Respite Nervine Tea

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The herbs in this tea will calm you down after a nerve-wracking day.

Photo by Charity Burggraaf

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“Healing Herbal Teas” by Sarah Farr walks you through how to use herbs to make and customize tea for your health and enjoyment.

Cover courtesy Storey Publishing

Directions

• Steeping

  Hot infusion: Pour 1 1/2 cups hot water over 2 tablespoons tea. Steep for 10 to 15 minutes.Cold infusion: Combine 2 cups cold water and 1 to 2 tablespoons tea in a lidded jar. Shake the jar to make sure all the tea is saturated. Place in the refrigerator or a cool place for at least 2 hours.

  Properties

  Taste: smooth, palatable combination of bitter and sweetHerbal actions: nervine, restorativeSystems affected: nervous, muscular

  More from Healing Herbal Teas:

  • Athlete’s Tea• Making a Cup of Tea

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  Excerpted from Healing Herbal Teas, © by Sarah Farr, photography by © Charity Burggraaf, used with permission from Storey Publishing Buy this book from the Mother Earth Living store: Healing Herbal Teas

Herbal Healing Teas, by Sarah Farr, (Storey Publishing, 2016) serves up 101 tea recipes that are healthy for you and taste great. It can be easy and fun to create and customize teas for  your enjoyment and health. 

You can purchase this book from the Mother Earth Living store: Healing Herbal Teas

This is a great mineral tonic with a nervine quality. I often make it when I feel a little frazzled by a busy day or have a stressful experience. Each of the herbs feeds the nervous system and supports healthy bones, blood, and muscles. This tea is cooling, so add some fresh grated ginger or cinnamon if you are already feeling energetically cold.

The base for Respite is similar to Strength with the addition of three slightly bitter herbs (chamomile, catnip, and skullcap) along with licorice to reduce their intensity on your palate. When it comes to herbal teas, it benefits the drinker to learn to appreciate strong flavors. Bitter herbs are often really bitter and the herbs we use to sweeten a tea tend to be overwhelmingly sweet. Medicinal herbs are a lot less understanding of our sensitive human palate than the culinary herbs we have selected and bred into softer, more pleasing versions of their wild brethren. As a tea formulator you will learn to constantly negotiate the intensity of the various herbs you use.