Choosing Ingredients for a Tea Blend: Medicinal Benefits

Oct 4

When I’m developing tea blends, the very first thing I determine is the effect I’d like the tea to make on the person enjoying it. Here are some general categories of herbs and their medicinal benefits, based on the areas they aim to relieve:

Stress/Anxiety

Herbs that help relieve stress and anxiety are called “nervines.” Some well-known nervines include skullcap, milky oats, motherwort, lavender, and chamomile.

Digestion

Herbs that aid in digestion fall into a few categories. “Carminatives” relieve gas (fennel, ginger). “Antacids” help with acid reflux (fennel, dandelion leaf). “Stimulants” help move things along in your digestive system (angelica root, ginger).

Respiratory Health

If mucus is the issue, there are “expectorant” herbs that counteract the formation of mucus and help to expel it (mullein, wild cherry bark). If you have a particularly dry, irritating cough and/or sore throat, “demulcent” herbs (marshmallow root + leaf, slippery elm) protect damaged or inflamed tissues with the soothing benefits of their “mucilaginous” properties—an almost gel-like substance that’s best extracted via cold infusion.

Headaches

To relieve that pulsating pressure in your head, “antispasmodic” herbs (skullcap, raspberry leaves) help relieve that kind of muscle spasm, and any others in your body.