Herbal tea is a general term for traditional Chinese herbal plant-based beverages. Guangdong herbal tea is a representative of traditional Chinese herbal tea culture. Herbal tea is made by boiling Chinese herbs with cooling properties and the ability to relieve internal heat into a drink to eliminate summer heat from the body. Drinking mint herbal tea frequently in the summer not only clears heat and promotes urination but also helps lower lipids and reduce weight.
Drink More Mint Herbal Tea to Beat the Summer Heat
Mint is cooling and is one of the suitable ingredients for making herbal tea in the summer. Let's take a look at the specific method of preparation!
Mint Herbal Tea
Ingredients: Dried mint leaves, licorice root, white sugar, appropriate amount of honey.
Method:
1. First, wash the dried mint leaves and licorice root.
2. After washing, place them in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water, and bring to a boil over high heat for 5 minutes.
3. After it comes to a boil, add an appropriate amount of white sugar and honey, then stir well.
Effects: Drinking mint herbal tea at home in the summer has a cooling effect and the benefits of clearing heat and promoting urination. Mint tea is best served cold to relieve summer heat, quench thirst, lower lipids, and aid in weight loss. Overweight individuals can drink it frequently during the summer.
Drink More of These Herbal Teas for Quick Heat Relief
Besides mint herbal tea, what other herbal teas can you drink in the summer? Actually, dried tangerine peel tea, honeysuckle herbal tea, etc., are all excellent beverages for relieving summer heat.
Dried Tangerine Peel Tea
Wash 10 grams of dried tangerine peel, tear it into small pieces, and steep it with boiling water. After 10 minutes, remove the dregs and add a small amount of sugar.
It is even better when chilled and served cold. This tea can relieve summer heat, stop coughing, reduce phlegm, and improve digestion. Those with a yin-deficient constitution and symptoms like a dry cough without phlegm and a dry mouth and tongue should not consume it in large amounts.
Honeysuckle Herbal Tea
50 grams each of honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, and hawthorn, and 100 grams of refined honey. Preparation: Rinse the honeysuckle, wash and chop the hawthorn, and clean the chrysanthemum. Place them in a pot, add water, bring to a boil over low heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain the medicinal liquid. Use a sieve to filter out the dregs and let it cool. Slowly pour the honey into the medicinal liquid and mix well.
Fresh Lotus Root Herbal Tea
75 grams of fresh lotus root, washed and sliced. Add water and simmer over low heat. When the water in the pot is reduced to 2/3, add an appropriate amount of sugar. Let it cool before drinking.
This herbal tea has the effects of reducing internal heat and removing stasis, nourishing the stomach, and nourishing yin. It is suitable for individuals with excess summer heat and those with an uncomfortable spleen and stomach. Because lotus root is cooling, postpartum women should not consume it too early. Avoid using ironware when cooking lotus root to prevent it from turning black.
4 Types of People Should Not Drink Herbal Tea
It should be noted that although herbal tea is good, it is not suitable for everyone. The following groups should be particularly cautious when drinking herbal tea.
1. People with a weak spleen and stomach
The Chinese herbs in herbal tea are mostly cold in nature and have the effect of clearing heat and removing fire. This is suitable for people with a "hot" body type, but for those with a naturally weak spleen and stomach who often have diarrhea and feel cold, it has the opposite effect. They should try to drink less or not at all.
2. Women during menstruation, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers
During menstruation, a woman's immunity is low, and she needs to keep warm. She should eat more foods that are warm in nature to warm the uterus and dispel cold. Herbal tea is not suitable. The diet of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers also requires special attention. Herbal tea contains no nutrients beneficial to the health or growth and development of the mother, fetus, or infant, so it is not recommended to drink it in large quantities.
3. The elderly and children
To meet consumer tastes, commercially available herbal teas often contain large amounts of sugar to make them taste sweet, despite their herbal ingredients. High sugar intake is not beneficial for the elderly to maintain stable blood sugar, and it can also cause cavities in children, dull their sense of taste, affect their food preferences, and lead to picky eating. Excessive intake of refined sugar also does not meet the recommended standards of the World Health Organization and our country (no more than 25g of refined sugar per day).
4. People with diabetes or high blood sugar
People with diabetes or high blood sugar need to control their daily energy and sugar intake, so it is strongly not recommended to consume any unnecessary and non-nutritive herbal tea beverages outside of their regular daily meals.
In the scorching summer, you can try the herbal teas mentioned above to beat the heat!