Herbal Tea
The coincidental discovery of tea, led to allot of experimentation since its beginning. Nowadays herbal teas serve as a devotion to its ancestors and are used in many places and situations, even been incorporated into science. Herbs can be traced back to the beginning of Ayurveda science in India, and according to it, each herb possessed some healing properties and benefit the health immensely if done and used in the correct combination. Usually, herbal tea is made up of three categories of herbs, usually flavouring herbs to make the mixture pleasurable to the senses. Herbs that are essential for healing and complementing the healing process are used when mixed with important ones.
Entire trees and plants can be used when making and manufacturing tea, since all parts serve an important purpose. Hence herbal teas are usually made from seeds, bark, roots, leaves and flowers.
China had been using and specializing in the healing properties of herbs ever since their discovery and to this day continue to use them in traditional medicine. Some of the most popular Chinese herbal teas include Colego TuoCha, De-Tox Guava Tea, Jiaogulan Tea, Natural Relaxing Tea and Cherry Grain Balsam Pear Tea. Colego TuoCha is made of Toucha leaves that are grown in the rocky and misty Yun Nan Province in mainland China. This helps reduce high levels of cholesterol. Some fusions used in the tea are very tropical and quite new, such as the use of guava in herbal tea.
The most popular herbal teas in western countries are Chamomile Tea, Ginger Tea, Rosemary, Dandelion and Damiana.
There are three way in which to prepare herbal teas. The first method is infusion; by placing herbal tea into a cup or teapot, adding boiling water and allowing mixture to steep for allocated amount of time until infused with flavours. the second method is straining, also an easy process, by placing an appropriate amount of herbal tea and adding hot water over the top the tea is left to steed and is then ready to be enjoyed. The final method is decoction, it takes slightly longer than the other two methods and the cooking time depends on the types and quantity of plants being used.
If using your own herbs to make a tea blend, either fresh, powdered or dried herbs can be used. Even common herbs can be excellent as a base, such a sage, mint, rose-mary and thyme, from the cupboard. Add spices such as ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon and you have the perfect combination to a fantastic and healthy herbal tea.