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Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden : Column Index : 2002 : Apr02
Coming Soon...
Herbal Teas -- Create Your Own Special Blend
A common beverage for centuries, tea is suddenly popular again. You see it in cans and bottles in every kind of food store, even convenience stores at gas stations, where I found Cool Nestea, Lipton's Brisk Lemon, Sobe, Arizona and other brands, all conveniently bottled for you. But if you read the labels of these products, you'll see that they contain sugar, preservatives, and other artificial ingredients. Even the teas sold at natural food stores contain high fructose corn syrup, sodium, calories galore and enough carbohydrate grams to last you all day. You may feel that you're doing your body a favor when you drink a pre-packaged tea, but many of them are no better for you than a soda pop!
When we think of "tea," we might envision British ladies sipping the dark-colored beverage out of fragile china cups in a Victorian setting. Tea is a staple of life in Asian countries too, but we usually think of green tea when we think of China or Japan. Both green and black tea come from the same plant, known as Camellia sinensis. The different color, appearance and properties of green and black tea are due to the different methods of processing and drying the leaves after they're harvested. Both kinds of traditional tea contain caffeine, so they serve a large part of the world as a pleasant waker-upper. If coffee bothers your stomach or makes you overly nervous, try switching to tea. But green tea has six times greater anti-oxidant activity than black tea. This happens because the fresh-cut young leaves are steamed rather than allowed to oxidize, as is the case with black tea. So green tea has more health-promoting effects than its counterpart. These include clinical evidence that green tea can be of help in preventing or even curing certain types of cancer. (Information from the Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines)
If you can boil water, you can make tea for yourself and avoid the artificial ingredients in bottled teas. If you purchase tea bags by Lipton, Celestial Seasonings, Traditional Medicinals, Yogi Tea, Bigelow and others, you'll eliminate the added sugar and preservatives and often get some actual herbs as well. Such blends as "Mint Magic" and "Throat Coat" contain herbs that soothe stomach aches and sore throats. You can brew up a large pot and keep it in the fridge for several days. Or you can put your tea bags in water in a glass jar, cover it and place it in the sun for a few hours and end up with an even more delicious, natural sun tea.
If you're a person who likes to experiment with different combinations of foods and herbs, you might find plain green or black tea rather uninteresting. One of the things I like to do is to add fresh herbs to my store-bought tea bag cuppa tea. Sliced fresh ginger root is one of my favorites, as is 'olena (turmeric), both of which are readily available here in Hawaii. They're both anti-inflammatory and good for your stomach, plus they add a great gingery taste. Sometimes I'll pick a sprig of fresh mint, or one of my favorite garden herbs, the scented basils (lemon, lime, cinnamon, Thai or anise, "holy" or clove) and put that into my mug before pouring boiling water over it all. I pull out the flotsam and jetsam before drinking it, add a little sugar or honey, and perhaps a wedge of lemon. So good and so easy!
But why stop there? Making your own herbal tea from fresh or dried herbs is just as easy as making tea from tea bags and can save you a ton of money. One pound of loose green tea costs about $11.00 and makes gallons of healthful tea. A 1 oz. baggie of dried peppermint will cost you from 50 cents to $1.00, depending on whether it's organic or not, and will yield about 20 cups of tea. That's a far cry from the $3.35 you'll pay for 20 "Mint Magic" tea bags or the $1.85 that an Arizona tea costs!
The art of making herbal tea has been written about in many books. I recommend one in particular: Herbal Teas: 101 Nourishing Blends for Daily Health and Vitality, by Kathleen Brown and Jeanine Pollak. It contains a valuable "encyclopedia" of the tea herbs with concise descriptions of the health benefits of each. For example, if you wanted to make a tea that would help you sleep more soundly, you would simply look for that as you browse through the herbs. You will find sedative herbs like Chamomile, Valerian, passionflower leaf, kava kava ('awa) and other common herbs listed. Your local natural food store sells bulk herbs, so after you look up the health concern you want to treat, you can buy the appropriate herbs by the ounce. Or better yet, grow some of your own. Herbs are the easiest plants to grow because they're considered weeds in many of their native environments.
My advice to you in closing is to know what you're taking and why you're taking it. Many fads pop up regarding food and herbs that sound attractive to us. We are often tempted to jump right in before we have all the facts. Two Hawaiian plants that are popular as tea right now are mamaki (Pipturis Albidus) and ko'oko'olau (Bidens Hawaiiensis). Mamaki is related to nettles and is very healthful for you, but it does have diuretic properties (makes you urinate more). If you drink too much of it, your bladder can be harmed. And think about why you might need a diuretic: perhaps to help with bloating before your period or to flush the fluid from your arthritic joints. Or just to lose a few pounds of water retention. But why would you want to take a diuretic if your body doesn't need a diuretic? Ancient Hawaiians believed that Ko'oko'olau was useful for preventing strokes, and evidence suggests that it is a blood purifier or blood thinner. Again, think about why you are taking any herb before you purchase it. Then you can eagerly hurry home to boil a pot of water and relax with a cup of delicious, healthful tea.
Herbal Teas -- Create Your Own Special Blend
A common beverage for centuries, tea is suddenly popular again. You see it in cans and bottles in every kind of food store, even convenience stores at gas stations, where I found Cool Nestea, Lipton's Brisk Lemon, Sobe, Arizona and other brands, all conveniently bottled for you. But if you read the labels of these products, you'll see that they contain sugar, preservatives, and other artificial ingredients. Even the teas sold at natural food stores contain high fructose corn syrup, sodium, calories galore and enough carbohydrate grams to last you all day. You may feel that you're doing your body a favor when you drink a pre-packaged tea, but many of them are no better for you than a soda pop!
When we think of "tea," we might envision British ladies sipping the dark-colored beverage out of fragile china cups in a Victorian setting. Tea is a staple of life in Asian countries too, but we usually think of green tea when we think of China or Japan. Both green and black tea come from the same plant, known as Camellia sinensis. The different color, appearance and properties of green and black tea are due to the different methods of processing and drying the leaves after they're harvested. Both kinds of traditional tea contain caffeine, so they serve a large part of the world as a pleasant waker-upper. If coffee bothers your stomach or makes you overly nervous, try switching to tea. But green tea has six times greater anti-oxidant activity than black tea. This happens because the fresh-cut young leaves are steamed rather than allowed to oxidize, as is the case with black tea. So green tea has more health-promoting effects than its counterpart. These include clinical evidence that green tea can be of help in preventing or even curing certain types of cancer. (Information from the Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines)
If you can boil water, you can make tea for yourself and avoid the artificial ingredients in bottled teas. If you purchase tea bags by Lipton, Celestial Seasonings, Traditional Medicinals, Yogi Tea, Bigelow and others, you'll eliminate the added sugar and preservatives and often get some actual herbs as well. Such blends as "Mint Magic" and "Throat Coat" contain herbs that soothe stomach aches and sore throats. You can brew up a large pot and keep it in the fridge for several days. Or you can put your tea bags in water in a glass jar, cover it and place it in the sun for a few hours and end up with an even more delicious, natural sun tea.
If you're a person who likes to experiment with different combinations of foods and herbs, you might find plain green or black tea rather uninteresting. One of the things I like to do is to add fresh herbs to my store-bought tea bag cuppa tea. Sliced fresh ginger root is one of my favorites, as is 'olena (turmeric), both of which are readily available here in Hawaii. They're both anti-inflammatory and good for your stomach, plus they add a great gingery taste. Sometimes I'll pick a sprig of fresh mint, or one of my favorite garden herbs, the scented basils (lemon, lime, cinnamon, Thai or anise, "holy" or clove) and put that into my mug before pouring boiling water over it all. I pull out the flotsam and jetsam before drinking it, add a little sugar or honey, and perhaps a wedge of lemon. So good and so easy!
But why stop there? Making your own herbal tea from fresh or dried herbs is just as easy as making tea from tea bags and can save you a ton of money. One pound of loose green tea costs about $11.00 and makes gallons of healthful tea. A 1 oz. baggie of dried peppermint will cost you from 50 cents to $1.00, depending on whether it's organic or not, and will yield about 20 cups of tea. That's a far cry from the $3.35 you'll pay for 20 "Mint Magic" tea bags or the $1.85 that an Arizona tea costs!
The art of making herbal tea has been written about in many books. I recommend one in particular: Herbal Teas: 101 Nourishing Blends for Daily Health and Vitality, by Kathleen Brown and Jeanine Pollak. It contains a valuable "encyclopedia" of the tea herbs with concise descriptions of the health benefits of each. For example, if you wanted to make a tea that would help you sleep more soundly, you would simply look for that as you browse through the herbs. You will find sedative herbs like Chamomile, Valerian, passionflower leaf, kava kava ('awa) and other common herbs listed. Your local natural food store sells bulk herbs, so after you look up the health concern you want to treat, you can buy the appropriate herbs by the ounce. Or better yet, grow some of your own. Herbs are the easiest plants to grow because they're considered weeds in many of their native environments.
My advice to you in closing is to know what you're taking and why you're taking it. Many fads pop up regarding food and herbs that sound attractive to us. We are often tempted to jump right in before we have all the facts. Two Hawaiian plants that are popular as tea right now are mamaki (Pipturis Albidus) and ko'oko'olau (Bidens Hawaiiensis). Mamaki is related to nettles and is very healthful for you, but it does have diuretic properties (makes you urinate more). If you drink too much of it, your bladder can be harmed. And think about why you might need a diuretic: perhaps to help with bloating before your period or to flush the fluid from your arthritic joints. Or just to lose a few pounds of water retention. But why would you want to take a diuretic if your body doesn't need a diuretic? Ancient Hawaiians believed that Ko'oko'olau was useful for preventing strokes, and evidence suggests that it is a blood purifier or blood thinner. Again, think about why you are taking any herb before you purchase it. Then you can eagerly hurry home to boil a pot of water and relax with a cup of delicious, healthful tea.
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