Tag: herbal tea - Only By Prayer

One day I was in Goodwill looking through the kitchen supplies area when I saw a kitchen gadget I’d been wanting to buy for a long time—a tea press! I couldn’t believe it. I breathed a prayer of thanks to God and picked it up. It was a Bodum, a great brand. I had already purchased two glass Bodum teacups several years ago and loved them. I knew the quality of this would match the teacups.

Is a Tea Press and a French Coffee Press the Same Thing?

It may be that you are wondering how to use a tea press too. I recorded this short video to show you how simple it is. Incidentally, a tea press and a French coffee press do the same thing with one difference, so if you have a coffee press, you can use it to make your herb tea. The difference is that when you push the plunger down on the tea press, it stops the tea from steeping any longer. From what I understand, a French coffee press will allow the tea leaves to continue steeping, so you need to pour all of your tea out of the press at that point if you don’t want it any stronger. Also if you have already used your French press for coffee, be sure you wash it thoroughly so that the tea doesn’t taste like coffee.

In the video I mention nettles tea. Yes, this is the same plant that is known as stinging nettle (Urtica spp.). It is a nutritive herb and contains calcium, magnesium, and chlorophyll. It has a green, veggie flavor, but it’s an excellent base tea. You can blend it with other nutritive teas like oat straw, the mints, chamomile, rose, hibiscus, ginger, cinnamon, and so on. In the video, I also mention that it is excellent to add to soup bases. You can either make the tea ahead of time like I do in the video and use that as part of your broth base, or put a few teaspoons of dried nettle in a tea bag and let it steep in the soup while it’s cooking. Just remember to remove it when it’s done.

Let me know if you use a tea press and what type of tea you like to make in it. Have fun experimenting!

Enjoy!

Botanically me,

How To Use a Tea Press from Jane VanOsdol on Vimeo.

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Ready or not, 2018 has arrived! I don’t know about you, but for me 2017 went by in a blur. It was an eventful year with a bucket list trip of my husband’s realized, our first grandchild born, and the loss of my mom. I was stretched in many ways last year.

But that’s now in the past, and this fresh year is waiting, ready to be realized, explored, and developed. Have you set any goals? I’ve always set goals, but haven’t been very good at sticking with them. Over the last few years, I’ve been challenged to live into and lean into my goals, to bring as many of them to reality as possible — because nobody else is going to do it for me! I’m responsible for the direction of my life and what I achieve.

This year I’d like to encourage you to start a new healthy habit. Let’s talk through a few points that will help make this goal stick.

Which Goal Should I Pick?

I like to set goals in different areas, like spiritual, physical, “soulful,” and work. For our purposes, let’s just choose one. After you complete the process, you can then go on to create as many other goals as you would like. Where to start?

Start in the area where you have the greatest need.

Perhaps you feel like your spiritual life has been stagnant and could use a boost, so you can start there. Or maybe your health has taken a beating and you need to make some changes in this area (physical). It could be you’ve realized that you are always last on the priority list, so you need to build some time in your life to do things that feed your soul ( your mind, mood, will, emotions), or perhaps you want to set a goal that focuses on the work you do (this could be your own business, your home with your kids and spouse, your job, or your volunteer work).

Brainstorm ideas and pick one. Now schedule it. Actually write it in your planner/add it to your online calendar. Until you make room for it, it won’t actually happen. If you like, there are some downloadable fun habit tracker worksheets where you check or color in a circle each time you do the new habit. Do whatever motivates and works for you.

Inspiration

Need some inspiration? Start here:

Soul Goal:

Choose your one word for the year. I love this goal, because its so simple yet it can touch every area of your life. One word simply means that you choose one word to focus on that seems to apply to you at this phase of your life. For example, my one word for 2018 is consistent because I need to focus on being consistent in some areas of my life, like work. As you think about it, usually one word pops into your mind.

Physical Goal:

To help support my health, this year I have decided to drink at least one cup of herbal tea each day, and I want to try my own blends (including the one at the right). Herbal tea was actually the go-to medicine for people before the advent of modern medicine, and herbal teas contain wonderful properties that support health.

Here’s the recipe to my blend if you’d like to try it:

Happiness Tea

1 tsp. Hibiscus
1 tsp. Rooibos
1 tsp. Rosehips
1 tsp. Gogi berries.

Pour 2 cups just-boiled water over the top and steep for 15 minutes. Sweeten as desired.

Spiritual Goal:

To encourage my spiritual growth, this year I want to add 30 minutes of prayer to my devotional time in the morning. I’m keeping a prayer notebook to record all my requests and insights too.

Work Goal:

This year I have set the goal to be consistent (there’s that one word) in posting one blog a week.

Now it’s your turn.

What’s one new healthy habit that you can start this year? Let me know what you’re thinking, and I’ll be cheering you on as I work through my goal too!