The following is a guide that details some of my favourite herbal teas! I’ve outlined how these teas can bring you balance as well as act as a supplement for you when working to improve things such as hormone levels, stress, anxiety, fertility, immune system strength, and overall vitality. On top of their amazing benefits, tea drinking is an amazing way to bring ritual to your health journey, which is arguably one of the most important aspects of health that is often overlooked.
Without ritual, it is difficult to stay consistent with anything. Think about it: A cozy drink to warm your heart and get you sleepy before bed, or a warm drink to stimulate your body first thing in the morning makes all the difference! Ritual is key.
Roasted Dandelion Root Tea (caffeine free)
- Dandelion root tea can be savoured for its rich, nutty, earthy flavour, and as a result is great for those trying to ditch coffee. It acts as a diuretic, can relieve bloating, and aids in digestive health.
- Many people use this tea as a “liver tonic” – it can help increase the flow of bile. This detoxifying quality thus can help improve skin and eye health as well as other symptoms of liver disease.
- If your lawn is chemical/insecticide free, you can easily harvest your own dandelion root during the warmer months!
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (caffeine free)
- Most benefits of red raspberry leaf tea relate to pregnancy and overall women’s health.
- With Menstruation:
o It can help regulate the menstrual cycle as well as relieve cramping and nausea onset by menstruation.
- With Pregnancy:
o It is beneficial for womb health because it can strengthen the lining of the uterus. It also helps increase milk production and ease labour pain.
- With Overall Women’s Health and Fertility:
o It helps with adrenal fatigue and mood/hormone imbalance. It contains Phyto-progesterone properties that can improve your overall fertility, and as mentioned above, it can strengthen your uterine lining.
Matcha Tea (contains caffeine)
- Matcha tea is an energizing and antioxidant packed drink. Its properties help stimulate your metabolism, promote liver health, and help your body stabilize free radicals, preventing unnecessary cell damage.
- Matcha tea differs from regular green tea because the whole leaf is ground up to become a consumable powder. Consuming the whole leaf in comparison to steeped green tea leaves means that your Matcha has even more of a concentrated nutritional profile.
- Matcha contains caffeine but differs from coffee in that it contains the amino acid l-theanine, which helps your body absorb caffeine more slowly and in turns has a calming effect on the body. This tea is good for caffeine lovers who do not want the jitters and anxiety that coffee often can cause.
Valerian Root (caffeine free)
- Valerian root is a well-known nighttime tea. It is commonly used in natural sleep aid supplements. It is good for those dealing with conditions such as anxiety, insomnia, and other related symptoms. It is recommended to consume valerian root before bed as part of your evening wind-down routine.
Adaptogenic Teas
- Adaptogens are herbs/mushrooms that are believed to help the body adapt to various physical, chemical/environmental, and biological stressors. From a holistic perspective most illnesses come from various types of stress, therefore adaptogens can be prized tools on your health journey.
- To summarize, adaptogens bring your body to back to balance. They can calm you down when anxiety and stress is high through regulating your fight-or-flight hormone cortisol. They help fight inflammation. They can boost your immune system when it is comprised. They can help energize you if your energy stores are depleted through hormone imbalances, excess caffeine use, stress, etc. The list is long.
Mushroom Teas (caffeine free)
- An adaptogen
- Mushroom tea has become popular due to its impressive adaptogenic qualities. While all of them support your overall health and wellbeing, depending on your needs, there are many types of mushrooms to choose from.
- My favourite mushroom tea is a combined blend of reishi and chaga. Reishi is calming while chaga is energizing. Taken in the morning can give you energy to start your morning while also keeping your adrenals in check.
- Other types of mushroom teas can be lion’s mane, cordyceps, turkey tail, and many more.
- The earthy and bitter flavour of mushroom teas make them amazingly easy to incorporate into creamy, sweet, and/or coffee-based drinks. You can dress mushroom tea up with ingredients like cocoa, marshmallows, honey, maple syrup, egg yolk, heavy cream, maca root, cinnamon, coffee, etc., or enjoy it on its own!
Holy Basil (Tulsi Tea, caffeine free)
- An adaptogen
- Along with its general adaptogenic qualities (managing stress, fighting inflammation, etc.), it promotes good respiratory health and promotes a healthy immune system. Many people use tulsi tea as a supplement for chest coughs and fighting off colds.
- When fighting off colds, add a boost of vitality by adding fresh ginger, honey, and lemon to your tulsi tea. The honey works as an antibacterial, ginger helps open airways, and lemon helps cleanse the system.
Nettle Leaf Tea (caffeine free)
- An adaptogen
- Nettle Leaf Tea is made from the leaves of a “stinging nettle plant” and has been used as a nourishing tonic since ancient times. It can be thought of an all-purpose tea that supports the body’s overall processes due to its high vitamin and mineral content.
- It is high in vitamins a, c, and k, iron, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, boron, strontium, chlorophyl, beta-carotene, lutein, and natural polyphenols
- To name a few benefits, these compounds nourish the body, particularly the kidneys, liver, and the adrenals. It can help with muscle spasms, it can strengthen blood vessels, increase the amount of breast milk production, reduce oxidative stress, fight inflammation, aid in pain relief, help fight infection, decrease inflammation, and support a healthy stomach lining.