Friday, April 25, 2008

Organic herb tea, chinese herb tea - may the force be with you

I got myself some organic Chinese herb tea the other day, in an organic shop. They are just the exact herbs-ingredients I wanted, to mix with some leftover sliced American ginseng bits. How about sipping the tea, nibbling the mini almond cookies while playing chess ?

Love these tea bags... they were not made of paper or some kind of pulp material. It's almost like a silky satin tea bag

In these little tea bags were radix astragali - 黃耆 (huang qi); gojiberry (also known as fructus lycii or wolfberry 枸杞子) and jujubes(red dates 紅棗).

Radix Astragali - Benefits those with deficiency of qi. For qi is a kind of "force" and energy, it is said that Radix Astragali helps to reduce weakness and fatigue. For this instance, I felt like saying..."May the force be with you" :D

Gojiberry has been touted as a superfood, super antioxidant. Chinese believe that gojiberry helps improve vision, and replenish vital essence in the overall body system. It is one of those milder herbs that can be incorporated into cooking such as in rice porridge , vegetables and even steamed herbal chicken, to impart a hint of natural sweet flavor to your recipes and cooking.

Jujube (Red Date) - known to nourish blood and invigorate the spleen and stomach. Also reduces fatigue, hypertension, physical exhaustion and malnutrition. Since recent nutrition analysis showed that red date is rich in Vitamin C, it has been known for improving general health.

In general, when you put these three herbs together, the common benefit is to treat the deficiency of qi (or energy) - 补气. From some TCM sources, it is also said that if combined with American ginseng, the combined mixture has anti-cancer properties. As for the scientific facts of this, I leave to your discretion.



Meanwhile, slow down and relax...this mildly sweet and refreshing herb tea should be sipped slowly and it will calm you nicely. Now...how about sipping tea, enjoying cookies and checking out Weekend Herb Blogging - this week we are with Margot of Coffee and Vanilla.

Yay, weekend's here :)

For the other "tea" I was writing about a while ago, check it out here.

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20 comments:

team bsg said...

with so much qi in you would be really good to just be near to absorb some overflowing heightened sense of super well being , and also that tiger glow

noobcook said...

After I posted about rose buds and mentioned about wanting to make tea, I saw this post! I think we are starting to develop some telepathy, lol. The tea I bought from Muji also comes in the little cute 'lacy' tea bags like yours, they are so beautiful. I like the tea you made, I think I have all the ingredients so I'll try making it ;)

diva@theSugarBar said...

love tea...cna't live without it. hoping to source some Dragon Phoenix pearl tea soon..and about to write a massive post on matcha. ;) thanks for sharing on this one.

also, those new pulp-made tea bags are amazing aren't they? apparently they're not too bad for the environment. but i still feel they're too pretty to throw away after a brew. x

Little Corner of Mine said...

I love those tea bags, so unique! First time seeing it too and are those reuseable?

beachlover said...

My mom gave me plenty of chinese herbs to bring back here..but mine bag is just a regular plastic bag not as cute and stylish as yours:(

eastcoastlife said...

The Taiwanese are so creative and enterprising. I love shopping in Taiwan. Counting down to my trip! Yeah!

noble pig said...

I love new and exotic teas. Thanks for sharing.

kitty said...

Can you share which organic tea shop you purchased those from? I'm interested in trying some!

Kevin said...

That tea sounds really interesting and sounds good!

Cynthia said...

I would love to put my hands on some of this tea.

Jessy and her dog Winnie said...

Those tea bags are super cute!

Tink *~*~* said...

Love visiting your blog - such interesting culinary items found here.

Thanks for visiting my place this week.

Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.blogspot.com

The Expedited Writer said...

you're my herb master, what can I say? hehehe :D

Coffee & Vanilla said...

I love this post, very informative, thank you for your entry for WHB!
Margot

Dwiana P said...

The tea bag looks so charming!! you know sometime during photo shot I have to think harder about food stylish. Many times I am stuck with ideas. Looking at this cute tea bag just giving me something to try maybe little bit different way. Thank you for sharing though:)

Big Boys Oven said...

oh this so so awesome, if you are coming over don't mind to bring some!

Kate / Kajal said...

i'm all for herbal teas. love goji berry, they are so easily available in hK streets. Very good for your health too.

Kalyn said...

Love the tea bags. What a fun and informative post. I've been wanting to try Goji berry; I keep reading about it.

tigerfish said...

Too bad the tea bags are not re-usable. They are pretty, aren't they ?

kitty, I got it from Li-Ren Organic Shop in Taiwan. Where are you located?

Wilfrid said...

I love to drink herbal tea.

I actually love tea of any kind.

My favorite is green tea.

I'm boring eh?