Homemade Inner Sunshine Herbal Tea

When everything is looking bleak, reach for the inner sunshine tea.

Last Christmas I made a huge batch of a lavender version of this homemade tea and handed out little 50g packets of it as gifts. It’s lovely to give the gift of sunshine. This tea really does give you that content, nurtured, warm feeling in your heart.

As I mentioned above this tea was originally made with Damiana, Lemon Balm and Lavender. Since then I’ve decided to swap lavender for chamomile as not only do I believe they harmonise much better together, I sometimes find lavender extremely heady and when life is a struggle, you need to move the energy from the head into the heart. I feel that the mixture of lemon balm, chamomile, damiana, cardomom and goji berry does just that.

You may know chamomile as the before bed tea – this is because of it’s amazing powers of relaxation. For me, it’s not so much of a sleep inducing herb, but more of an overall tension reducer. Chamomile is also effective for soothing a sore tummy, or symptoms of IBS which can arise with anxiety.

If you’ve been following my blog, you will have noticed I’ve mentioned Lemon Balm a few times and have even made a Lemon Balm Porridge recipe! I’ve got to say – Lemon balm is my ultimate favorite, my all-round do-gooder. In traditional herbalism, you’ll read that it is used to ‘induce a merry heart’. Ah. AH!!! So lovely. And it really, really does. It melts away your stress, irritation, calms those frazzled nerves and takes the edge off of your anxiety completely. Additionally, like chamomile it’s an anti-inflammatory; it will provide relief from digestive issues and period pains.

And Damiana, the ancient aphrodisiac – hehe! I promise I’m not giving you a recipe for inappropriate herbal tea (my lord, inappropriate tea- has my life really come to this?). Yes, it can increase a level of sexual arousal in men and women, but the reason I favor it so much is it’s way of inducing that giggly, snuggly love feeling which is so refreshing when you’re feeling so numb. This is a powerful herb and it really does wonders for that disassociative state; it brings you back into your own.

I’ve added 50g of goji berries to the herbal tea for the vitamin C/antioxidant benefits, so that if you’re feeling under the weather from an illness, you can reap the benefits of these little berries. Plus, they add a sweetness to the tang of the herbal tea that’s simply wonderful.

Finally, cardamom not only adds a lovely sweet flavor to the tea, it’s an anti-inflammatory and will do wonders for your digestion and any urinary tract issues.

When I go to make this tea I head to Neals Yard Remedies and buy the herbs individually there. It normally comes to about £4-6 depending on how much I’m making.

Ingredients

Makes enough to fill a 500g jar

45g chamomile flowers
40g lemon balm
30g damiana
50g goji berries
10 crushed cardamom pods

Method

Crush the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar and add to the 500g jar.
Measure out the herbs and add them into the jar, one after the other.
Add the goji berries.
Shake the jar!

To make a herbal tea, strain 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of the inner sunshine tea with 200ml hot water and take when needed. I like to make a flask of it and carry it around with me when I’ve got to go into large crowds, before an interview or meeting, or when I’m struggling.

Enjoy,

Anna xxx

P.S here’s a picture of me post Inner Sunshine tea. I was also listening to Beyonce and feeling pretty damn good!