“I Don’t Drink Tea”
This is a phrase I regularly hear. Usually it’s accompanied by a, “but my [spouse/friend/parent/etc] does”. Sometimes it’s with an, “I drink coffee”.
I always brush past the comment, because it’s never meant in a disparaging way, but in my head I’m always thinking:
WHAT
WHY NOT
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN
and/or
YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE
You don’t have to choose coffee or tea. You can drink both! You can drink coffee and you can drink tea! Both tea with caffeine and herbal tea (technically a “tisane” or “herbal infusion” because tea tea only comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, but colloquially we call all of these drinks made from plants, “tea”!). You can even drink them in the same sitting!
I’m sipping a coffee right now as I’m writing this. And next to me is a small cup of hot tea from the Tea Table and a big jar of cold brewed tea.
(If you are one of the people who say “I don’t drink tea”, this little rant isn’t meant to insult you, everyone should do their own thing, but I hope you keep reading and get talked into drinking tea!)
I recently heard the term “functional beverage”. It means a drink that offers health benefits other than just hydration. That’s what tea is! Teas, especially herbal teas, are an easy and excellent way to work more herbs into our lives.
Tea is a functional beverage you can make right in your own home with just herbs/spices/teas and water. No fancy (and wasteful) packaging, sales gimmicks, or supporting big corporations required.
Having a cup of hot tea is an amazing way to add a relaxing ritual to a stressful day. This is why we love tea so much here at the shop. It’s such a great way to incorporate herbs into caring for ourselves, and it's far more beneficial to the spirit/whole body to drink herbal tea rather than take an over processed herbal “supplement”.
But even more than hot tea, I personally love cold tea (technically I like it at room temperature, but it’s easier to say “iced tea” or “cold tea”)!
Iced tea is so good, and it’s the OG functional beverage!
If you want to incorporate more herbal tea into your life but don’t want to keep brewing hot cup after hot cup, brew a 32oz jar overnight (cold brew or hot brew and then cool), strain it in the morning, and you have 32oz of herbal tea to drink throughout the day.
If you’re having trouble drinking more water, and you don’t want to use a million disposable packets of synthetic flavor/color/sweeteners, brew an herbal tea - it’s perfectly flavored water!
If you want to cut down on sugars from drinks, brew a fruity herbal tea (like hibiscus) - it’s like fruit punch, only better! Or brew a double strong infusion and add plain carbonated water - you now have herbal soda (or a mocktail) (or even add alcohol and make a cocktail with benefits)!
When I hear, "I don't drink tea", I really hear, "I don't drink liquids".
If you want to start (or continue) incorporating teas into your life, check out our blends here: Our Teas | Tisanes
Xo,
Lisa (your resident herbalist, tea maker, and tea obsessionist*)
*I thought I was making up a word, but it turns out it's a real word that means what I wanted it to mean!