Back then when we spent our family summers wandering around the Swiss alps, a close friend of my parents would prepare a delicious ice tea for our hiking tours. A simple but tasty drink that, as a youngster, I experienced being something amazing. He had a thoughtful understanding and knowledge of wild mountain herbs and only now do I truly value the fascination for herbs he shared with me during these trips.
Creating some homemade alternatives for refreshing drinks can be challenging or easy, depending on the approach we take. Unless you are aiming to add your homemade apple juice to this brew, this recipe will be easily made without much hassle of cleaning up afterwards. Mixing herbal teas as special, healthy and cooling beverages can be a lot of fun even bringing along spiritual benefits. Get your herbs out, it’s time for an iced tea recipe 🙂 which you can enjoy as part of a spiritual detox ritual, after your workout, yoga session, hiking tour or prepare as a little highlight of self care for your evening or garden party.
An Iced Tea with (spiritual) health benefits
In my 1l pot of tea, I mix:
- one tablespoon of dried Peppermint or two handful of fresh mint leaves
- two teaspoons of dried Elderflower or a handful of fresh blossoms
Use approx. 0,5 ml to soak the herbs. Leave the herbal infusion to steep for 10 – 15 mins. Then remove the herbs and add the ingredients below.
- one tablespoon of raw Honey (It’s good to keep in mind that honey is best added at lukewarm temperatures to sustain the full richness of its manifold properties.)
- around 250 ml fresh Apple Juice
- a couple of Ice Cubes and fresh Lemon slices
What are (spiritual) health benefits of the ingredients?
Elderflower is a particularly spiritual plant with centuries of tradition as cordial or tea. Both plants, Elderflower and Peppermint, are spiritually cleansing and can support us in a time we feel the need for a spiritual detox. Carrying anti- inflammatory and anti-viral properties it’s been used to treat, flu, sinusitis, constipation, immune system, hay-fever by folk medicine’s for many centuries.
Peppermint or Mentha Piperita is one of the most commonly known healing plants and a classic among the traditional herbal remedies. Looking closely, we find an enormous variety of mentha plants. Most of us will at least know peppermint tea as a relief providing treat to our nose and throat when we suffer from a cold or high temperature. It’s been spiritually believed to cool us down in general, meaning that it’s said to relief feelings of stress or burnout in periods of overworking. Mint is used against head- and toothaches as well as others pains residing in the body and also said to have a relaxing effect on our digestive system. In this sense, literally, a plant to take a deep breath.
“An Apple a day keeps the doctor away.” The saying doesn’t quite come out of nowhere. Apples contain: Vitamin A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, Pantothenic acid, Potassium, Calcium, Sodium, Phosphorous, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Selenium, Copper 😮. As a mash they are a well-known classic remedy to treat an upset stomach, thanks to their anti-inflammatory qualities. Potentially having a protective effect on our nerve cells, heart health and possibly even helping to prevent cancer.
Lemon adds much more to our tea than just a refreshing, sour note or Vitamin-C. The fruit is said to support our heart health, immune and digestive system. A spiritual ritual attached to Lemons is again a detox function. A few lemons put around the house have a tradition being utilised for spiritual protection and energy clearing.
The adoration of natural Bee-Honey for its healing qualities has a long history in the stories of humankind and while exact origins are difficult to pinpoint, cave paintings from Stone Age times appear providing evidence for a usage of honey by humans at least as early as 8000 years ago. It’s been cherished for it’s sweetness and healing properties by the Egyptians, Greeks, Ayurvedic, Chinese and Romans, played an important part in the history of Middle Eastern as well medieval age church and monastery cultures. Needless to say that it was and is valued by all different sorts of traditional healers across countries. Natural honey is said to contain a set of over 200 substances and has therefore been of interest to modern medicine in various scientific studies. The healing qualities that it offers appear pretty manifold and its intake promising a variety of long term health benefits to our body and mind. It’s rich in antioxidants, minerals and vitamins, amino acids and enzymes, having antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti inflammatory properties. To sum up, honey is said to support our body on various levels, such as our immune system or even brain health. Obviously, most commonly used to soothe a sore throat or cough. While the composition depends on the plants the bees feed on, it’s most of all important to choose a rather natural honey instead of pasteurised versions.
Overall this tea mix can help us detox spiritually, cleansing our spiritual body just as much as it’s offering an enjoyable and healthy alternative to other refreshing beverages.
Hope you’ll enjoy and feel re-connected to your authentic essence 🙂
– with love –
Your Lina
Please note: As with all things in life, some things will have ripple effects and the amounts make the difference. So please don’t overdose herbal teas either. Especially if you are on medication, suffer a medical condition, are prone to allergic reactions and during pregnancy it’s recommended to seek medical advisory before starting any self medication.
sown & uprooted 