Sit back, relax and enjoy a cup of herbal tea...
Tea ceremonies date back to feudal times, especially in Japan where they have a long association with marital arts and the Samurai.
Today, it can have relevance by providing a mindfulness and presence to give balance to the demands of a busy lifestyle.
Herbs too are experiencing a major resurgence for their gentle, subtle and balancing therapeutic benefits and in dealing with a range of health issues and conditions.
Creating a tea making ritual is easy.
For people who find that their busy day can rev up their mind, a night time sleep ritual can be the best remedy.
Or it might be a de-stressing ritual to start a weekend of relaxation. Or a meditative way to start the day.
Each step of a tea making ceremony has relevance and meaning and is designed to awaken the senses – the sounds of boiling water and then pouring into a teapot, the smell and aroma of the herbs, relaxing while the herbs steep, the taste and temperature when drinking and the enjoyment in the surroundings.
Make it a ritual, here's how...
Start by selecting the herbs that can assist relaxation and restfulness. Blends are a good option and for sleep, Herbal Teas Australia SLEEP is a combination of Skullcap, ( helps to calm the adrenals & revitalize the nervous system), Chamomile (helps relax tense muscles) and Lemon Balm & Passionflower ( both calm the nervous & digestive systems).
Or it may be a blend to start the day, like Herbal Teas Australia ALERT to help with focus and attention. This blend has the ancient herb Brahmi, that has been called “the brain regenerator”, combined with Ginkgo Biloba ( circulation & memory), Peppermint to refresh and energising Yerba Mate.
Or it might a blend to help cope with a stressful lifestyle.
In the Herbal Teas Australia STRESS HEAD, the blend contains Hawthorn leaf, (to balance blood pressure) Withania (also known as Ashwaganda to soothe the nervous system & adrenals and increase energy levels.), Siberian Ginseng is a pick me up that works well during extended times of stress and anxiety and Yarrow ( can relieve intestinal upsets & settle a stressed tummy. )
If it is to be uplifting and enhance your mood, Herbal Teas Australia SERENITY is a blend of Vervain (helps relieve stress & tension) Lemon Balm (helps clarify the mind), Calendula (calms digestive issues) Damiana ( a feel good herb renown for its anti-depressive properties).
These tea blends are loose leaf and Australian grown organic herbs, making them ideal for their full flavor & potency.
Allow yourself the time to contemplate the purpose and herbs you want for the ritual you are establishing.
Smell the aroma of the loose leaf teas you have chosen as you spoon the leaves into a teapot. If you use a glass infuser teapot, you can watch as the herbs infuse, the colors develop and, if the blend contains buds, watch as they gently unfurl.
The water, filtered or fresh, should be freshly boiled to ensure that both the taste and health-giving properties of the herbs are enhancing.
Pour the water over the herbs and watch and inhale as the essential oils are released.
Herbal teas made from leaves and flowers should stand/steep for 5 minutes. If the tea contains berries and roots, then atleast 10 minutes as the boiling water seeps into the harder parts of the herb, gradually penetrating the fibres and extracting the plant’s flavours and medicinal properties.
Ideally, you should drink herbal teas warm or at room temperature, not boiling hot. This is because the flavor of the herbs are enhanced at lower temperatures. In fact, boiling water literally scalds your insides.
Find a comfortable chair or couch, rest on cushions, take your time to drink it, savour the flavor, enjoy your solitude or the company you are with.
This is the moment to take “time out”, to have a ritual that is calming, meditative and therapeutic, to enjoy the mindfulness that is essentially a tea ceremony and give it your focus and attention.
Now that’s the way to enjoy a cup of herbal tea
