As part of my efforts to ditch my afternoon coffee, I’ve switched to iced teas. I actually have been loving the iced teas, because of how much more refreshing they are than iced coffee. Not sure how refreshing it’d be in a snowy-winter, though. But, now that I live in Hawaii instead of Utah I really don’t have to worry about that 🙂
Soo… to get into the habit of making iced tea while still getting a good dose of caffeine, I’ve been making either green tea or yerba mate iced tea in gallon pitchers and leave it in the fridge.Â
A couple days ago, I decided to go a bit further. I made an herbal iced tea with medicinal herbs I have on hand. I still put a bit of yerba mate in it though, for the caffeine boost. Not quite down for caffeine-free. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
NOTE: There are many herbs that are caffeine-free that do give you an energy boost. However, for the sake of not spending more money, I just used the ones I have on hand… trying to keep it simple.
I made a big batch of the herb mix so that I can take from only one container every time. Like I’ve mentioned before… I can get lazy.Â
Here’s my Medicinal Iced Tea Recipe:
5 parts – Red Raspberry Leaf
4 parts – Stinging Nettle
3 parts – Yerba Mate
3 parts – Oat Straw
2 parts – Horsetail (aka Shavegrass)
I called it “Strength Tea” because the Oat Straw and Horsetail are used for building healthy bones through herbal calcium and silica minerals. The Nettles and Red Raspberry Leaf are both tonics which means they “stimulate nutrition and permanently increase systemal tone, energy, vigor, and strength.” (Christopher, School of Natural Healing). The Yerba Mate is a more alkaline alternative for a bit of caffeine.
So far so good!
References:
Christopher, John R. School of Natural Healing. Springville, UT: Christopher Publications, 1976. Print.
Basic Home Medicine 