New to tea and need help!
Hello! I’m pretty new to the world of tea and have never had much of a taste for it. Lately I’ve been having bad stomach pains and am having gallbladder surgery soon. I cut out all caffinated and overly sugary drinks, but since that pretty much left me with boring water, I decided to give tea another try because of its health benefits. I started with two tisanes that I was able to try first – chamomile and berry hibiscus – both of which I like, but am stumped when it comes to buying online or in a store.
What are some good decaf teas to drink when it comes to digestive problems and healing from surgery? I like fruit flavors and dessert-y types, but am not a fan of overly vegetal or bitter/dry tastes. Although I’m willing to try anything as long as I can get a sample of it.
I also have problems with asthma, allergies, anxiety, depression and upper respiratory infections, and am getting to the point where I don’t like taking tons of pills for everything.
Thank you in advance!
You might want to give Yogi brand Ginger or Lemon Ginger tea a try. Easy to find in grocery or health food stores. Good for both digestion and upset stomach issues. Great to have any time, but especially good before or with a meal. Ginger can be very strong or pungent, but these teas are not straight dried ginger root. You can also let steep for a shorter amount of time to make a weaker brew as you adjust to the taste.
Honey is great to add to ginger teas. I strongly recommend a raw honey for its own healing properties. If you use honey, never pour boiling water directly on it. It’s best to add after the tea has brewed and cooled down a bit. Too hot water can destroy the beneficial enzymes of raw honey.
Safflower is supposed to be really good for overall immunity and particularly for anxiety and respiratory problems. Whisperingpinestea.com sells a safflower tea with elderberry (also excellent for overall immunity).
I love mint tea and often add mint leaves to many of my other teas. It is awesome for digestion and upset stomach.
Post surgery, though, you should check with your doc first, to make sure there aren’t bad side effects. (safflower thins the blood some, so not good for wound healing).
TeaTee – Lemon Ginger sounds really good and is definitely going on my list. I love honey and have been putting it in the tisanes, but didn’t know that about the hot water.
Shelley – I’ll look into safflower and mint, too. I think I’ll be sticking with decaf Lipton and honey for a bit afterwards, but will ask just in case.
Thanks to both of you! :-)
Another thought… Seems like you’re already doing fine with the chamomile, but since you mentioned you have allergies I thought I would add that if you have any allergies to asters or any type of flowers from the Composite Family (dandelion, sunflower, yarrow, calendula, etc) you should not drink chamomile tea as it could be aggravating to your allergies and respiratory system.
Ya know, the one time I drank a full cup of the chamomile, I got horribly bloated and had stomach pain. I do have allergies to pollen and lots of outdoorsy things, but I figured this reaction had more to do with my digestion issues. I’m going to try it again in a few months, but I’m sad cause it was so good!
I was going to suggest this just because it’s damn tasty (and calorie and caffeine free), but apparently it’s soothing to the digestive system, loaded with antioxidants, and can even help alleviate allergies, too.
Rooibos. Drink rooibos. It’s frankly delicious, easy to buy, easy to find, impossible to make incorrectly, and just about the best tisane there is (speaking 100% objectively of course ;). I’ve had rooibos from quite a few vendors, and to me it all tastes identical, so I don’t think you have to worry about buying an “inferior” or “high quality” rooibos. Rooibos is rooibos. Some companies sell flavored rooibos, with extra additives for extra flavors. Feel free to try them all if you like regular rooibos. I bet someone I could say rooibos ten times in only one hundred words. Rooibos.
Try it!
That’s so good to hear because out of the $30 of samples in my Adagio cart, more than half are Rooibos. And congrats on winning the bet! :-)
Hi! Adagio has some really good prices on samples of loose teas of all kinds, including herbal teas/tisanes. They have an ‘herbal’ section and a ‘rooibos’ section which includes honeybush. Both rooibos and honeybush are caffeine free. Note: in the herbal section there are some mate blends. Mate has caffeine.
There are also some decaf. teas at Adagio. Fun to browse online.
Harney and Sons makes a lovely decaf tea called Vanilla Comoro. (Not sure if you want to try decaf black teas or just focus on herbal tisanes.)
Upton Teas has a special place in my heart and while they don’t have a very long list of herbal teas, the ones they have look lovely and samples are so reasonable
http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/catalog.asp?begin=0&categoryID=234
Welcome to the world of herbal infusions, soon you’ll have a very nice collection and then perhaps tea pots, tea cups…!
I’m up to trying anything. Actually when I saw that Adagio had decaf peach, I got so excited. My grandma used to make the best peach sun tea!
I’ve never heard of Upton Teas and will check them out…thanks! I have a BA in ceramics and already have tons of cups, but no functional pots yet. That’s one of my future goals.
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