Tag: tisane

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Brew it like Tisané (Recipes)

Every morning I stand on my mom’s head for making her have tisané (brew recipes) and stop having her morning cup of milk tea for the caffeine kick. It is really bad and why I have mentioned in my previous post of Tisane Over Chai. I prefer these healing brew recipes anytime and I’m not a pro-coffee or Anti-Tea person (Just because its called mycoffeeweather you thought I’m a convert? No.) So I’ve been very unsuccessful and I’ll still keep trying to help her kick the habit to switch to herbal brew recipes.  Below are a few more brew recipes with herbs and spices (tisané):

Go-to-Bed Tisané

—Turmeric is a boon to mankind. If you asked your grandmother or even granddad, they’ll know at least one home remedy with this ingredient. Brew Recipe: Bring a glass of water to simmer and then add a pinch of turmeric and a smaller pinch of black pepper. Turn off the flame and add the smallest pinch cinnamon. Just pour it into a cup and grate the lemon peel over the cup. The zest is only on the upper yellow layer, so grate and keep checking you don’t want the white bit getting into your tea (it tastes bitter). A tiny bit is enough to get the smell. This brew will help in keeping your immune system on guard, especially in the flu season. Liver health will improve as turmeric in combination with pepper has its own list of benefits. Lemon zest is a bomb of Vit C and Cinnamon helps in moderation.

Garlic brew for the flu

So after doing everything if you still caught the flu, because of “sheer dumb luck” then you’ve got this cracker. I was repulsed by the idea of garlic and tea, and mildly surprised when it tasted like Chinese soup. It’s just quicker to make. I was inspired by The Herbal Academy for this brew recipe (Just tweaked it and made it caffeine free). Boil a glass and a little more of water. Add some smashed ginger (3-4 slices fresh) and one smashed clove of garlic. Let it boil for 10-15 min. Cover with lid. Strain the water, add a pinch of black pepper powder. Taste, if you need add some Honey/ Black strap molasses (vegan option). I had this tea and in less than twenty-four hours the cold and flu went AWOL, and thank gods for this website. 

The Cramps Reliever

I have died and come back to life a few months of my periods due to cramps. Hot bag and instant meds are a savior, but if I do anything natural it is this. I remember having this for cold too and helps with constipation and bloating. Bishops it is. Bishop’s weed or Carom seeds in English and Ajwain in hindi is the tip. Start sipping on this from day one of your chums, in between meals.  Recipe: Boil 1/2 table spoon of Ajwain in 1 and a half glass of water for 15-20 min. Remove from the stove, strain and add a pinch of Pink Himalayan salt/ Black salt. I make a lot together so I can keep reheating and having it 2-3 times. 

Fennel Shennel

I love fennel seeds at anytime and I don’t see why people don’t use it all the time in all their recipes. I’m going to share an amazing recipe soon with fennel seeds you’ll love it. For now- This ones a refresher. Brew Recipe- Half teaspoon of fennel seeds in a cup of boiling water. Strain or don’t. This is a lazy person’s go-to Tisane for sure. I do this when I have no time to do the whole process. This helps with digestion and bloating. If you want to be exta then go ahead and add some Dhanya (coriander seeds) and Jeera (cumin seeds).

Rosemary Brew

This is another tisane you can make when you’re lazy and just need a waking up. Its great for digestion and hair growth. Its my poison off-late. The cold weather makes it very complementing too. Just dry some rosemary leaves in the sun or in your oven. Powder it and store it in a jar. Use a teaspoon of leaves for one cup. Same process as fennel but this one I prefer straining. 

Curry leaf Brew Recipe

Curry leaf tea is a South Indian natural remedy used for centuries to treat many ailments such as constipation, morning sickness, diabetes, nausea, high blood pressure and diarrhea. Brew Recipe: Bring a glass of water to a boil and remove it from direct heat. Add 15 to 20 curry leaves to the glass of hot water. Allow the leaves to soak for a couple hours. Strain the brew to remove the curry leaves. Add honey and lemon to taste. Drink the tea on an empty stomach.

Hibiscus Cinnamon Clove

brew recipe for hibiscus, cinnamon and clove

This is a surprise combination. Trust me I never thought I’ll like the taste of this until I made it and got addicted to it. It helps in boosting immunity, promoting better skin, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, managing inflammation, and improving digestive issues. Hibiscus tea has diuretic and choleretic effects, thus controlling blood viscosity by reducing blood pressure and enhancing digestion. So go ahead and brew a cup full of goodness! Add 2 tablespoons of dried hibiscus flowers (buy at a store, online or just pluck from the garden ad dry it) to boiling water (2 cups). Add a clove crushed. After the colour changes as per your taste switch the flame off and strain, add a pinch of cinnamon powder and mix it. This can be a little sour to some. Give this recipe a brew! 

Lemon grass brew recipe from ‘Sharan india’

Ingredients: Mint leaves + Grated ginger + Crushed whole pepper + Lemon grass. Method: Boil water. Set aside and add the ingredients to be infused. Take enough of each to extract the right amount of flavour. The quantity of ingredients can vary according to taste. Cover and wait for five minutes. Strain and serve. This concoction can be made in a large quantity and preserved in the fridge for three or four days to have it handy when needed.

Some more links- if you want to be extra

How to Make Exotically Scented Jasmine Tea at Home

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/02/28/diy-herbal-tea-recipes_n_9324248.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/02/28/diy-herbal-tea-recipes_n_9324248.html

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Heal-arious as can be

When I was in school I fell on the field, in the corridor, on the paved ground, stoned areas, in the class and even tripped over nothing. The skirt and pinafore didn’t help with the knees either. My knees and elbows always had scratches and wounds. The school nurse even asked me once while applying tincture “Why did you fall again?” in her loud angry voice. They all healed though; every one of them. The scar would stay for a bit but eventually new skin cells replaced the old ones and now no one can tell I was a reckless child. 

Just like a wound every other part of our body, made up of living cells, are meant to heal. The body heals on its own and how?

I would love to share a few healing tips that I’ve incorporated in my life. Skip the ones you feel are ‘extra’ for you, but try them all. 

  1. Resting: This is most under-rated in the hustle hustle outlook of people today. Sadhguru on resting, “If your relaxation is not of good quality, your work will not be of good quality.” I had a back injury a while back and my physiotherapist recommended complete rest. It was 80 percent better within a day’s time. The best way to get off a cold and flu is ample amount of rest. Without popping a pill and just giving your body the rest it needs is what I see so many people sort to these days. 
  2. Fasting: Fasting is the resting of your digestive system. It is really like a system reboot in the body and it helps the in improving stomach health, healing other parts of the body and even keeps you alert. There’s intermittent fasting, Dry fasting, seasonal fasting and other types. Thanks to my mother I’ve been intermittent fasting all my life. I read about this concept only recently, and it works like magic. I recommend you go through what Luke Coutinho has to share about fasting, he explains it the best and he’s a certified nutritionist. 
  3. Breathing: Did you take a deep breath after reading that? I’ve caught my breathing taking casual pauses like its waiting for me to notice. I have heard a few people have cured hormonal imbalances by just following Yogic breathing techniques; Pranayama. I haven’t tried this in a disciplined way, but everytime I’ve done Anulom Vilom it has made me feel alert. Fresh air is essential to life and holding a good posture almost makes it natural to take deep breaths. Correcting posture can correct the breathing to be involuntarily smooth. To be a little extra: You could try the balloon technique in the following link: https://www.sonima.com/fitness/email-apnea/ .
  4. Meditating: I am more acquainted with this now, and written vastly about meditating in my previous articles. Meditating can heal your mind, body and emotional state magically. It takes discipline and consistency to reach there but its definitely something each human being was born to do. We have evolved to depend on different sources of energy outside; electricity, internet, wifi; but the real source of energy is life and when we meditate we focus on that. We are inbuilt with this “soul energy”, we just have to focus and tap into it. 
  5. Salt: Yes, Epsom salt baths is trendy if you haven’t tried it yet and the new thing is to buy Himalayan pink salt Lamps! I have been using hot salt potli’s to recover sore muscles and muscle cramps. (heat the salt in a pan, put it in a handkerchief and tie a knot so it doesn’t spill, ready!) This heals the fastest! “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”— Isak Dinesen. Learn about Salt healing from this article :http://www.asianage.com/health-fitness/healing-power-salt-101
  6. Copper: Copper bottles have been fashionable for a while now without the science behind it getting famous. Just like our other trends. Copper has anti-microbial properties and it helps in the absorption of iron. As per our Ancient Indian Ayurveda it is an element that helps in balancing our doshas. Again cautious use of this element can restore hormonal health and other imbalances can be corrected. 
  7. Tisané: Herbal teas were used as a medicine in so older civilizations. People thought it is witchcraft, but they were just our garden herbs. ‘Tisané over Chai‘ has a few herbal tea infusions you can read on the website. ‘More Tisané’ will be published very soon keep an eye out. Herbs are mother nature’s potpourri which we have at our disposal. 

TO BE Contd…

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Tisane over Chai

“Tea is anything that comes from the camellia sinensis plant, so if it’s herbal it’s called a tisane,” tea master and founder of Tea Masters Australia, Sharyn Johnston, told The Huffington Post Australia.

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Samosa and Chai in this beautiful rainy weather is a lethal combination taking you straight to heaven, but we cannot do this all the time because- health. So why is milk tea- “CHAI” unhealthy anyway?

  1. Flavonoids in tea, called catechins, are beneficial for the heart. A group of proteins in milk, called caseins, interact with the tea to reduce the concentration of catechins.
  2. The caffeine interferes with the iron absorption in the body.
  3. Disrupt your metabolic system due to imbalance of acidic and alkaline substances in the stomach.
  4. It is diuretic in nature which means that it removes the water from our body.Excessive dehydration will eventually cause muscle cramps.
  5. Tea can cause erosion of enamel because of the presence of sugar.
  6. Milk tea is calorically dense it doesn’t help the weight watchers.

Tea/tisane was initially used for medicinal purpose and not used to feel awake and alert all the time. Choose to have tea without milk/sugar. These are the teas that I’ve tried and loved. Its easy and you can have the ingredients in your kitchen garden and backyard.

  1. My No. 1 tea is Tulsi-ginger-honey! Considering the beautiful Bangalore weather and the allergies that come along, I swear by this. For 2 cups- Just boil 3 cups of drinking water, and add 15-20 green ‘tulsi’ (Indian Basil) leaves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger. Let it simmer and reduce to 2 cups. Strain, add honey and sip.
  1. Lemon grass tea: My mom introduced me to this. Just boil 2 cups of water and add Lemongrass (washed and chopped). Make sure you don’t mess with this grass its got blades invisible to the eye, I had an incident which I can tell you about another day. Its excellent for digestion, bloating and it is packed with antioxidants. Strain and sip. Okay I’ll just tell you, I rubbed the lemon grass behind my ear because it smelled so good I thought it will leave some of the perfume on me. Don’t do that. Cuts.
  1. Spearmint-Pudina-Tea: So I bought this spearmint green tea from Tea Monk a while back and I wanted to enhance the minty-ness of it, but not have it tasting like “pudinhara”. So boil 10-15 (freshly plucked only) Pudinaleaves in 2 cups of water. Let it cool to just warm to drink and then strain and use the Spearmint green tea bags from Tea Monk. This is to die for. You need to grow pudinain your kitchen, it’s the best thing you could do for yourself. If you’re going decaf, then avoid using the green tea and just go for pudina
  2. Basil Tea. This is the Thai basil, which grows easily in the Bangalore weather in my backyard. Just pluck 4-5 leaves wash, break it roughly with your hands. Boil 2 cups of water, take it off the stove and once it’s a little hotter than lukewarm add the leaves and cover for 10 min. You could leave it longer as per preference, I like it mild as these leaves are really strong. Strain and enjoy.

Floral teas:

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  1. Aralia/ Firangipani/ Temple tree flower tea: Boil 2 cups water, take it off the stove to cool to luke warm. Add washed flowers 5-6. And cover with lid. Strain in cups and don’t forget to smell between each sip, its like liquid perfume. I’ve sometimes added some basil leaves to make it taste fancier. Temple tree flowers attract the ants so shake it off and wash well before use.
  2. Rose-Fenel-Mint tea: This is a cracker! Recent and I took it out for a picnic! Boil 2 cups water, take it off the stove. You don’t have to cool this one. Add some fennel seeds, 10-12 plucked fresh pudina, and petals of 1 rose. Cover this for longer as the rose really needs to get in there. Strain and may be leave a few petals in the cup. Make sure the rose petals are not wilted and if its freshly plucked nothing like it. This is from FOREST ESSENTIALS tips! <3

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My next article is going to have more teas coming, till then try these and you could use the tips below!

Tips:

A) Use only lukewarm water for store bought tea leaves and tea bags as they can make more than 2 cups in one use, as with boiling water it becomes too strong and the essence is lost. B) Don’t use lemon in hot/warm/lukewarm water it has a capacity to erode your enamel and your dentist will hate you for it. C) You can always add cinnamon or honey in any herbal tea as per your taste and heath, as cinnamon regulates insulin and honey could have other side effects, add as per your bodily requirement. D) Don’t over-do just one type of tea. I keep changing it as per my mood and weather. E) Don’t use stems in any recipe as they give a bitter taste to the tisane.

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