The Health Benefits of Echinacea (Echinacea species) Tea

Echinacea is one of the most used herbs when it comes to colds, flu and boosting the immune system when one is sick.  the actions and uses of this echinacea are as follows from Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing:

Fights inflammation and bacterial and viral infection.  Stimulates certain white blood cells.  Good for the immune system and the lymphatic system.  useful for allergies, colic, colds, flu, and other infectious illnesses.

Nutrients: Calcium, iron, magnesium, maganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc, vitamins B1, B2, B3, and C.

Caution: It should be used with caution by people who are allergic to ragweed or to plants in the sunflower family.  Should not be taken for prolonged periods by people with autoimmune disorders, as it stimulates the immune system.

I’ve taken echinacea both as a supplement in both tablet and liquid forms, and as a tea.  I found the teas helped me just as much as the supplements.  Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Complete Care tea is blended with peppermint leaves, licorice root, roasted chicory root, natural menthol extract, eucalyptus leaves, ascorbic acid, lavender flowers, stevia leaves, star anise and zinc.  Alvita, another popular tea company, carries both Echinacea and Echinacea with Goldenseal, which can give your immune system an added boost.

From Alvita,

Echinacea/Goldenseal is an excellent combination of herbs for all kinds of viral & bacterial infections, strengthens the immune system against pathogenic infection by stimulating phagocytosis & T-Cell formation, blood cleansing properties, acne, bronchitis, colds & flu, congestion, psoriasis, tonsillitis, wounds, ear infections and stimulates the immune system.

I recommend you seek out this wellness tea if you haven’t tried it already.  It definitely help me when I feeling under the weather.  I even take it when I just need a little boost; as I did today.

Don’t forget to sign up for our site to get all our latest tea reviews and other goodies straight to your mailbox! Click Here!

Aviva Ginger Peach Yerba Mate Tea Review and The Health Benefits of Yerba Mate

No twigs, just leaves!

Today is Day 3 of Aviva Yerba Mate week. Today I will be reviewing their Ginger Peach Yerba Mate. The ingredients are wild harvest grown yerba mate, black tea, bits of ginger and peach. The dried teabag smelt faintly of apricots, yum! You could smell the black tea with the peach barely coming through because the mate, again, is so strong. The taste is nice and crisp, a little bit spicy like their Chai mate.  This is definitely a great tea for energy boosting because it’s mate mixed with black tea.

The health benefits of yerba mate are numerous, there are always new studies coming out.  A few of the benefits of mate from Wiki and the Yerba Mate Association.

• Studies are showing yerba mate to exhibit significant cancer-fighting activity.  Researchers at the University of Illinois (2005) found yerba mate to be “rich in phenolic constituents” and to “inhibit oral cancer cell proliferation” while it promoted proliferation of oral cancer cell lines at certain concentrations.
• Some users report a mental state of wakefulness, focus and alertness reminiscent of most stimulants, but often remark on mate’s unique lack of the negative effects typically created by other such compounds, such as anxiety, “jitteriness”, and heart palpitations.
• Mate contains contains elements such as potassium, magnesium and manganese
• The yerba mate plant contains a number of powerful phytochemicals called saponins.  These important phytochemicals, along with the many antioxidants found in yerba mate, stimulate the immune system and help the body fight disease.  When studying the role that saponins have within plants, it was been discovered that saponins are the plants’ active immune system and that they function as a “natural antibiotic.”
• Yerba mate can reduce the severity of some allergies and hay fever.  A recent study by Linda Rector Page, N.D., Ph.D., notes that yerba mate is helpful for opening respiratory passages to overcome allergy symptoms.  Yerba mate works by stimulating the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids, which help suppress the inflammation and immune response due to allergies.
• Yerba mate quickens the mind and increases alertness and acuity. Yerba mate also provides sustained-release energy due to its complex combination of xanthine alkaloids, (including caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline) and nutritional support (including B vitamins and chromium).
• For many years now, physicians in Europe have been incorporating yerba mate in treatments for obesity. Heat production is a normal part of metabolism, and yerba mate stimulates this process, thereby increasing the body’s metabolic rate and the burning of stored fat.  Before the fat can be burned, it needs to be broken down into smaller particles.  The xanthines in yerba mate have properties that help break down fat through a process called lipolysis.
• A study conducted by Gugliucci and published in Biochemical Molecular Biology International (1995) claims low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad cholesterol”) oxidation is inhibited by extracts of yerba mate. Oxidation of LDL is considered to be the initiating factor to the onset of atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries).

Don’t forget to sign up for our site to get all our latest tea reviews and other goodies straight to your mailbox! Click Here!

Adorable Tea Video

An adorable video on why you should drink tea over coffee or soda!

Don’t forget to sign up for our site to get all our latest tea reviews and other goodies straight to your mailbox! Click Here!

Tea Battle – Pixie Organic Dark Roast Mate versus Canarias Yerba Mate

This is tea review number 3 from the CRFA show.

Yerba mate tea from the yerba mate plant contains a wealth of health benefits.  According to the Yerba Mate Association of the Americas, some of the health benefits of this amazing cited were:

• Yerba mate is a central nervous system stimulant that provides a unique sustaining energy due to its complex combination of xanthine alkaloids including caffeine, theophylline (also found in green tea) and theobromine (the “euphoriant” also found in chocolate), as well as pantothenic acid – which prevents over-stimulation of the central nervous system.
• Yerba mate is also a rich source of magnesium, which has been proven to ease anxiety without over-stimulating.
• Yerba mate quickens the mind and increases alertness and acuity.
• The yerba mate plant contains a number of powerful phytochemicals called saponins.  These important phytochemicals, along with the many antioxidants found in yerba mate, stimulate the immune system and help the body fight disease.
• Yerba mate can reduce the severity of some allergies and hay fever.

pixie mate on left

Yerba mate tastes amazing.  I’ll be reviewing Pixie Mate’s Organic Dark Roast Mate and Canarias Yerba Mate from Brazil.  I wanted to see how an instant yerba mate would compare to the real thing.  Canarias Yerba Mate is one of the most popular brands of yerba mate in the world and one of the first yerba mate’s I tried.  I apologize in advance though as I do not have the traditional bombilla and gourd for drinking yerba mate.

Pixie mate first.  The ingredients listed are: organic yerba mate, organic Black Tea, organic roasted chicory root, organic roasted ramon nut.  The smell of the tea reminds of a stronger version of the Chinese gunpowder tea.  This tea is very clean and light; the taste reminds me of Chinese gunpowder too, but with a nuttier hazelnut finish.  Side note: Chicory root is a very popular natural substitute for coffee.  If you’re looking to kick the coffee habit you can transition using a chicory root based coffee such as Teeccino or Inka.  You can generally find this substitute in any supermarket or health food store. The brew is medium bodied, and I think it would make a fantastic iced tea with some honey and ice cubes in the summer.  Overall as a dark roast mate, it doesn’t work.  It’s too weak and doesn’t taste like yerba mate much, but as a regular tea I would get this again because I like the nutty flavour.  I would love to have this iced cold after hot yoga.  Yum!

canarias yerba mate close up shot

The Canarias Yerba Mate only has leaves, and does not contains twigs.  A yerba mate with twigs would have more bitter characteristics than a blend without.  The body is heavier than the pixie mate.  The smell of yerba mate is very earthy, bold and complex; it’s almost like smelling boiled dirt.  If you love nature and the smell of the outdoors, then you will appreciate this drink.  The color of the brew reminds me of muddy water that’s been conjured up after you accidentally step into a still puddle.  Everyone in South America consumes this drink.  It’s even common for people to pass it around family style while sharing the brew from one gourd.  The Canarias yerba mate is sweet and woody when you first drink it and finishes with bitter notes.  if you haven’t tried this, I high encourage you and a group of friends to get together and brew this.  I just used a small teapot with a built in infuser to brew it.  1 kg cost me $4 Cdn at a local supermarket.

Phew.  Too much yerba mate though will make you feel very very lightheaded.  My friend J. describes the feeling to akin to being high.  I think I need to go lie down.

I just wanted to add the Bali’s Best Tea Candy that I got from the CRFA show was really really good.  I tried the classic iced tea, the green tea latte and the citrus green tea.  The classic iced tea was my favourite.  It’s a great little candy to pop when you need something to pick you up.

Don’t forget to sign up for our site to get all our latest tea reviews and other goodies straight to your mailbox! Click Here!

Health Benefits of Masala Chai

Ricardo Da Costa, Co Founder of Yogic Chai, gives a general health overview of Masala Chai. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to sign up for our site to get all our latest tea reviews and other goodies straight to your mailbox! Click Here!