For the past couple of weeks – seemingly forever – I’ve been sick with some sort of annoying viral thing that is probably a common cold. Aside from the general inconvenience of it all, one of the most aggravating aspects of it is the impact it has had on my tea drinking. I still have [...]
DAVIDsTEA’s Organic Orange Blossom is a blend that can serve as a nice alternative to pure leaf teas when an alternative is desired. I have a tendency to really enjoy the flavors of foods and drinks that are primarily citrus fruits, so I expected that I’d like this after reading its description, and I found [...]
While hot tea can be a great way to warm up on a winter day or even during a summer thunderstorm, it isn’t always the first choice for a summer beverage, especially in the hottest months of the year. There are some ways that you can take your love of tea into the summer without [...]
On a day that many people are thinking about roses, so am I, but in the form of a very pleasant tisane. Infusions of young Chinese rose buds (Mei Gui Hua 玫瑰花) are a traditional tea used in Chinese medicine. Every Chinese apothecary I’ve been in carries it, and so do many Chinese tea shops, [...]
I was not feeling particularly toxic, but I decided that it would be a good time to try the Organic Detox Infusion that Mighty Leaf sent us. This tisane is a blend of ingredients with known medicinal properties: peppermint, burdock root, dandelion root, spearmint, licorice root, red clover flowers, basil. There are good details on [...]
The exploration of tisanes, herbal teas and assorted infusions of not-tea inspired me to write about some interesting examples.
Greek Mountain Shepherd’s Tea (tsai tou vounou) is the leaves and bud of the Sideritis syriaca L. plant. It is a pleasant, meadowy flavored brew, purported to have en enormous range as a medicinal tonic, including prevention [...]
A recent conversation about the word “tisane” led me toward a considerable amount of reading about the word’s origins and meanings and the suitability of the word for contemporary use. My position in the original discussion was that “tisane” was a word that properly identified an infusion of anything other than the leaves of the [...]
In addition to their own specific form of the tea ceremony, the Koreans have a centuries-old tradition of drinking tisanes prepared with fruits, spices and leaves. One of these, which I discovered in a Korean grocery store, is sujeonggwa (수정과, 水正果), sometimes spelled “soojunggwa” and other ways. It is made from ginger, cinnamon, sugar, dried [...]
The Lotus is a very important symbol in India and of Buddhism. It refers to the complete purification of body, speech and mind, and the blossoming of wholesome deeds in liberation. The lotus refers to many aspects of the path, as it grows from the mud (samsara), up through muddy water it appears clean on [...]
A co-worker recently brought some Douglas Fir Tip Tea from Juniper Ridge, and I had forgotten that I stashed a bag in my desk drawer until I was rummaging around trying to find a good tea to take care of the latest chest cold that’s going around. It isn’t advertised as a remedy, [...]
