6 Common Mistakes To Avoid With Herbal Tea

Weight loss, cholesterol balance, reduction in asthma, fever, cold attacks are the few major benefits of herbal tea. Avoid these mistakes to enjoy optimal health benefits of green tea.

Herbal tea – mistakes to avoid:

1. Adding milk to herbal tea:

a. If your herbal tea is very spicy and you want to give it to children, it makes sense to add a little milk (5 – 7 teaspoons to a cup) to calm down the extra spice.

b. If your herbal tea mix contains Tulsi as an ingredient, then it is best to avoid adding milk. Milk and Tulsi are incompatible with each other..If it contains Holy Basil, Basil, Ocimum sanctum, Tulasi etc terms, then it contains Tulsi.

c. If you are taking herbal tea for reducing weight, then do not add any milk to it.  Milk is rich in nutrition. It is administered to gain weight. Hence, it does not serve your purpose of losing weight.

2. Adding sugar:

One of the purpose of herbal tea is to nullify the effects of sugar on your health. Hence it does not make sense to add sugar to it.

Substitutes for sugar: Honey – not more than a teaspoon is a good choice. Honey helps you to lose weight, so also the herbal tea. So, there is a good function match. But you cannot add honey to a very hot herbal tea. This is because honey with very hot food stuffs is contra indicated. If you wish to add honey, wait for the herbal tea to cool down a bit. Then add honey and enjoy.

Tip: Do not add more than a teaspoon of honey.

If not honey, you can add a little jaggery (Gur, Gud) to it. But excess of jaggery is meant for weight gain. So, honey is better.

3. Re-heating

If you prepare herbal tea, it is best to finish it when it is freshly made. Do not store it for the later time, re heat and drink it. Re-heating herbal tea is very against to Ayurvedic principles of medicine/ food preparation. It burns out all the active ingredients of the herb.

4. Having too hot or cold tea –

If you are of Pitta body type, or Pitta aggravated symptoms like excess burning sensation, excess bleeding, etc, then allow the tea to cool down to lukewarm before drinking.

If you have Vata or Kapha body type, then you can drink it when it is hot.

5. Closing the lid of the vessel while making herbal tea – As per Ayurveda, the vessel should be open so that water evaporates.

Stirring the ingredients while you are making the herbal tea makes the tea richer with herbal active ingredients.

6. Taking herbal tea without consulting a health expert.

Lean diabetic patients, people who have recently undergone Panchakarma treatment ( within 2 months of time), people who are already taking many herbal medicines, who are excessively tired, might not require herbal tea. It may cause worsening of the symptoms. So, consult your doctor.