Herbal Green Tea Chai

Using herbal green tea chai may provide nutritional and health benefits in addition to being a tasty, slightly spicy beverage that is easily made at home using no artificial ingredients. This recipe uses many spices that you probably have on hand and a few that can easily be purchased online, at your local health food or organic grocery store.

Ingredients

Each of the ingredients in this herbal green tea chai have medicinal and nutritional benefits including boosting metabolism, balancing blood sugar levels, lowering cholesterol, antioxidant support and improving digestion. Many of the herbs used in this chai recipe also contain fiber which is essential to good bowel function and help the body clean out toxin and evacuate undigested food which improves how the body takes in nutrients.

Herbs

Creating an herbal tea at home to enjoy daily is easy requiring only a few items including measuring spoons, measuring cup, bowl, occasionally a blender or coffee grinder to help break up whole herbs and an herb grater.

Herbal Green Tea Chai Ingredient Information

• Green tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinesis and helps boost the body's metabolism encouraging weight loss naturally.


• Green tea contains antioxidants known as polyphenols that are better at burning off excess fat


• Ginger calms the stomach, inhibits cancer cell growth, calms stomachs and is safe to use as an alternative treatment for morning sickness and is very soothing when dealing with the common cold or flu.


• Ginger is high in Vitamin B6 and will help reduce the effects of heartburn an studies indicate that it may help to relieve diabetic neuropathy.


• Clove calms the stomach while increasing blood flow helping to remove toxins and increase metabolism and helps to balance blood sugar levels and boost the immune system.


• Licorice root provides flavor and is a natural anti-depressant plus the antifungal, antiviral properties provide immune support, provide relief from the common cold and flu, reduced stomach acids, helps the body fight the affects of stress.


• Cardamom helps to reduce flatulence and provides digestion support, can help support digestive systems that are allergic to gluten and has a warming affect when taken internally.


• Cinnamon can lower cholesterol when taken daily, balances blood sugar and inhibits yeast from growing making it a valuable herb for preventing yeast infections plus cinnamon inhibits certain types of cancer cells.


• Cinnamon has been proven to fight E-coli infections and boosts brain function and memory and contains calcium, fiber, iron and manganese.


• Ginseng is beneficial to people with diabetes, can combat the signs of aging, improve circulatory function, increase mental alertness and helping to improve physical endurance.


• Peppercorns cause the body to secrete hydrochloric acids which are necessary for proper digestion, reduces flatulence, balance gut bacteria thereby limiting or stopping digestion related diarrhea, and encourages the body to sweat which can help burn fat.


• Fo-ti is a Chinese herb often used in tonics to help clean toxins from the blood, increase energy, strengthen brain function including memory and lower cholesterol levels.


• Nutmeg helps to lower blood pressure, reduce stomach cramps, stop diarrhea, reduce liver toxins and help dissolve painful kidney stones.

Creating Herbal Tea

Making an herbal green tea chai to have on hand is easy and requires some time plus an airtight opaque preferably dark container to store the prepared tea in. Dried ingredients can be substituted for fresh if you want to make a large batch of tea to be brewed daily while larger amounts of tea can be brewed and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.

Ingredients

1. 5 tablespoons - green tea leaves
2. 3 tablespoons - dried ginger or 5 slices of freshly grated ginger
3. 2 teaspoons - crushed cardamom seeds
4. 1 stick - crushed cinnamon
5. 2 whole - crushed cloves
6. 5 crushed - peppercorns
7. 2 tablespoons - dried ginseng or 1 tablespoon of sliced fresh root
8. 2.5 teaspoons - dried licorice root or 1 tablespoon sliced root
9. 1 tablespoon - dried, processed fo-ti

Combine all the dried ingredients together making sure that they are mixed well by lifting a spoonful out of the bowl and looking to see that it contains some of all the ingredients. If you choose to add fresh herbs to the dried herbal green tea chai mixture use approximately 1/5th fresh ingredient quantity per cup.

When brewing herbal green tea chai in a large quantity bring five cups of water to a boil, remove pot from the stove and add the herbs and cover allowing the herbs to steep for 15 minutes, strain and enjoy or bottle and store in the refrigerator until needed. This chai can be sweetened using honey or stevia and sprinkled with ground nutmeg or cinnamon to taste.

Herbal green tea chai can be a wonderful addition to a healthy diet providing herbal support, dietary fiber, immune boosting and infection fighting substances that are all natural.

Mountain Rose Herbs offers a wonderful Green Tea Sampler which includes Organic Ceylon, Organic Green Sencha and Organic Red Rooibos. YUM!

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