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Over the last year, I have been doing a lot of experimenting and research on herbs. I have found the teas are the best way for me to get my herbs into my body. I love herbal tea and drink a lot of it every day, so it makes it a lot easier when I can tailor my teas to my own needs and tastes. Here are four adaptogenic herbal tea blends that I drink regularly. I tend to get bored drinking the same thing every day, so I mix it up and alternate between these teas and some other varieties I have developed.

If you’re new to adaptogens and want to learn more, check out my posts on the subject. I am adding to these regularly as well. Here are some of the most popular posts:

Tea recipes are super flexible, and nothing is set in stone. Feel free to experiment to suit your own personal tastes. You may find that you like a little more of one thing and a little less of something else. My friend, who is also a certified clinical herbalist, said that you need roughly 1/2 cup of dried herbs per quart of water, so that gives you a good starting place if you decide to start creating your own tea blends. There are a few herbs that I often add to the teas I make and I consider them sort of “standard” herbs to help round out the tea. Some of those include:

  • Rosehips: I add these to everything! They are a superfruit, high in Vitamins A, C, D, E, flavonoids, lycopene, and iron, along with antioxidants. Rosehips have anti-inflammatory properties and may be used to support healthy joints.
  • Elderberries: Commonly used as a cold and flu remedy due to immune-boosting properties, elderberries give teas a wonderfully sweet and tart berry flavor. Very high in vitamin C and antioxidants.
  • Barberries: Typically used as a food in Middle Eastern cooking, but the reason I use them is for their super high vitamin C content and they add a little fruity flavor to teas.
  • Nettles: Very common addition to herbal tea blends. It high in minerals including iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium. Supports the urinary tract.
  • Lemon Balm: This herb has been shown to help support a healthy gastrointestinal tract, as well as memory and cognitive function. It has also been shown to help promote calmness.
  • Red Raspberry Leaf: A very pleasant tasting herb that is often used as a stabilizer in herbal tonics. Especially good for women in that it helps support a healthy reproductive system from toning the uterus, reducing PMS, and supporting a healthy pregnancy. High in vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, and iron.
  • Hibiscus: A very common “filler” herb for tea blends. Hibiscus adds a rich red color and mild flavor. High in antioxidants.

Basic Herbal Preparations

If you’re new to herbs and are feeling confused about all the different preparations for them, don’t be! Let me help you out with this Basic Herbal Preparations post. You can also watch the videos below to learn more about a couple herbal preparations and about my favorite source for organic, sustainably harvested herbs.

Delicious Obsessions Trusted Product Recommendations

I get a lot of questions asking where I get my rooibos and other herbal products. Due to the FDA and FTC laws regarding health claims, I can’t list a specific product or brand here. For a list of herbal products, please visit my Products I Love page.

For each of these teas, I go back and forth between decoctions and infusions. Decoctions are typically better when there are roots and berries, but it really does depend on how much time you have and what you feel like doing. I tend to get really distracted, so often, leaving something simmering on the stove for an extended period of time is not a good idea for me! 😉 Learn how to make infusions and decoctions here. Each batch will make a quart of very strong tea concentrate, that you can then add additional water to suit your tastes. I usually do half concentrate and half fresh water.

How to Brew Your Adaptogenic Teas (decoction)

  1. Heat 1 quart of filtered water to boiling and add the herbs.
  2. Let herbs simmer for 15-20 minutes and then turn off the heat. You can strain them at this time, or you can let them sit longer (up to a few hours). The longer they sit, the stronger tasting and more medicinal the tea will be.
  3. Strain off the herbs and store the finished tea in fridge. Compost your herbs if you can!
  4. This makes a really concentrated tea, so you can add some extra water before serving, depending on your tastes. Also tastes great with a splash of lemon or lime juice (lime is my favorite).

How to Brew Your Adaptogenic Teas (infusion)

  1. Place your herbs in a jar or pitcher (as long as they are heat tolerant). I typically use my large 1 quart Pyrex glass measuring cup so that I don’t risk cracking a jar or pitcher and wasting my herbs.
  2. Heat 1 quart of filtered water to boiling and pour over the herbs.
  3. Let herbs steep for 20-30 minutes. You can strain them at this time, or you can let them sit longer (up to a few hours). The longer they sit, the stronger tasting and more medicinal the tea will be.
  4. Strain off the herbs and store in the finished tea in fridge. Compost your herbs if you can!

4 DIY Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blends

Adaptogenic-Tea-Recipe-1-2Adaptogenic herbal tea with rosehips, elderberries, amla, nettles, hibiscus, and lemon balm

Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blend with Amla

Makes 1 quart

  • 2 tbsp. rosehips
  • 2 tbsp. amla
  • 1 tbsp. elderberries
  • 1 tbsp. nettles
  • 1 tbsp. hibiscus
  • 1 tbsp. lemon balm
  • 1 tbsp. dried stevia leaf (optional)

DIY Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blends | deliciousobsessions.com Adaptogenic herbal tea with schisandra, astragalus, barberries, amla, nettles, rosehips, and red raspberry leaf

 Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blend with Schisandra, Amla, and Astragalus

Makes 1 quart

  • 1 tbsp. Schisandra Berries
  • 1 tbsp. Amla
  • 1 tbsp. Barberries
  • 1 tbsp. Rosehips
  • 1 tbsp. Hibiscus
  • 1 tbsp. Red Raspberry Leaf
  • 1/2 tbsp. Nettles
  • 1 tsp. Astragalus (mine is powdered – if you have the whole root, add about 2-3x as much)
  • 1/2 tbsp. Dried Orange or Lemon Peel (optional)
  • 1 tbsp. dried stevia leaf (optional)

DIY Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blends | deliciousobsessions.comAdaptogenic herbal tea with eleuthero, elderberries, amla, shatavari, nettles, and ginger 

Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blend with Eleuthero, Shatavari, and Amla

Makes 1 quart

  • 2 tbsp. Elderberries
  • 1 tbsp. Eleuthero
  • 1 tbsp. Shatavari
  • 1 tbsp. Amla
  • 1 tbsp. Nettles
  • 1 tbsp. Ginger
  • 1/2 tbsp. Lemon peel (optional)
  • 1 tbsp. dried stevia leaf (optional)

DIY Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blends | deliciousobsessions.comAdaptogenic herbal tea with schisandra, elderberries, holy basil, nettles, and cinnamon

Adaptogenic Herbal Tea Blend With Schisandra and Holy Basil

Makes 1 quart

  • 2 tbsp. Schisandra berries
  • 2 tbsp. Holy Basil
  • 2 tbsp. Elderberries
  • 1 tbsp. Rosehips
  • 1 tbsp. Nettles
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 tbsp. dried stevia leaf (optional)

Further Reading

If you are looking for more info on adaptogenic herbs, I HIGHLY recommend this book, Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief. It is one of my all-time favorite herb books and probably the one I reference the most. Find it on Amazon here.

Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief | DeliciousObsessions.com

What is your favorite type of tea? Do you have a favorite adaptogen? Leave a comment below!

Supporting a The Adrenals, Thyroid, and Whole Body Through Herbs

When it comes to supporting overall wellness, herbs are a great tool to have in your toolkit, especially those who may be dealing with chronic illness of some type. Since 2009, when I started this site, I have met thousands upon thousands of people through my work and by far, the #1 health complaints are:

Because of this, I wanted to add in a section into this post about the benefit of using herbs with chronic illness.

If you are dealing with any type of chronic illness, I’m sorry to break it to you, but caffeine may not be your best friend. 🙁 While you can find lots of info online in both the pro- and the anti-coffee camps, the fact of the matter comes down to the fact that are a lot of people dealing with chronic illness, especially thyroid and adrenal problems, that simply cannot tolerate coffee and caffeine.

While those with sluggish adrenal glands tend to feel run down and in need of a regular pick-me-up (like coffee and other caffeinated beverages), in the long run, caffeine can do more harm than good while you are healing. I go into the “whys” around caffeine and your adrenals in this detailed post here. In addition to the caffeine, there are other constituents, molds, and mycotoxins that can show up in coffee that some people find they react to and can further exacerbate the toxic load on the body.

When I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease and adrenal fatigue, one of the first things that had to go was coffee. In addition to dealing with these issues, we suspected that I was having some detox pathway sluggishness so we wanted to also focus on supporting the liver and lymph systems. Most people who are dealing with chronic illness are also going to have issues with detoxification of the body, which is why herbs can play such an important role. 

To be honest, I never drank coffee because of the caffeine. I drank coffee for the taste and aroma, as well as the emotional experience I felt to my morning cup of joe. For me, it was a ritual that I looked forward to every day (and sometimes multiple times a day). Whether I was brewing it at home or going to my local coffee shops, the experience was one that I clung to tightly.

But, when I was faced with new health struggles, I knew I had to do whatever I could to support my body and give it the tools it needed to heal. Giving up coffee and caffeine was one step in this direction.

And it sucked.

I turned to the coffee substitutes on the market in a desperate attempt to recreate the ritual I had grown so fond of, but nothing ever tasted the way I wanted it to. Nothing ever gave me that same experience that my cup of “real” coffee did. I knew there had to be something better, but I simply could not find it on my health food store’s shelves.

Necessity is the mother of invention so that is why I created my own coffee substitutes. They were made with organic, sustainably harvested herbs with zero grains, zero gluten, and zero caffeine. Just herbs.

Herbs that not only tasted delicious but supported my body’s function, like liver detox, bile production, digestion, etc. All of the herbs used in my “coffee” blends have been used for thousands of years to support the body’s normal functions and help everything work a little better — something we all need in today’s toxic world! (psst, dandelion is one of the herbs!)

When it came to creating these blends, if I could get something to not only tasted amazing (and helped me recreate my dearly loved ritual), but also did amazingly supportive things for my body, then it’s a no brainer!

I sold these pre-made blends on Etsy for awhile and the demand was more than I could keep up with. People literally LOVED these blends and were stunned at how much like coffee they actually tasted. Customers who had been dealing with a variety of chronic illnesses had given up coffee to heal their bodies, but like me were deeply missing their morning cup of joe ritual.

After careful consideration and work with some highly experienced advisors, I decided to stop selling the pre-made blends and instead share my proprietary recipes in the form of an eBook. That way I could arm people with the knowledge and recipes they needed to make their own caffeine-free, gluten-free, grain-free blends in the comfort of their own home. 

That is why I created the best-selling DIY Herbal Coffees eBook: A Complete Guide To Making Delicious Herbal Coffees to Support Healing & Stress Relief.

Now in its second edition, this ebook features:

  • All of my proprietary herbal blend recipes to you can craft a homemade herbal cup of “coffee” at home.
  • A ton of researched information about coffee’s impact on the health of those dealing with issues like adrenal fatigue, blood sugar dysregulation, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, and any other chronic illness.
  • Information about all of the herbs used, why I selected them, how to source them, how to prepare and store you “coffees”, and much more.
  • Access to your own personal coffee shop where I show you how to recreate your favorite coffee shop drinks and pastries with wholesome, nourishing real food ingredients. No junk here. Only real food.

This book truly is a comprehensive guide to supporting your health, reducing your stress, and bringing a little something special back into your healing journey. You can learn more and download your own copy of this revolutionary wellness guide here, or simply click on the image below.

Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle 2015 // deliciousobsessions.com

 

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