Tea is one of our favourite beverages. On a cold, blustery day, a hot cup of tea is warm and soothing, while in the throes of summer you can pour it over ice for a thirst-quenching refresher. There are many powerful healing herbs for tea that can transform it from a tasty beverage into a health-supportive drink, which is why we are sharing our favourite 20 Healing Herbs for Tea with you.

Peppermint

Why It’s Powerful: Helps to relax the muscles of the digestive tract and reduce spasms.

Recipe to Try: Detox Tea

A delicious and super beneficial detox tea that is essential during the monsoons and winters. Not only does it protect you from a host of viral infections, this detox tea also helps you boost immunity, soothe scratchy throat,relieves headaches and nausea and even clears out chest congestion.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups water
1/4 inch Ginger pounded or crushed
3-4 spearmint leaves (can use tulsi/holybasil if you don’t have mint)
3-4 whole black pepper
1 Lime
3 tbsp Honey I use organic wild flower honey
2 tsp black tea dust If using leaves, use about 3 tsp (or less depending on how strong you like it)
INSTRUCTIONS
Add the water to a saucepan and put it on heat. Add the crushed ginger, spearmint leaves, black pepper and let it come to a boil, simmer for 3 mins till fragrant. Add the tea dust and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let it steep for 5 mins. Strain, add sweetener (honey) and lime juice as per taste, serve immediately!

Chaga

Why It’s Powerful: The king of mushrooms, it’s a powerful immune-booster that has anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.

Reishi

Why It’s Powerful: The queen of mushrooms, soothes and calms the nervous system and has immune-modulating compounds.

Chamomile

Why It’s Powerful: Calming and great for digestion.

Recipe to Try: Secret Garden Relaxation Tea

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons chamomile
4 tablespoons lavender
2 tablespoons licorice
4 tablespoons lemon balm
2 tablespoons spearmint

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a jar and toss to combine.
To make tea/tisane, put 1 teaspoon of herb blend into a tea strainer for every 1 cup of water. Fit tea strainer into tea pot and pour boiling water over herbs. Allow to seep for 5 minutes. Serve with honey if desired.

Ginger

Why It’s Powerful: Anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting and great for nausea.

Recipe to Try: Get Well Ginger Root Tea

A warming and comforting ginger root tea to get you feeling better in no time!

INGREDIENTS
1.5 inches fresh ginger root sliced into thick chunks
1 tsp manuka honey UMF 15+ if you are sick, lower UMF if you are not
1 Large lemon juiced If small lemon use two lemons
6 cups filtered water

INSTRUCTIONS
Peel and slice ginger root into thick chunks
Add 6 cups of filtered water to your kettle (or pot)
Add sliced ginger root to kettle (or pot)
Bring to a boil
Reduce heat to the lowest setting (or warming zone if your stove has one)
Cover and let tea steep for 5-10 minutes (the longer it steeps, the stronger the ginger flavor will be)
Pour tea into mugs
Add 1 tsp of honey to each mug
Divide the lemon juice between the mugs
Serve
RECIPE NOTES
If you do not have honey on hand, this is delicious with just the ginger and lemon as well. I’ve included pics with the honey and without.

Turmeric

Why It’s Powerful: Strongly anti-inflammatory and rich in anti-cancer properties.

Recipe to Try: Simple Turmeric Tea

Ingredients
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of clove
pinch of nutmeg
tsp fresh ginger (optional)
pinch of fresh ground black pepper*
As much turmeric as you can handle! Start with a teaspoon and go up from there.
1-2 cups of water
Raw honey to sweeten
Milk sub of choice (I went with fresh coconut milk, but almond and hemp would both be delicious)
Make It Like So
Slow and steady stove top method
Simmer herbs and water together for 10 mins.
Strain out and add honey and milk.
Fast and furious blender method
Boil water in your kettle and add to blender (a blender with gradual speed increase will reduce likely hood of pressure from steam of boiled water exploding out of your blender).
Add in spices and blend until smooth and unified in colour.
Strain out tea and add milk and honey.

Passionflower

Why It’s Powerful: Promotes sleep and relaxation, lowers blood pressure.

Lemon Balm

Why It’s Powerful: Soothes the nerves, calms the mind and body.

Cinnamon

Why It’s Powerful: Great for balancing blood sugar. Cinnamon also offers a natural sweetness.

Recipe to Try: Yogi Tea

Ingredients
8 cups water
6 cinnamon sticks
2 Tbs cardamom seed
2 Tbs whole cloves
2 inches fresh ginger root (sliced)
almond milk as desired
Make It Like So
Put all spices into pot with water.
Simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and add honey and milk.
Serve hot or cold.

Fennel

Why It’s Powerful: Reduces digestive spasms and gas, eases symptoms of coughs and colds.

Recipe to Try: Cumin, Coriander + Fennel Tea

CCF tea is an ayurvedic tea made of cumin, coriander and fennel seeds that does wonders to heal your digestion system and help your body thrive!

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4-5 cups water
Cumin Coriander Fennel tea in a mug ZINGIJOURNAL www.zingijournal.com CCF Tea
INSTRUCTIONS
Stovetop Method
In a medium pot, combine the CCF seeds and room temperature water.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain the seeds out of the tea and enjoy this soothing, healing tea!
Brewing Method
This tea can also be brewed as you would brew normal tea. Just combine the CCF seeds and freshly boiled water in your teapot or french press and brew for 10 minutes. Strain and sip away!

Lemon

Why It’s Powerful: High in Vitamin C, stimulates digestion and detoxes the liver.

Maca

Why It’s Powerful: Helps relieve stress, boost energy levels, balance hormones and increase sex drive.

Ashwagandha

Why It’s Powerful: Relieves stress, calms the mind, boosts energy levels and reduces inflammation. Also supports thyroid health.

Licorice

Why It’s Powerful: A great digestive aid, and it’s anti-microbial and anti-bacterial.

Marshmallow

Why It’s Powerful: A mucilaginous herb that soothes the mucus membranes of the digestive system, respiratory tract and urinary tract.

Lemongrass

Why It’s Powerful: Reduces digestive discomfort and helps soothe pain, lowers cholesterol levels

Recipe to Try: Lemongrass Ginger Tea

Ingredients
1 stalk of Lemongrass
½ Lemon, sliced
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 inch knob of Ginger
2 cups of Water
1 Tbsp Honey
Instructions
Prepare lemongrass by slicing into smaller pieces so it will fit into the pot. Then slice down the middle to expose the inside.
Combine water, ginger, cinnamon, lemongrass and lemon in a small pot and bring to boil. Turn off, cover and let steep for 15 minutes.
Strain into a cup and stir in honey. Enjoy!

Lavender

Why It’s Powerful: Has a calming and sedative effect, helps to relax the muscles.

Recipe to Try: Lavender Chamomile Mint Tea

Ingredients
1/2 cup dried lavender flowers
1/2 cup dried chamomile
1/2 cup dried peppermint leaves
1/2 cup dried nettle leaves
1 generous pinch ground cayenne pepper
For each pitcher (optional)
juice of 2 whole lemons
1/4 cup honey dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
Instructions
For the tea:
Combine first 5 ingredients (lavender through cayenne pepper) in a large bowl. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
To make a pitcher of tea:
In a large kettle, boil 8 cups of water; remove from heat. Add 3 rounded tablespoons of tea to a tea ball and submerge in kettle. Allow to steep for at least 5 minutes. Use a spoon to press tea against the tea ball walls to extract extra flavor. Stir in lemon juice and honey mixture.
Allow to cool, transfer to pitcher and refrigerate.
Serve with or without ice. Enjoy!

Matcha

Why It’s Powerful: Rich in antioxidants, boosts energy levels, contains l-theanine – an amino acid that increases focus and concentration.

Jasmine

Why It’s Powerful: Reduces inflammation, promotes sleep and relaxation, anti-bacterial and anti-viral.

Echinacea

Why It’s Powerful: Stimulates the immune system and has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anticancer effects.