I was realizing what vast array of herbal teas there are. With the exception of aya, what herbal teas do you drink and why do you drink them?

Personally I drink a tea made from the chinese herb Jioa Gulan. Every time I think I might be getting sick, I take 3 packets, pour it into a pot with 50oz of water, boil it down to 20oz, strain and drink. The first sip has a bite to it but after that its pretty good. It has kept me from getting sick for the past 5 years.

I also use jiao gulan as my herb to melt spice onto.

I drink ginger tea, and sage tea pretty regularly.

Ginger has a good anti inflammatory effect, while I use sage when I feel I am getting sick. Sage tea is also very good for the throat.

Camomile tea is something I drink often as well before bed, to get a good night's rest.

I have never heard of that chinese herb you speak about. Must look into it.
Is it readily available?

I love me some lemon balm very soothing and healing, tasty too!

Chamomile with a hit of lavender is just divine, very calming and centering.

Oat straw may be my favorite herbal tea of all, I don't even know how to describe the effect "zen in a cup" doesn't nearly do it justice. Kinda tastes like hay though.

I'm a huge fan of the African Honeybush, particularly when mixed with Rooibos.

Benzo's can take a hike, a solid dose of valarian root puts any one of them to shame, that's some real deal sleepy-time medicine right there. It's not very tasty though, to put it mildly

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, I'll pipe in with more as I ponder it a bit.

Valerian definitely tastes like vomit, but it does the trick. I often enjoy a mint lemon balm tea as I pick and dry both from the garden, they taste great and are midly relaxing. Ginger and pepermint hen the tummy rumbles, ginger holy basil and turmeric when my hands hurt. Sometimes I use my kratom in a tea form but most often than not its in capsule. And of course hibiscus cause it tastes like botanical heaven.kava kava sometimes too, but im not sure that would be considered a tea

cats claw, white tea, echinacea, pau d'arco, nettles, dandelion, milk thistle, passiflora incarnata, chamomile, many others...also some mushroom teas


jioa gulan sounds interesting, thanks for the tip!

mint green tea, just because it's tasty and refreshing

Verveine with honey. Relaxing.

Lemon and ginger tea with some extra ground ginger and a few drops of lemon essential oil added for when I have a headache. It seems to ease the symptoms so I don't have to resort to using ibuprofen or codeine and paracetamol.

Sweet gale-for it's lucid dreaming expansion abilities

Chai(just spices)-because it's mmmmm

Vanilla rooibos-it calms and warms me

Green tea-I just like it

I see alot of ginger, chammomile, and lemon.

One time I bought a bottle of valerian root to use the capsules, I just remember it smelling like dog food.

http://en.m.wikipedia.or.../Gynostemma_pentaphyllum
That's the wiki for Jiao Gulan. Its supposed to improve longevity, but its main effect is adaptogenic. Its supposedly the strongest adaptogen known to man. It inhibits cancerous cell growth and is also said to increase radiation immunity(forgot what that's called). Its a miracle plant.

What is rooibos?

A few months back I switched from coffee to green tea, so I have a few cups of that each morning.

I drink Celestial Seasons sleepytime in the evenings some nights, it's mostly chamomile and mint, I think.

I also some times drink chamomile, california poppy, catnip and mint in various combinations that I mix up as a sleep aid. For me the cali-poppy seems to be quite effective. Sometimes I will use kava kava instead, but not really as a tea, more of a slurry of powder mixed in water that I shoot down.

Various mint teas also at times, especially in the summer.

On occasion I will drink black tea. I especially like Lapsang Souchong and other brews with a smoky flavor.

This, cuz it looks pretty, and I like green tea in general for the flavor and antioxidant/health benefits. Comes in variety of flavors as well, good stuff IMHO

I remember it smelling like used dog food

I like jiaogulan too, mostly the 'sweet' kind. Theres two kinds, bitter and non-bitter ('sweet' )

Other than a cuppa coffee in the morning I drink nothing but tea or home grown herbal tea, all beverages unsweetened. Tho if I'm doing a ceremony of a sort that I subdue sense perceptions for I only drink water after the cuppa.
My daily tea is usually a combination of two, a base and a odor/flavor component.
Favored base components are:
Lemon balm (most often)
Green Tea
Jiaogulan
Black currant leaves
even Grape leaves
Favored top notes are things like:
Thyme
Oregano
Sage
Lavender flowers
Rosemary
...I harvested a bunch of self-heal flower spikes for medicine this year, if not used as medicine it'll make a good base note, I've found that Salvia miltiorrhiza leaf is rather variable in flavor and odor quality but can be useful as a tea and has half of the medicinal properties of the root. I've started growing dwarf coffee bushes so the coffee leaves might eventually largely replace store bought green tea.
For tea preparation I use an espresso machine, its very effective, I can put in just a small bit of herbs in the morning and blast it several times throughout the day getting six or eight cups.

As for the why, Its my considered opinion that soda and colorful drinks are horrible for the health and sweetened drinks of all types are not good for it either. For many people (myself included) that also applies to stevia as drinking of lots of sweet stuff promotes the habituation of consuming too much other sweet stuff, and it dulls the senses.
A variety of unsweetened herb teas delivers a continuous stream of varied forms of antioxidants, phytochemicals, and minerals without hurting the teeth, or blood, or bones.

I drink a lot of white tea, usually a few times a day. Lovely subtle taste and supposedly healthier than green tea with less caffeine/fluoride and more healthy polyphenols.

I also sometimes have tea made with powdered Chaga mushroom. It's very nutritionally dense, and great for the immune system. It's also supposed to help cleanse/activate the pineal gland since it contains Melanin. Whether or not it really helps with that, I'm not 100% sure, but can't hurt. Lovely drink regardless

fluoride? in green tea?
green tea supposedly has a higher concentration of polyphenols than white tea, black tea has the highest.

I've read a number of sources regarding Camellia sinensis' absorption of fluoride from the soil it grows in. Since white tea is picked younger than green tea, it's had less time to absorb. Organic teas will have significantly less fluoride since less pesticides are used as well.

Regarding the polyphenols, I've learned that as the teas are cured for flavour (black tea being the most cured) the dried leaves lose their antioxidant count. With white tea being the youngest and least processed of the c. sinensis teas, they maintain more of their natural antioxidants. But I believe green tea has more theanine than white or black, which is good for brain function.
I find it nice to switch between green and white periodically.

Really just comes down to which you enjoy the taste of the most, each have their perks

Tea doesnt get fluoride from pesticides, it has an active energy dependent 'digestion' system to mine fluoride from minerals like feldspar and transport it into the plant.
It must use the stuff in enzymes or something.

Auxin, I did not know there was a sweet and nonsweet jiaogulan. I always just get this. Its pretty bitter so I assume its that one. I don't really like sweetened things because I feel like naturally sweetened things are less nutritious/healthy than their bitter counter parts. Essentially feeling that if it isn't bitter, it ain't working. Lol. But regardless, its kept me in perfect health since I started drinking it.

I have considered trying some night time teas. I once tried a chamomile and lavender tea and it was absolutely disgusting, but I think this was before my taste buds changed. Anyone else have there taste buds change at ~21? Lol

I used to drink green tea sweetened with honey every day cuz I worked at a subway that sold it. It was pretty good.

I either put my herbs in the coffe maker, as I would coffee, or i f I feel like being extremely efficent I do repeated boils with fresh water and reduce them down as you would an A/B tek until there's no more coloration. When I do this I like to mix in some other things, maybe a dash of oregano or sage, nothing more than a pinch, or maybe a table spoon of coffee bean grounds to give it some oomph.

Broken, what is that?

Ah I stand corrected, thanks for sharing


I remember the first time I tried green tea when I was young, I was shocked that people drank it for it's taste as I thought I was pretty horrible. Now I really enjoy it.

chamomile 4 relaxation, digestion,sleep

mapacho tea up the nose is lovely n helps clear my sinus problems,

guayusa tea very energetic yet calming at the same time,helps with dreams, and yummmy