My new love… tea!

Lately I’ve gotten really into different herbs (Mother Nature’s “medicine cabinet”) and the different things that they can do to help our bodies.

It’s so interesting to me how I might get an herb because I heard it does one thing, but then feel additional things happening to my body. I’ll look it up and then find out that the herb can do whatever I’m experiencing too.

It’s incredible how potent and powerful herbs are. It constantly shocks me at how behind us westerners are compared to easterners with medicine/healing.

You can use herbs in lots of ways. I plan on making some kind of ebook soon and then donating 100% of the profits to charity. For this post though, I’m just going to mention a few things about one way to infuse herbs into your body, which is by making tea.

I recently went to Souvia Tea in Phoenix (they also have an online store) and asked a ton of questions.

Here are some cool things I learned:

– When you buy a tea bag, you’re getting mashed up stuff. You have no idea where the herbs are coming from or what they’re remnants of. With looseleaf teas, you get fresher, higher quality herbs and flowers. They smell significantly better and look a ton more vibrant.

– Rooibos teas make excellent iced teas and regular teas. These are my favorite because they’re caffeine free (I’m not sure about you, but caffeinated tea dehydrates me bigtime).

– A lot of looseleaf tea is the same price as tea bags. I got a few kinds of tea for $5.99 for the “trial” package, which makes 20-25 cups of tea. Some of the other ones were more expensive, but I got those more for the herbs in them, which are traditionally expensive.

– If you’re making iced tea, instead of putting 2 tablespoons of tea in your tea ball or french press, put 3 or 4 (this more concentrated batch accounts for the ice in the tea).

When I went, I first asked for a tea that includes fennel (great for digestion – something else I’ve been learning a lot about lately). The girl showed me this one. It smelled awesome and I bought it.

I also got this one (it’s a phenomenal cleanser) and this one (just because it smelled amazing).

The other one I got includes the “Chinese herb of immortality”, and I’m excited to see how it works for me. That’s this one.

Another phenomenal tea is yerba mate. I have been in love with that since I lived in Buenos Aires. Both the looseleaf kind and the bottles that are riddled with sugar are extraordinary for focus, clarity, and energy. I recently learned that some of the popular energy drinks like Monster (I think that’s the one) include yerba mate.