Teaberry and partridgeberry tisanes (natural wintergreen herb tea)

 

teaberry!  aka wintergreen.

partridgeberry; smaller, rounder leaves.

I've long since been intrigued by the possibility of making an herb tea / tisane from teaberry leaves, or at least a plant type I grew up knowing as teaberry.  In reviewing background for this post it turns out that two different local plants--that are common where I'm from, Western Pennsylvania, where I visit now--are both probably referred to as teaberry, when one is a variation of partidgeberry.  Or so a couple of online sources indicate; it's hard to drill down to the absolute fact of the matter in online references.  

Let's start with what I understood, beyond picking and eating what I took to be teaberries.  I've read different accounts about using teaberry as a tisane, including a claim that it oxidizes well, as "real tea" does.  Here is more background, from the book "Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies:"

Wintergreen (Gaultheria Procumbens) is an aromatic evergreen shrub native to North America.  Also called Canada tea and deerberry, wintergreen is often used to relieve pain and inflammation.  The leaves of wintergreen contain methyl salicylate, which is closely related to aspirin.  Several tribes, including the Delaware and Mohican, have used a tea made from the leaves to treat kidney disorders.  The Great Lakes and Eastern Woodland tribes have used poultices from wintergreen, applying them topically to treat arthritic aches and pains.

That hadn't really the basis for my interest, but it was interesting.  Wikipedia adds this, about teaberries:

The fruits of G. procumbens, considered its actual "teaberries", are edible, with a taste of mildly sweet wintergreen similar to the flavors of the Mentha varieties M. piperita (peppermint) and M. spicata (spearmint) even though G. procumbens is not a true mint. The leaves and branches make a fine herbal tea, through normal drying and infusion process. For the leaves to yield significant amounts of their essential oil, they need to be fermented for at least three days.

teaberry leaves with moderate bruising, not nearly enough to enable oxidation

teaberry leaves bruised and chopped

It was partly this oxidation potential that made it interesting.  This Youtube video clarifies the difference between partridgeberries and teaberries, confirming that both are edible, as fruits (berries) or leaves.  That correct identification helps explain why the partridgeberry fruit is a little bit minty but the leaves aren't overly so.  This Youtube video passes on guidance for finding and identifying "real" teaberry.

This plant source covers more background, about that second plant type:

Mitchella repens, Partridgeberry, Partridge Berry, Native Bare Root Perennial

A trailing, evergreen herb with white, fragrant, tubular flowers in pairs. Partridgeberry is a creeping, perennial herb, no taller than 2 in. high. All parts are dainty, including its pairs of small, rounded, evergreen leaves; tiny, trumpet-shaped, pinkish-white flowers; and scarlet berries.

A most attractive woodland creeper with highly ornamental foliage, it can be used as a groundcover under acid-loving shrubs and in terraria in the winter. The common name implies that the scarlet fruits are relished by partridges, and they are consumed by a variety of birds and mammals. Indian women drank a tea made from the leaves as an aid in childbirth.

No one brews an herb tea / tisane from either of these plants where I'm from, typically; the teaberry name isn't necessarily taken as an indication that drying and brewing the leaves would be a great idea.

I've tracked down both, growing right beside my parents' and brother's homes, and have made a tisane out of both (attempting some rolling of the leaves, then drying them).  At time of writing an early draft I've only brewed the teaberry leaves, but I will write this related to trying the other.

Teaberry tastes minty, as this one passage suggests; the leaf flavor really is "wintergreen."  The teaberries don't taste that much like the leaves, but there is some overlap.  I'll skip adding more on partidgeberry character in this intro section, but related to tasting fresh leaves they just taste a bit vegetal, without much flavor coming through at all.

Preparation and review:

I tried out bruising / rolling the leaves to support oxidation, but it didn't seem to have much effect.  I'm not sure that the compounds in these leaves are right for this transition (either of them, really), or if I just didn't bruise them enough.  I suspect using a mortar and pestle and really grinding the leaves a bit would help, where I just tried rolling the partridgeberry with a rolling pin, and pounding the teaberries with a mallet for tenderizing meat, then slicing those into thin strips, to support more air contact to internal leaf compounds.  Onto review notes then.

teaberry / wintergreen brewed on the lighter side

Teaberry:  it tastes like wintergreen.  For some people that's all I would need to say, if that mint flavor range is familiar.  It's less peppery than peppermint or spearmint, but closer to spearmint for being milder.  It's quite sweet and pleasant.  I didn't use enough to really dial up infusion strength, maybe 3 grams for two rounds of Western style brewing, but it was enough to see how it would work out.

It seems odd breaking that down further.  It was minty, along that particular line for flavor, wintergreen.  There's not much to add.  There was no astringency, or vegetal range character.  I suspect that variation and depth could be had by properly oxidizing the leaves, but I'm out of time to experiment with that here, and I'm not carrying fresh plant leaves back to Thailand.  I could rapidly dry some, skipping an oxidation step, but I've already tried that prepared herb version.

I brewed the leaves twice and mixed the mostly spent leaves with partly brewed out black tea, from breakfast, and the resulting mix tasted strongly of that one mint note, in a pleasant way.  Apparently they had more to give.  Simmering the leaves might be promising, really forcing flavor extraction.  Or there's a masala chai trick of simmering tea and herbs, letting it sit, re-simmering it, and letting it sit again, resulting in brewing at or near boiling point temperature for an extended time.

Partridgeberry:  there is a trace of mint, but not much, and beyond that the vegetal range flavor is a bit subtle.  It doesn't taste like much.  It's nice that it can be used as a tisane, and I suppose it could be helpful if it really does have medicinal qualities, but related to the experience of drinking it there just isn't that much going on.  Teaberry leaves as a tisane are interesting and pleasant, but partridgeberry leaf isn't.

One might wonder why I'm going on and on about plants that produce berries in relation to brewing the leaves, and leaving the berries out of it, not brewing those.  They're not berries in the sense of strawberries or raspberries; they're subtle in character.  Teaberries are pleasant, sweet and minty, but partridgeberries don't taste like much at all.  Teaberries aren't really flavorful enough to be promising as a tisane, brewed alone, although maybe I'm wrong, and that might work.

There's one mystery left in all this, related to ligonberries, which are described as the same thing as partridgeberries in some references.  How is this possible?  Ligonberries are relatively similar to cranberry; they should be quite flavorful and tart, but these are almost entirely flavorless.  Two possibilities come to mind, but there may be others:  these aren't really a variation of ligonberries (or just that, called a different name), or they are related but it's a plant type variation, that isn't identical.  I don't know, really.  Intensity could vary by season, related to time of the year, but surely not as much as this, to cause a strong-flavored berry to be flavorless some of the time.

At any rate the one plant people refer to as teaberries locally really is that, and its berries are sweeter and more flavorful, with the leaves "wintergreen" in flavor.  The other doesn't taste like much, as berries or dried and brewed leaves.

Family visit photos, back to Western Pennsylvania

As I'd mentioned I've been in Western PA, visiting my family.  These notes, and most of the text, is from that visit, and I finish the editing while traveling back to Bangkok again.  I won't add much more about that, but I will share some photos from there.

view from a balcony at my parents' house

the colors change fast; this was two weeks later

a hunting lodge sort of theme

again earlier in the stay, a creek beside their house

not much later, showing more color

my kids and two cousins

meeting those kids was a main highlight (and one other); it was hard leaving them

Moychay pressed tisane bars

I'm reviewing two pressed tisane bars from Moychay.  I've tried a couple in the past, which I really liked, so it was great seeing that they sent some along with some tea to try and review.  Again many thanks!

When I first looked up the versions the pricing seemed low ($4 per 50 gram bar, or about that).  Really tisanes tend to not cost a lot, so it's just a normal price, but for a well-designed blend and easy access processed form it seems quite fair.  I'm not familiar with such things being available here in Thailand or in the US market.  Tisane blends maybe, they just wouldn't be all that common, but those pressed as bars maybe not.  

For teas compressed forms are often used as a way to support convenient storage for aging, which I guess could relate to these, but in general it just seems like catchy and convenient form.  A half dozen bars take up very little space that way.  We bought a good bit of chrysanthemum in China two years ago and it's interesting seeing how it changes with age.  It's probably better now instead of worse, but really just different.

four more bars to try; nice

I never will really critique or evaluate these in relation to the mix of herbs.  I've tried looking up tisane health benefits before, and it's possible to make a start on that, but it would be really hard to check if a certain mix of herbs makes sense, or is likely to be healthier than taking any one random version.  I might look into that again, related to these.

I drank a lot of tisanes for awhile, for the better part of 20 years, but I just wouldn't overthink that part.  I bought versions and mixed them as seemed pleasant, hoping that maybe that health benefit part would work out on its own.  Sage was by far my favorite back then; I loved it so much that I wouldn't blend that, so I could enjoy it alone.  I was mixing all sorts of plant leaf, root, and bark versions beyond that, with some flowers mixed in but not nearly as much of that.  I should be able to say a lot more about other favorites but I gave up that habit when I moved here, 14 years ago.  Kind of a shame, since Thais drink other nice tisanes, but I got into tea as a result, so it worked out.

I'll put a description of everything they sent at the end, including the list of herbs and their descriptions, and just copy the ingredients part here for framing:

Romantic:  Blooming Sally, Ginger, Juniper berries, Red root, Anise, Hibiscus, Rose hip, Rowan chokeberry, Elder, Acacia inflorescences, Cardamom

Cherry Sea:  Fermented cherry leaf, Willow-herb, black, large-leaf, Tver region, Linden blossom, Hibiscus flowers (Karkade), Calendula

"Romantic" left, in all photos

Reviewing Romantic and Cherry Sea tisane blends:

a bit extra light, my normal approach

It goes without saying that Gongfu brewing herb blends is a bit strange.  It would be much more conventional to use a Western approach, to use a basket strainer or teapot and give them a 4 or 5 minute soak, and then another.  One would have to try both approaches to see what gets gained or lost in using either.  

In mentioning trying these online someone suggest that simmering it may work out really well.  It could; people tend not to simmer tea because what gets extracted after the first 8 to 10 minutes of hot water steeping isn't as positive, but in this case that may be the best approach.  Or just simmering it when mostly spent might be worth trying.  Then it occurred to me that if you simmer this mixed with an even amount of tea and then add water to dilute to a suitable level you would essentially replicate samovar brewing.

Romantic:  first infusion is so light a real review will start on the second, but I'll mention first impression anyway.  This is a bit tart, like a cranberry.  It's going in a really positive direction already though, sweet and complex.  The one trade-off related to tisanes, in comparison with "real tea," is that they include less flavor complexity, intensity, and other aspect range depth, less feel and aftertaste.  Blending can offset that, since brewing any one tisane (herb, flower, spice, etc.) only goes so far towards that.

Cherry:  again, tart.  What I interpret as hibiscus stands out, but there is more going on.   This reminds me of something I'm probably not going to place, some herb blend or single type I had much earlier in my tisane exploration.  Maybe Red Zinger, maybe something else.  I suspect that tartness is brewing out faster for some reason but these will pick up a lot of depth and balance soon enough.  Comparing the two some balancing warm tone really works better in the "romantic" version; I wonder what that is?  Again it's too early to call these.

a bit too strong; tisane infusion timing isn't very familiar

Romantic, second infusion:  I let this infuse for a bit over 20 seconds, a long soak by "real tea" standards.  It's a tisane; it will be fine.  I don't know what optimum will be but at least this will get transition moving [after trying it optimum is a shorter time].  Tartness still stands out but that warmth is strong enough that it contributes in an usual way.  It's a little like fennel seed; that kind of thing.  A cranberry sort of tartness and fruit range flavor is strongest, most pronounced.  There's a minty aftertaste.  And a lot of other aftertaste; usually tisanes don't work out like this.  Something in this is really naturally sweet.  I'd expect it all to come together even better once the parts all get infusing next round, but it's pleasant and interesting now.

Cherry Sea:  cranberry tartness is giving way to a tart cherry tartness.  It doesn't have quite as much depth as the other but plenty is going on.  Again I get the impression that this is still settling into where it will go for balance of inputs coming together.  For using a 4 minute soak at a much higher proportion all that would get combined, much like combining or "stacking" these first 4 or 5 infusions.  20+ seconds is a bit long though; 15 would be fine for this proportion.

It's interesting switching back to try the "Romantic" version after the cherry.  That warmer spice range makes it seem to have a lot more depth.  If the tartness eases up the blast of fruit in this second tisane blend could be really nice in a different way, but it sort of works for me tart like that.  It would be hard for one single tisane input to have the depth or range of either of these.

Romantic, third infusion:  I might have went too fast with these, under 10 seconds, but that will enable describing how infusion strength difference adjusts what comes across.  It's kind of unrecognizable, drinking the same blend infused half as long, with some transition for developing.  It's enough flavor, I think, but completely different.  Tartness is all but gone, probably much less pronounced at this infusion strength (what you taste shifts a lot with infusion strength, not just relative intensity).  

That warm tone is nice.  It comes across as linked to a warm and sweet aftertaste that lingers on the rear of your tongue.  Feel aspects tying to a tongue location is normal, but it's odd feeling like a taste sensation is there.  Not the rear of the throat either, as people describe over and over in relation to sheng pu'er, at the rear of the tongue in front of that part.

Cherry Sea:  much closer to how it had been last round than the first, just lighter.  Tartness isn't dropping out in the same way.  I suppose if someone hated tartness this just wouldn't work for them; a preference take on cranberries should determine that as well as anything.  It's coming across as complex in relation to a single tisane, but the other has lots more depth and range.  I suppose it could be that tartness will fade in this too, revealing something else, but it's just running behind the other.  

In tasting the first after the second it's not just the warmth and depth that comes across, it's a sweetness and flavor range I associate with either a bark or root spice (I'm guessing bark, but those two things come in such a broad range you can't really combine them).  One might think they know all about bark spices from cinnamon and root spices from ginger and ginseng but it's not like that, a lot more complicated.

Romantic, fourth infusion:  for once I'll need to wrap this up to go to bed; that's a novel potential related to drinking tisanes.  Or putting the kids to bed first, one last test of my patience before the end of the day.  To cite an example they are running a small floor vaccum in the other room now because the kitten hates it, so they're doing that to see how it reacts.  It's growling; we have a really grumpy older cat who taught her that vocabulary range.

This is actually starting to flatten out a bit, although I'd guess that it's far from spent.  Mixing those 4 infusions might have been better.  I'll stretch one more infusion for longer, over 30 seconds instead, and let this drop.  Warm range and spice depth is nice in this; that spice wasn't present in the same way before.  It's like a touch of black pepper, that kind of spice.  Since those bars break up into a good number of squares (9 per 50 grams, so 5 1/2 grams each) it's worth considering trying both mixed together.

Cherry Sea:  tartness will go the distance in this version, but it is subdued, as all the flavor intensity is dropping off a bit.  Going extra long on one early infusion probably pushed back where these would be by one infusion count.  This really could just be cranberry and willow herb, based on how it comes across.  I think lighter range inputs are giving it depth that's hard to appreciate as distinct flavors.

Both, fifth infusion:  largely faded, but a depth is hanging in there.  A trick from brewing "grandpa style" could probably draw more out of these, adding a touch of a fresh "tea" input to restore the rest of the experience range, without giving up the thinner base these can still provide.  I'm not sure what would work best for that; it wouldn't just have to be more of the same herb blend.  A bit of cacao husk with one of these would be really nice, or ground cacao nib (dark chocolate flavor, more or less, two parts of the plant used to make that).  That sounds like an American take on everything, doesn't it?  It's all better with chocolate, gravy, or cheese, just probably not all three together.

These bars really should have fantastic potential for cooking too.  Either one of these simmered and then used to make oatmeal would be great.  Or any number of other things I usually wouldn't even consider in relation to "real tea;" infused in white vinegar to make a salad dressing, or infused in vodka to make a mixed drink.  As for blending with tea I'm not so sure; that could be pushing it.

these photos cited from the Moychay site

Forest Silence:  

Blooming Sally green, Melissa, Tutsan, Raspberry, Medicinal lungwort, Badan, Rose hip, Pine buds

Healing and harmonious composition, heals the whole body, soothes and collects. The taste is not obtrusive, with the aroma and taste of a taiga forest, conveying the calmness and silence of a pine forest. 

Romantic (no site product description; a friend translated this one for me from the label)

Blooming Sally, Ginger, Juniper berries, Red root, Anise, Hibiscus, Rose hip, Rowan chokeberry, Elder, Acacia inflorescences, Cardamom

Caucasus herbal tea cake 

Ingredients: Oregano, St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), alpine thyme, mint, Epilobium willow-herb, sage, raspberry leaf, rose blossom, hawthorn fruit, rowan berries, rose-hip (Fructus Rosae).

All ingredients are harvested by experienced herbalists in the Caucasus Mountains. The components and their respective proportions provide a balanced healing effect - immunity enhancing, digestion-normalizing and a strengthening of the nervous system. The bouquet is herbaceous-minty-fruity, the taste is rich, but without bitterness and astringency.

Cherry Sea

Fermented cherry leaf, Willow-herb, black, large-leaf, Tver region, Linden blossom, Hibiscus flowers (Karkade), Calendula

Calming

“Calming” is our pressed herbal blend made from wild plants.  Composition:

Willow-herb (Ivan-tea); Melissa; Rose hip; Linden flowers; Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers; Oregano; Hop (Humulus lupulus); Chamomile; St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum); Calendula

The recipe for blend and illustration was compiled by an expert of wild plants and a famous botanist in Russia - Natalia Georgievna Zamyatina.

Ivan (willow herb) in a red robe (Ivan-fermented Tea, cut leaf Da Hong Pao),

Willow-herb, black, large-leaf, Tver region; Da Hong Pao, broken leaf

The bouquet of the finished tea is warm, grain-spicy with floral, berry and woody notes. The aroma is rich, multifaceted. The taste is strong, juicy, silky, sweet, with a slight bitterness and a spark of spices.

Editing notes: that sounds fantastic.  I've tried a Da Hong Pao pressed bar from them that was just great before, and it could match really well with willow herb / Ivan chay.

Tea and illness

This is the theme I've been on lately, scaling back exposure to tea due to a nasty sinus infection.  It's been a rough week.  I'll describe how I took it, although I'm not sure the insight will add much to what everyone else already experiences.

I switch over to a lot of tisanes when I'm sick.  That mild and varied flavor range works for me, and there's always the hope that some of it might actually help in some herbal remedy sense.  Even if that doesn't apply drinking a warm liquid does help, and staying hydrated, and contact with a positive range of sensation is nice when you tend to get caught up in experiencing symptoms.  It's completely unnatural to drink a good bit of water at any temperature when you're sick, but it works much better to drink two or three good sized mugs of a mild tisane.

Mamaki, olena (Hawaiian turmeric), and ualoa (not what I was just drinking)

A Hawaiian extended family member (who sort of adopted my wife into theirs, versus the other way around) passed on some soursop tisane from a local Hawaiian producer awhile back.  It doesn't taste like much (I don't think--but maybe it does and I can't tell), but the label says it's good for helping with sleep and boosting immune response. 

Al with Keo; it has been too long, he is hard to pick up these days

this reference mentioned in this related post on Hawaiian tisanes and potential effects

I had a couple of Moychay (Russian producer) compressed tisane cakes on hand, so I've been mixing those in.  One was willow herb / fireweed and the other some sort of blend I didn't check the contents on (the label is in Russian).  A fruit version bar I already finished earlier would've been ideal; I was concerned about how well that would keep so I drank the last of it a few months ago. 

a Moychay tisane bar, which I reviewed here

We bought a lot of chrysanthemum tea in China on that last visit so I drink that alone or mixed in, or once combined with shu pu'er to split the difference.  When I'm not sick mixing sheng and chrysanthemum seems to make a lot more sense, even though I rarely do that, but when you're sick whatever it seems you'll tolerate well is the right thing.


Stopping caffeine entirely brings on a headache and crash, but if the plan is to lie around sick all day that crash can work out.  I only quit tea entirely one day but did drink very little of it for a few, so this served as one of a few small breaks from caffeine that I try to take every year.  Maybe there is no reason to do that but as I see things it can't hurt, and maybe there is a good reason I'd never be completely clear on.  Developed tolerance for level of caffeine doesn't seem to shift as much for some drugs, like alcohol tolerance, at least to me, but I'm sure that would vary by person.  I don't think that caffeine interferes with a healing process when sick, to be clear, I just don't think there is any point in ingesting a stimulant then, and maintenance of a dependency doesn't necessarily count as a good reason.

It's interesting trying teas and noticing how much flavor drops out when you've lost that much sense of taste.  In the last three days I tried a Vietnamese sheng I've been drinking for awhile, and a modest quality aged Yunnan version, and an even better Da Xue Shan.  In all those cases I really did enjoy what came across, more and more each day.  White tea might work in a similar way; even for losing half or more of the flavor the rest might still be nice.  The shu pu'er and chrysanthemum mix I had when I was much sicker was nice, although combining that with sheng makes more sense to me when I'm well, although that I tend to only try a couple times a year, at the most.  Of all those teas the aged sheng was novel for so much of that character being mineral taste (what gets picked up by the tongue) versus aromatic components, I just wouldn't drink really exceptional tea while sick.

The worst part is dropping out my tasting and review habit.  Even that works better for having such a low energy level and fuzzy mind; I feel like I'm about 75% clear while I write this initial draft, which isn't so bad, since I'm usually only ever about 90% clear on a good day.  I'm not sure when that last 10% ever kicks in; not too often.  There's a lot of tea I'm excited to get to--kind vendors have sent a lot of samples lately--and it will just have to wait.

Now that I think about it making an herbal version of masala chai might be nice.  Willow herb / fireweed even oxidizes, unlike most tisanes, so it would be as close as any to a "real tea" version.  I reviewed a version of one in a blog post, and a better pressed version in a Moychay site article.  That spice blend would be nice when sick, drinking a version made from cardamom, clove, ginger, fennel seed, and cinnamon, with just a touch of salt to balance it. 

using fresher, more-whole spices is better but whatever you have on hand will do

Even simmering herbs for 15 minutes is a lot of messing around when your energy level is completely bottomed out, but even during the first draft of this I was in a different middle-ground, recovered enough that using a limited quantity of black tea would also be fine.  An online masala chai recipe mentioned an easy way to get around that; start the tea (or tisane) and herbs simmering, turn off the heat and let it sit for awhile, then reboil and let it sit again (with related posts on making that  here and here).

Eight days after first becoming sick I'm mostly back to normal.  It's nice how illness helps you appreciate little things, like a normal energy level, or tasting food and tea again.

Hawaiian tisane blend: Mamaki and Wapine herbs

A family friend (or extended adopted family, really) sent me some tisanes from Hawaii awhile back ("herb teas," to some, or some others don't like to share that word).  They're from the Rocky Farms HI producer.  One I had tried, when I was sick, since that makes for a nice time to drink a tisane / herb tea.  I'll take this in an unusual order, and cover what I thought of it in a review, then get back to what it is.

"Uncle" Al, on the left, with the Koolau Serenaders

with my son, awhile back.  we should visit more

Review

With a tisane it can be described as tasting exactly like the ingredients, those herbs, but I'll compare it to others.  I could probably just quote Wikipedia articles about these herbs and it would do as well.

One part tastes a little like licorice, another not completely removed from mint.  It's probably closest overall to lemongrass.  Maybe I should check what it is again; it could just be that (yep; the part that looks like lemongrass and tastes like lemongrass is actually that--solid reviewing skills).

The flavor is nice, reasonably complex and balanced, but tisanes tend to give up complexity to real tea.  It's smooth in feel, decently full, but the overall flavor range is narrow, and tisanes tend not to transition, to change during brewing.  It's not that far off a version of basil.  That would be in between the Thai basil, which is close to mint, and the western sweet basil, but probably not quite as sweet as either, with the lemongrass supplying that part.  That's about all I'm getting.

This is as much about health benefits as flavor, it seems.  I can investigate those but a conclusion won't emerge, just some ideas about potential positive effects.

Health claims

Normally I don't do much with this subject, or I'd always be going on about traditional claims made related to "real tea."  But somehow it makes sense to me to mention this part for a tisane.  Or maybe it really doesn't, but I'll look up some hearsay anyway.


From the Maui Medicinal Herbs site:

Mamaki is a native Hawaiian nettle species known as an ancient miracle herb. Mamaki tea is best known for its refreshing, smooth taste and medicinal uses. It is known to act as an antioxidant that promotes healthy cardiovascular functions, lowers stress and fatigue levels and acts as a mild laxative. It is also commonly used to reduce allergy symptoms and promote liver Health.

From the Rocky Farms FB page

That overlaps a lot with the other description from the producer of the version I tried, Rocky Farms HI.  Two people saying it doesn't make it true but it sounds good.  I'm not sure what to make of the set of claims overlapping a lot but not matching perfectly.


It was possible to turn up a better source with more information, both a lot of botanical background on the plant (what it is in terms of category, where it can grow, etc.), and also a more neutral source of hearsay for health benefits, from a University of Hawaii based source:


Pipturus albidus, or locally named as māmaki or waimea

Dried or fresh māmaki leaves are used to make a mild but invigorating and healthy tea and one of few commercially available native herbs for consumption. The tea helps with listlessness. Māmaki leaves generally have a more pleasant aroma and taste than koʻokoʻolau. [2] The fresh or dried leaves for mamaki tea have been used to help with many internal disorders such as for the stomach, colon, bladder, liver, and bowels. [3]

Fruit is eaten as a laxative or for stomach, colon and digestive problems. [9]

Infused leaves can be used in treatment for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver problems, depression, bladder problems, bladder infections, and PMS. However, with some people māmaki can cause mild agitation or insomnia. [9]

Practioner David Bruce Leonard adds: "A remarkable friend, māmaki has a soothing effect on the nervous system in a similar way to jasmine tea. It works well for iritability or just to decompress after a day in Babylon." [9]



Mind you that's not an officially sanctioned university study source making those claims, it's a UH related information page citing another local reference source (two of them; those citation numbers).  It's conventional wisdom, like those Chinese traditional health claims, about oolong helping with weight loss and whatever else.

At least it's probably as well-grounded as WebMD.  Oddly in looking for a reference to the health benefits of Lemongrass I turned up this hearsay account of "real tea" health benefits from WebMD, just after typing that.  Let's hope that some of that is accurate.


I was really looking for their input on what health benefits lemongrass supposedly provides, from WebMD, about what it helps resolve:

High cholesterol. 
Yeast infection in the mouth (thrush). 
Stomach and intestinal spasms.
Stomach ache.
High blood pressure.
Convulsions.
Pain.
Vomiting.
Cough.
Achy joints (rheumatism).
Fever.
Common cold.
Exhaustion.
Headache.
Use as an antiseptic and astringent.

More evidence is needed to rate the effectiveness of lemongrass for these uses.

That's a lot.  From when I drank a lot of tisanes one site passed on their standard account of what herbs or other infusions were supposedly good for, from Alvita:


Native to India and tropical Asia, lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus ) has a wonderfully sweet, lemony aroma and zesty flavor that has made this herb a staple in Asian cuisine. Herbalists have also traditionally used tea brewed from lemongrass to soothe the digestive tract.*


Odd that a medical themed site that's ok with passing on hearsay lists out 15 benefits and a site actually selling the product lists only one, in this case.  It's definitely tasty; there's that.


I'm not endorsing any of these claims, just looking them up and passing them on.  The tisane was pleasant to drink, and I wouldn't fault someone for hoping the herbs do pass on those benefits, or taking the next step and accepting that they do.  Drinking that over soda has to be a huge trade up in health impact, and I wouldn't be surprised if this herb infusion does pass on more health benefits than plain water.  It's just hard to guess out which parts are more accurate than the others.