer from whom you’re purchasing bags to provide you with ones that are free of polyvinyl chloride.

After steeping your tea bag in hot water, give the spent bag a squeeze between two spoons, or wrap the string around the spoon and the tea bag. This will extract any remaining therapeutic properties.

Bulk Herbs

Going into the bulk herbs section of a store may seem an overwhelming experience at first. But usually the staff is friendly, enjoying the company of both people and plants. When asked for assistance, they can instruct you on how to bag up the herbs you want, whether the price code needs to be marked on the bag, and any other procedures that are not clearly posted in the area.

Loose bulk herbs generally make a better cup of tea than tea bags. Because these herbs are in a more whole form, less surface area is exposed and the plants’ essential oils are better protected, so they are more potent in terms of both flavor and therapeutic properties. Bulk herbs also tend to be less expensive, create less packaging waste, and offer a wider variety of flavors, as well as the opportunity to select exactly what you need and want.

Do your best to seek out organically cultivated herbs. Not only do they have the most healing properties (pesticides, which are used on nonorganic herbs, are designed to destroy, not heal), but organic cultivation is healthier for the planet and the creatures that live upon it. Sometimes you may find supplies of wildcrafted herbs; these are herbs that have been collected from the wild. If you use wildcrafted plants, be sure they were harvested in a sustainable method that respects the environment and ensures the continuation of that species. Avoid using plants that are endangered or at risk.

Dried herbs should look and smell almost like the fresh product. Look for good color. An herb that was originally green when fresh should not look like yellow straw when dried. Bright golden calendula flowers should still show their hue. Nettles should still be bright green.

One way to determine whether you will enjoy the taste of an herb is to breath in its aroma. Chances are good that if your nose is pleased, your tongue will agree.

If you are allergic to a particular herb, avoid using it even in tea form. And remember that herbs are potent; just because herbal tea is natural doesn’t mean that you can drink it without regard to its effects.

WILDCRAFTING

Learning to collect wild plants from your area will greatly enhance your pleasure in drinking tea, as well as your sense of connection to the earth.

The most important rule of wildcrafting is to make sure you collect the proper species. Some plants have poisonous look-alikes. Be especially careful with mushrooms, as a mistake can easily be fatal. Also be sure to collect the correct plant part; for example, blue elderberries are wonderful, but the leaves are toxic. And know that animals have different physiologies; just because one animal eats a plant doesn’t mean it is safe for humans to ingest.

Avoid collecting plants within fifty feet of a busy road, in areas that are sprayed with herbicides or pesticides, or in areas known to be polluted or contaminated. Ask permission before gathering on private land.

Any known endangered species must be left alone; do not harvest it from the wild. With any species, identify the grandfather, or mother, plant in a stand of plants—it’s usually the largest or the first to flower—and leave it to ensure the continuation of the strongest of the species. Never take more than 10 percent of what’s there. Vary the places you collect from.

Collect plants in a way to ensure the continued survival of the species. If all you need are the leaves and flowers, take only some tops from the plants; cutting back plants in this manner can actually help promote new growth. You might also thin plants growing together, as you would thin plants in your garden, to give the other plants more room. If you’re collecting roots, which will destroy the plants, plant ripe seeds in the hole you’ve dug and fill the holes with soil.

If possible, spray or water plants the day before you harvest them to clean off any extra dirt or debris. Gather leaves and flowers in the morning, after the dew has risen and before the sun is too hot.

The part of the plant you want to harvest determines when you should collect it, as follows:

• Leaves are best taken just as the plant begins to flower, when its energy is still in the leaves.

• Flowers are best taken when they are just starting to open.

• Fruit (such as rose hips) is best when it is fully ripe, and seeds are best when they are fully ripe and dry.

• Bark is best collected in the spring or fall. If taken after a spell of damp weather, bark will separate more easily. Never girdle (remove the bark from all the way around) a tree, as this will impair the sap’s ability to rise.

• Roots generally are ideal in the fall, after the plant has completed its cycle and the life force of the plant goes back into its roots and inner bark. Biennial or perennial roots can also be collected in the spring of the second year. There are exceptions, of course. Echinacea is harvested only after three years and ginseng after seven years. Scrub roots well after collecting them.

• Gums and resins are best collected in hot, dry weather.

Leaves and flowers are usually collected during the full moon. Roots are said to be best when collected during the new moon.

Ask permission from and give thanks to the herbs you gather. My friend Debra St. Claire likes to remind people, Bless it before you pick it. Sing while collecting! Be joyful!

DRYING HERBS

Drying herbs makes them available year-round. When herbs are dried, their cell walls break down, which enables the properties of the plants to be easily released when the herbs are rehydrated.

Dry herbs in the shade in a warm,