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My Dr has recently told me I can drink herbal teas but have to give up black and green for a while due to some digestive issues. I like green and black teas, by gum and gee willikers!! I really do not care for the fruity flavors. Can you guys suggest some good stuff without the fruity flavors? Thank much, Nate

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Red rooibos: earthy and a bit spicy

Gamro, AKA Korean hydrangea leaf: spicy and sweet and not remotely fruity

Chamomile: a hint of sweet, a hint of herb, generally very mellow, no fruit

Tulsi A.k.a. holy basil is a little bit spicy and herbaceous without bitterness

It’s not that hard to get a small amount of several of these, plus some other spices and non-fruity herbs like rosemary, ginger, Galangal, Cloves, cinnamon, Chicory, Anise, sarsaparilla, etc, To mix-and-match.

On a tangent here:

I often hear doctors say that coffee and tea are bad for the gut. I can understand why they might say this about coffee because intestinal discomfort from coffee is common enough and it does contain a lot of caffeine. However, I find tea soothing and to have moderate to low caffeine, especially shou and aged puerh.

Is tea guilty by association?

Does it only apply to harsh, British-style teas?

Why would apparently any herbal tea be okay to consume instead of tea, without acknowledgement of what these herbs might contain?

Is tea not also an herb?

@Baisao: people often ask me, does X tea contain much caffeine? Or similar questions. And I usually tell them that I have absolutely no idea, and I just drink that tea because I enjoy it.

I aim for teas which are not harsh or uncomfortable for me, and some things like young raw puer make me feel unwell, but I have absolutely no idea if that relates to caffeine or other compounds. I also have no idea how a tea that I like might affect someone who has some medical issue related to caffeine, or to hot temperatures, or to something else.

Perhaps someone who is told not to drink X tea by their doctor should try to ascertain the precise reason why their doctor holds that view. But perhaps there is not enough research out there for a doctor to be able to say, for example, that I can keep drinking old puer, so long as I cut down on the young raw puer, or something similar.

So if someone I know has stomach issues, I may tell them to stay away from young, raw, green tea, and perhaps try something old, something cooked, something heavily roasted, but I'd have to defer to whatever their doctor says...

Andrew

Just a heads up about the taking/mixing/dosage of adaptogenic herbs: St. John's Wort, Tulsi, Ashwagandha etc. Some people find them helpful but others can have a bad experience with them interacting with medication, impacting sleeping patterns, blood pressure and mood.

Raiding the spice rack is a nice way to start with thyme, sage, ginger, mint and lavender making nice inexpensive tisanes Be warned it can be a gateway to making your own blends which can get pretty addictive !

I find dried thyme, peppermint & St. John's wort a pretty tasty & non-fruity combo. (I have bad experience with SJW extract, but haven't seen it cause problems as a component in tea. Still it's good to be careful with it and make sure it's no more than a third, if you intend to drink a lot.)

@teatray That sounds like a nice blend! I'm pretty sensitive to St. John's Wort so I avoid even the tea. The problem is there seems to be a trend with healthfood manufacturers to shove these herbs nonchalantly into tea blends in order to push the health benefits. Sometimes you see horror stories on tea forums where someone has had a false sense of security with a supermarket box blend and replaced their high coffee intake with that.

TeaGrove wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:12 am

Just a heads up about the taking/mixing/dosage of adaptogenic herbs: St. John's Wort, Tulsi, Ashwagandha etc. Some people find them helpful but others can have a bad experience with them interacting with medication, impacting sleeping patterns, blood pressure and mood.

Additionally, it’s not uncommon for these adaptogenic herbs to be swapped out with other herbs or plant matter. This is rampant in the supplement industry because there are no FDA controls over the stated ingredients.

From the New York Times:

@Baisao That's all kinds of yikes.

TeaGrove wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:58 am

Baisao That's all kinds of yikes.

This PBS documentary on the subject was enlightening:

Even vitamin D from a pharmacy may not be accurately described.

Have you ever heard of sideritis Greek mountain tea? I grew up with this tea and mom used to prepare it every morning with some feta cheese on toast with honey… it’s delicious and no caffeine, not to mention the good healthy pack it comes with. I order it directly from a Greek farm on Etsy or dad brings me some when he goes back home. I’ve tried klio tea in the states and it’s good also.

https://daphnisandchloe.com/product/greek-mountain-tea/


This company is also excellent and my top favorite, on Etsy it’s a bit tricky to buy first time as sometimes I’ve received very low quality tea and since I grew up with the tea, I can tell just by looking when the plant is just trash.

Soba cha is what seems to do the trick for me