Hello, spring is coming. Maybe not yet in Finland, spring in Finland usually starts in May. In Vietnam we calculate spring from January so now is spring time with me. Today I will share with you 5 healthy spring teas and some important notice about these teas. You can find these leaf and flowers in the forest or the dried tea bag in the supermarket but not blueberry flower. You can add these leaf tea in your healthy drink routines. You might know all the leaf already but I can list all the leaf in here if you miss something. Here we go!
Blueberry flower is a very exotic tea and I love a fresh and fruity smell of the flower. This tea is might be difficult to find in your home countries. Even in Finland, I have to go to the forest to find it. Don’t collect so much blueberry flowers and young leaves if you want blueberries in the autumn.
The first picture in this post is wild European bilberry flowers. And this is blueberry or highbush blueberry flowers.
Both of them are beautiful and look different. About the taste highbush blueberry flower has a stronger taste than bilberry. But, I like bilberry fruit more than highbush blueberry.
Blueberry flowers tea has a fresh taste, vitamin C, and some catechins ingredients. In the Europe, we have the bilberry or the European blueberries. Bilberry leaves contain active constituents including tannins, polyphenolic acids, flavonoids, arbutin, catechins, iridoids, and quercetin.
It is very easy to make blueberry flower tea. Clean young leave and flowers with water. Let’s it dries little bit then boil it with boiling water. Wait for 5-8 minutes then you have a very fresh, rich anthocyanin, and healthy exotic spring tea. The tea has a light taste of blueberries, very light sour and a super fresh taste.
2. Artichoke tea
Don't forget to make artichoke tea when you buy artichoke in this spring. What is artichoke tea? Artichoke tea is the artichoke water when you boil artichoke. Don’t throw away artichoke water when you cook the artichoke. Believe me, this water tastes very nice and healthy too.
When I buy artichoke I will discard the thorny leaves. I don’t throw them away but keep it in a fridge for 2 or 3 days. You can also dry the artichoke for tea later. Remember to dry the artichoke leaves before you dry it. Separate the leaves clean it with water and dry leave with clean cloth or paper. Dry the artichoke for 2-3 days in the room temperature. One time I had thrown all my dried artichoke tea because it got mold because I didn't clean it before drying it.
You can boil the thorny leaves with 3 cups of water with 12-15 leaves. Boil it for 10-15 minutes. This tea has a sweet taste of it own but you can add some honey if you like a sweeter taste.
Separate the leaves, stalk, and roots, and wash them. Add about 100 grams of this in 1 liter of water and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, put off the flame and let it stand for 10 minutes. Strain and store the light-green liquid in another container.
Springtime is a great time to collect dandelion for the tea. You should try this healthy, detox tea with a rich source of antioxidant properties. Many researches have proved the power of dandelion in anti inflammatory, obesity, and cancer.
Springtime is the best time to collect dandelion. Don’t forget to collect the dandelion root. Dandelion roots contain minerals, Phytosterols including sitosterol, stigmasterol, and taraxasterol. It’s quite difficult to collect the dandelion root if you don't have a tool. You should prepare a knife or something that can dig 5-10 centimeter (2-4 inches) into the ground.
Don’t collect dandelion in the roadsides or in a fertilized garden. Many studies show that dandelion absorbs heavy metal or in the agricultural land. Do not pick dandelion grown in recreational parks. Dandelion grows off the side of roads and backyards where people used herbicide, are not good too. Dandelion can absorb lead in high pollution area. In Finland, they recommend collecting the wild leaf 50 meters (164 feet) away from the road.
If you can’t find the fresh dandelion leaf you can also buy the organic dandelion tea in the supermarket. This healthy tea is a great tea to add in your healthy drinks routines.
The dandelion doses for adults are 4-10 g of the drug or as an infusion, three times daily 2-5 ml of tincture (1:5, ethanol 25% V/V), and 5-10 ml of juice from the fresh leaf, twice daily.
There is no restriction on the duration of dandelion’s usage. In the EMA report recommends limiting the duration of use to 2 weeks as the clinical safety studies are lacking.
Nettle leaf is yummy, and healthy leaf even it’s very dangerous plant in the forest or the field. Springtime is the best time to collect nettle leaf tea too. You should collect the nettle leaf before it has the flower. You can boil nettle leaf as a green leaf and use it as a tonic herbal tea.The nettle tea is tasty, fresh and healthy. You can add some lemon juice and honey in your nettle leaf tea. The lemon will enhance absorption of minerals.
You can boil the nettle in the saucepan or brew the nettle leave with boiling water for 7-10 minutes.
I use 50 grams of fresh nettle for one person in cooking and brew 2-4 gram of dried nettle leaf and root for 1 cups of tea.
You should ask your doctors for advice before using nettle leaf extract or other extracted products.
In Finland, it is not difficult to find nettle leaf. If I couldn’t find it in the forest I can buy the fresh leave from the supermarket. They sell the young nettle leaf like a salad or herbal leaf. You can check in your city supermarket if they have the fresh leaf. 100% sure the big supermarket has dried organic nettle tea.
This is the last leaf tea I review for you in the springtime. You can find raspberry leaf tea quite easy in your garden. Raspberry leaf contains a lot of vitamin C, E, A, B, manganese, magnesium, and many minerals like phosphorous and potassium. People use the raspberry leaf tea as a tonic water, flu and swine flu, heart problem, fever and vitamin deficiency and sore throat.
Cut 2 gram of raspberry fresh leaves it into small pieces and put them into the strainer. Boil water until fully boiling and pour the water into the cup. Put the lid on and wait for 8- 10 minutes then you can enjoy your tea with a light sweet taste and smell like raspberry. If you like sweet, you can put some sugar or honey as you like. I would prefer to drink this herb tea without sugar. If you need to enhance the berry smell, you can put some fresh raspberry in the tea.
I like raspberry leaf tea because it’s tasty, lots of healing benefits and can strengthen the immune system. But I recommend you find the advice from a doctor before using raspberry leaf tea or at least educate yourself before using it. If you are pregnant, remember to only use the red raspberry leaf tea under the direct supervision of a healthcare provider. I don’t recommend you use this herbal tea if you are under some health conditions.
Raspberry leaf is not good for women who have endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or cancers of the breast, ovaries, or uterus because it can change the estrogen hormone.
Men who have prostate cancer should also avoid using it.
Raspberry leaf may affect infants and is not recommended for women who are breastfeeding.
Diabetics should be careful as it might lower the blood sugar levels.
The red raspberry leaves could change the way the body absorbs medications. The tannin in raspberry leaf could interfere with the absorption of non-prescription drugs and vitamins. So take the red raspberry at least two hours before or after taking non-prescription drugs by mouth.
According to the drug.com, the safety and typical doses of raspberry leaf tea are 1.5 to 2.4 g/day. It’s mean 1 to 2 cup of raspberry leaf tea per day. It is important to only take the raspberry leaf doses as you recommended. In high doses, the raspberry leaf can reduce your blood sugar, and cause muscles in the uterus to contract or relax. Therefore, a miscarriage could occur when pregnant time. Raspberry leaf tea can work as a hormone estrogen so in some cases, it might harm your health.
Here are my 5 lovely flowers and leaf tea you can use in the springtime. All the tea are good for your health but you need to check it more carefully before using leaf tea or any kind of herb. I strongly recommend you to seek advice from your doctor before using red raspberry leaf tea or any kind of herbal tea. Keep in your mind that herbal and leaf tea is to be used only as a food supplement and must not be used to treat, mitigate or cure any symptom, illness or disease. I recommend you to check more information about these spring tea in my old posts. Let’s me know about you and favorite tea in this spring. See you soon.
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