Tea Drinking For Mental Health?

Sounds like you are trying to describe a medication, not a tea. Outside of some uses in Traditional Chinese Medicine most teas are not truly medicinal. They are certainly not recommended by western doctors as medicine.

i have found that it helps me to feel happier but i have not experienced clinical depression that i know of so i can’t say to what degree it can help. you might want to give out samples to your local hospital’s doctors for patients willing to try and give feedback on them so you can have real life testimonies if not clinical studies to backup your theory :)

While it is a very personal thing to talk about, I’ve been fairly open in my tasting notes here on Steepster about dealing with clinical depression, and a particularly dark place I was in about two years ago. Had I not stumbled on tea in a more serious sense at that specific time (in combination with moving out of that atmosphere) I truly believe I might not be around now to write about this.

While I don’t necessarily believe in the natural/herbal remedy aspect of teas/tisanes and don’t think they can be some ‘magical’ cure for mental health issues (the same way they aren’t for physical health issues), I do think they can aid in overcoming those issues and I largely credit tea for saving my life and think that the act of drinking tea, and feeling the warmth of tea as you drink it is incredibly therapeutic. As I’m sure you probably know, given that you’ve made a business from it, there are several clinical studies linking tea consumption with overall decreased depression/anxiety and risk of depression/anxiety so I know the position you’re coming from is a little more than theoretical. I’ve definitely done research on the connection between the two.

On another note, the ‘exploration’ of tea culture and learning more about tea has also kept me preoccupied and given me a healthy focus that I do think has done wonders for my over all mental health and keeping me, if not in a happy place, than in a place that’s not so dreary and dark.

I have to be completely honest and say I am still somewhat skeptical of your approach, but I’d definitely be interested in hearing a little more about your idea since I understand the place you’re coming from.

EDIT: I also see you’ve rated one of your own blends a score of ‘100’. I think you should know that here on Steepster it’s completely not tolerated for companies to rate/score their own teas and that’s something specifically addressed in the forum guidelines.

I realize you probably didn’t know that though, so I’m just pointing it out before someone else calls you out on it in a less that positive/friendly way. It’s ok to write about/review your own teas – just not to numerically rate them. It’s viewed as very biased, and a possible way (as has been done before) of ‘gaming’ the Steepster rating system.

While I’m sure your heart is in the right place, having tea as the end all be all for what “ails” you isn’t a new fad but is becoming incredibly popular. And to be honest it scares me. As a new blogger, I’ve been networking and meeting other bloggers who are toting on their sites that tea can cure this and cure that without any other information backing them up. They are just reading the beauty articles that tea cures wrinkles and tea makes you burn fat and not reading the fine print. I swear they make tea sound like those elixirs of the past that will make you grow hair.

I can see where drinking tea can be therapeutic and if there is clinical data backing it up, please just make sure you are transparent as possible.

To me tea is therapeutic but it is also one of my biggest passions in life. I find comfort in holding a warm mug and drinking the soothing beverage.

Tea doesn’t help me, personally, but it’s a nice distraction.

Well tea does have theanine which gives its relaxing effect so there’s that. I don’t think tea alone will cure mental issues but perhaps it can aid overall mental wellness.

Like others here, tea for me is a soothing drink and helps me unwind after a long day. But I feel the ritual of making tea is just as therapeutic as the beverage itself. Setting the tea table, boiling water, watching the tea unfurl, closing your eyes to inhale the aroma, admiring the beauty of the tea leaves and the vessel they are brewed in, and sitting back and contemplating with a warm cup in hand is relaxing and tranquil.