horcrrux said

A new site about herbal teas.

Hello all,

I`ve just built an herbal tea promoting website, where I will regularly pour my knowledge into and will work hard to make it look pleasing to the eye as well. I try to stick to easy, bite-size information, as in depth knowledge often intimidates people. It`s not much yet, but here`s my first article -http://herbalteasglasgow.com/index.php/top-5-calming-herbal-teas/

Any feedback would be welcome on topics to cover, or approaches to take would be greatly appreciated !

5 Replies
vunstop said

I love your site, I just built one as well, take a look…http://tealeaftherapy.com/

I need feed back as well.
The look of your website is very clean and takes my focus to the information and the addition of the rounded pictures give me another focus point on the homepage, very inviting. I also appreciate the books. It gives your visitors a chance to learn more on the topic.

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Interesting! There isn’t background on the website about your interest in the tea, or background, or why the site exists. I’d assume that it’s about a personal interest in herb teas, and the sources are books like those listed on the one page? I must admit I’ve never even heard of any of those herbs listed.

I drank tisanes for a long time prior to getting into tea (and I don’t have a problem with saying “herb tea,” as some do), and I always wondered if any of the claims on the packaging were true or not, or if most were. It helped just drinking them for an interest in varying tastes, since it really didn’t matter then, but I branch out and research a little now and then to see what I can turn up about herb effects. The problem is always the same: the results are just what someone heard from someone else, traditional knowledge to some, complete hearsay to others. In the case of calming herbs there is at least a chance someone might feel calm after drinking the teas, or not.

Is there any more you could say about those types of issues? Even when trying to research or talk to people with much more informed perspectives the best you tend to get is “see a specialist.” One tea shop owner here (in Bangkok) had a lot of background in traditional Chinese medicine—he had owned a shop dealing in those—and he was trying to make blends that were effective, not really a new idea, of course, but that’s essentially all he could say too.

horcrrux said

Hello John,

I come from a country with a very deep tradition of looking into nature for all remedies, sadly, that tradition is slowly dying out, because the people who used to know all about herbs are slowly passing away and the younger generation, such as myself, don`t comprehend the immense value that herbal teas hold as a valuable alternative to taking an aspirin every time you don`t feel right. As for the source of information, I am using books that are in my native language, but they are pharmacy grade and they hold very precise information on each plant listed – starting from active chemical components, gathering times up to proper ways of cultivating and usage. I suppose it could be interesting to display more in-depth information, but I am afraid that the attention span of the modern human being might not be suitable and people would just flat out refuse to read lengthy descriptions.

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What you say makes sense, the average person has a relatively short attention span, but I’ll raise another concern that might put that into perspective. I tend to mostly see related herbal medication or supplement sites that compile information from other sources, really anyone saying anything. In a very limited sense it is traditional knowledge, but more than that it’s really just hearsay. Maybe cinnamon does prevent colds, or papaya leaf tea does prevent cancer, or maybe that’s just something a few people made up and it keeps getting repeated. Often the content isn’t quite as light or insubstantial as that but still the information on the back of product boxes isn’t really research, and content from anywhere tends to get compiled and presented as research, or in the form of an authorative database, with no citing of references at all. It would be good if you could differentiate what you are presenting from that.

horcrrux said

Hello John,
It would seem that I had pre-emptively sensed this argument coming up. I made a small article about Hibiscus, and whilst the text is hardly scientific, I`ve added a bibliography referencing the materials used. I think that, as time goes on and I understand what kind of writing styles to stick to, the textual side might change, but I completely agree, that sources should be stated, and they should be more than buzzfeed rip-offs.

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