Herbal tea is a great way to warm your cockles on a cold winter’s day but can also have a huge variety of health benefits. Here we have listed some great ways in which you can start benefiting from herbal teas.
What is herbal tea?
Before we begin you will want to know just what a herbal tea exactly is. It may surprise you to learn that it isn’t tea in the traditional sense. Although they look like a tea and are brewed in a similar way, they’re actually an infusion of dried leaves, seeds, nuts, roots, and flowers. These combinations allow the herbal teas to provide a number of health benefits and taste great! The teas are also great if you’re looking for a caffeine-free pick me up.
Making your own
Creating your own herbal teas can be fun and really beneficial to your health. Depending on where you live, you may even be able to head out and source your own ingredients, making it not only beneficial, but cost-effective too. There are a huge variety of herbs that are great for tea like Red Clover, Hawthorne and more, so have a look at what may be waiting for you in your own garden. If you are going to purchase or pick herbs yourself, you should definitely research them before hand in case they have any effect on allergies you may have. Place a couple of tea spoons of your herb mixture into a brewing cup with water and leave to seep for 2-5 minutes. Then take your tea strainer (unless you want leaves and bark in your drink), pour your lovely herbal tea into a mug and drink away! It’s recommended to avoid using aluminium cups because it can affect the taste, but tea glasses such as these are an excellent choice.
What are the benefits?
The massive amount of variety in herbs means that each one can provide you with its own unique benefits, so research the herbs that will be best for you, but drinking herbal tea does have a number of general benefits.
Support heart health – Herbs like Hawthorne can aid in increasing blood flow and help strengthen the heart.
Stress relief – We can all become stressed with day to day life and so herbal teas can be a great way to help you relax. Ingredients like Peppermint, Chamomile, and Ginseng are perfect to help you unwind and clear your head.
Sleeping well – If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, why not get tucked under the sheets with a herbal tea and relax. Ingredients such as Chamomile and Lemmon Balm are great for helping you become calm, sleepy and drift off.
Strengthen your immune system – Help stave off any nasty colds and illnesses by strengthening your immune system with herbal teas. Dandelion and Picrorhiza can aid with this.
These are just some examples of ingredients and the benefits that they can provide you with. Just remember that before ingesting any herbs to do your research. Make sure it is the herb you think it is and that it will have no negative side effects!
Lastly, have fun with your teas. Mix and match to create your own blend and share with friends and family, have herbal tea parties. Herbal teas open you up to whole community passionate about creating blends. So what are you waiting for? Go and start making your own tea!
