Mum’s the word… and a warming one at that

My packet of chrysanthemum tea arrived Tuesday, just 10 days after I placed my order with teacuppa.com. It came all the way from Malaysia, replete with customs ticket and pretty bird stamps. The tiny pearl buds brew a fragrant, pleasant-tasting infusion, pale golden yellow in color, and very warming to drink.

Chrysanthemum tea, according to some tea websites, is indicated for arthritis, heartburn, and “internal heat.” Since drinking this tea in the evenings when I am most chilled, I haven’t noticed any let up in my arthritic symptoms, but I do experience a sense of heat, almost like a hot flash. When the flash subsides, I remain warm and the chill does not return.

This tea is not really tea,  but pure chrysanthemum buds, so it contains no caffeine. I find it a  pleasant change from chamomile; I  prefer its taste to the trusty ragweed, and it seems to be equally relaxing.

I prefer to brew my chrysanthemum tea for at least 3 to 5 minutes. Teacuppa.com recommends 2 to 4 minutes, but to my taste, this does not produce as nice a fragrance and flavor. You can rebrew the buds 4 to 6 times for good teaconomy, too. Just store them covered in the refrigerator if you won’t brew again within the day.

Merry Christmas, colleagues in homekeeping! May God bless and keep you with warm hearts and warm hearths.

In re: chrysanthemums

Heidi, Denise, my trusted herbaphiles… do you know what the healing properties of chrysanthemum tea are purported to be? I’ve read that it is a stimulant and a relaxant and good for “rheumatism.” I’ve ordered some because I’m tired of chamomile and wanted something I could drink in the evenings after my day of oolong rebrewings. I ordered it from an outfit called cuppa tea.com, but I have to reserve bestowing accolades on this site until my order arrives.

It was kind of a quaint experience, in a jet-setty way. I placed my order and received a confirmation saying that my chrysanthemum buds would arrive in 7-25 days. I wrote back, casually asking where they were located, or at least where my order was actually shipping from, as I wasn’t sure from what point of the planet I am 25 days away. Nice Lisa wrote back saying my order was coming directly from Asia, by normal air parcel. I wrote back saying that was amazing, because when I was in China in 1987, there was no such thing as normal air anything. Air travel was paranormal at best. Of course, my tea could be coming from Singapore or Hong Kong or really anywhere, or even from modern-day China.

I have been able to get chrysanthemum-black tea bags locally, but not pure chrysanthemum buds. It will be fun to brew them. The chrysanthemum-black tea I have is wonderfully sweet, and the sweetness is entirely from the chrysanthemums. I just wanted to know as much as possible from anyone’s personal experience about chrysanthemum tea.

Anyway, cheers.

of tea

During this tea drinking weather, I thought it good to belatedly inform everyone that Lauren has a delightful post on the subject here.

Also, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of my foam indygo bus taking the inhabitants on a safari tour of my wooden elephant and giraffe teaspoons.

And a reminder that the best price I have found on bulk teas is Davidson’s, when you sign up for the “subscribe and save” option (15 percent off the listed price *and* free shipping).

(Also, Denise has a post about tea here, with a link in the comments to where she gets her herbal teas.)

PS.  Perhaps Ruby or Jillian will be able to provide information for our more international faction about where teas can be obtained inexpensively in the underworld er, Australia :-).

More than a cup of tea

This is just a quick post to share with you my method of preparing herbal teas in a bulk form versus one cup at a time. I find this useful when my son is having allergy problems and I know he will need to be drinking his tea for a few days, or when I have multiple sick ones in the house. I begin by getting out the necessary dry herbs that I will be using, which will vary depending on the cause for use of the herbs. Next, I place the desired herbs into a mixing bowl or other large vessel making sure to use enough herbs to make a whole pitcher.

Then I boil my water using a full teapot. While the water is boiling, I get out the pitcher that will hold the herbs after they have steeped. I place a large strainer over the mouth of the pitcher to catch the herbs so that only the tea ends up in the pitcher. When the water is ready, pour contents of teapot into mixing bowl with the herb mixture in it. Let steep for the necessary amount of time and then pour contents of mixing bowl into the prepared pitcher.

Next, you would add some sweetening agent if desired. We usually add a little honey or stevia since sugar tends to slow down the immune system. Then whenever a cup is needed, simply pour into a cup and enjoy!

it helps to turn the teapot on

Just thought I would post that Helpful Tip for those who are boiling tea.  I found it of great service to me this afternoon, after wondering vaguely for a little while about what went wrong.

Bulk Herb Store

For those of you who like to use dried herbs to make your own teas or herbal health remedies, I thought I would pass along this resource I recently found.  It is called the Bulk Herb Store.  The prices for bulk dried herbs are the best I have seen.  I just placed an order today for some of the herbs that I have been needing to order.  I will let you know when they arrive how the quality is.  They don’t claim to be organic.  Just bulk herbs.

http://www.bulkherbstore.com/index

I also came across another company that sells herb blends in bulk for making a quicker herbal tea.  The company is called More Than Alive.  They have herbal teas ranging from Citrusmint Tea to The Immune Booster.  I have not tried any of their teas yet, but I have read great reviews and will likely try them in the future.  Their prices also seemed a lot more reasonable than your average health food store.

http://www.morethanalive.com/

The Citrusmint Tea looks like it would be a good blend for a suntea with the warmer weather around the corner!