How did you come to know and love tea?

I grew up with a mom who always created an herb garden wherever she has lived and helped me develop a taste for herbal brews early on starting with spearmint sun tea and catnip.I learned so much about tea in the town I lived for medical school – Portland, Oregon. They actually have tea shops and tea shops within Chinese gardens. My Chinese Medicine teachers always packed their traveling suitcases with tea and spices. The ah too true joke with them is that packaged teas that we drink in this country are the sweepings off the factory floors from their country. I choose bulk tea from high quality vendors and use a tea pot with strainer or french press.  I add hot water until the liquid is near to colorless. Any extra tea can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.

What is your favorite tea or tea blend for Winter?
My go to winter tea is chai or a spiced bone broth

Click to learn how to free the medicine in leaves, roots, barks and berries in this week’s Cultivating Wellness blog http://drsaritaelizabeth.com/brewing-teas-free-their-medi…/

Below is an easy Bone Broth preparation for you to enjoy.

Simple Slow Cooker Bone Broth

Crockpot, Pruning shears, Ladle, Skimmer, Mesh strainer, Freezer containers

Instructions

Fill crockpot ¾ of the way full with bones. Add dried spices/herbs. Add salt/seaweed. Add vinegar/lemon juice. Add just enough filtered water to cover the bones. Cook on low 18-72 hours

Add vegetables, skins/ends/stems at any time during the cooking process. Skim fat/gelatin and retain for later use. Fill containers with broth. Freeze for later use.

Soup = cooking liquid for gains, vegetable simmers, tea, gravy

Five Element Analysis

Soups, especially broths are Water Element nourishment. Each type bone directs the energy to more specific Elements

Pork, Deer, Turkey or Duck to Water to nourish the Kidney, Bladder & Adrenals

Chicken to Wood to nourish Liver & Gallbladder

Beef to Earth (and Water) to nourish Stomach, Spleen & Pancreas as well as Kidney, Bladder & Adrenals

The soup cleanse is developed with simplicity in mind.  However, onion and garlic base may not be the best fit for everyone or we might tire of the same flavor or feel creative. A percent of people are sulfur intolerant; in these cases, I suggest a simple vegetable stock or herbal tea.  

My favorite long game way to create vegetable stock is to consistently contribute all the trimmings from my organic vegetable meal prep into a collective freeze.  I save all the heads, tails, skins, peels, cores from vegetables and fruits that cross my cutting board and add them bit by bit to a collective in the freezer.  When needed, I simply add the fresh and frozen scraps with chosen whole spices to very clean water and simmer on medium-low with lid on for 10-15 minutes once the stock has come to a gentle boil.  

A short game to create a quick soup base is brewing or warming herbal tea.  My winter favorite quick tea bases are ginger, chai and green tea.  Over the years, my tea ritual has evolved to almost exclusively bulk teas.  The quality of the herbs are superior and the cost overall less when we re-brew the leaves.  As long as there is color in the second or third or fourth ‘washing’ of the leaves, there are powerful antioxidants and phytonutrients.  The additional benefit is that it naturally decaffeinates the teas by water processing.

Herbal teas deliver botanical medicine.  

Vervain Collective Tranquilium Tea by Oracle

To free the medicine, we choose the best preparation method, temperature, and timing.  Boil or steep the herbs multiple times until there is little color left.  Combine all brews into one large container and drink room temperature or cool from the refrigerator throughout the day or over the next few days. For more information about tea preparation visit our previous post Brewing Teas: free their medicine.