Home-brewed Comfort: Menstrual Relief Tea

Tea is great. It's one of the simplest ways to get vitamin boosts and help induce higher comfort levels. It's also been around for thousands of years; the Egyptians and Ancient Chinese knew about tea and drank it.

This tea recipe is one I've been experimenting with and is sort of a work in progress. I say that because there could be another herb that is easy to find in loose quantities that would work better and be the icing to this tea cake.


Ingredients

• Chamomile
• Mint (any of the mints will work, I use just general mint)
• Ginger

Get the pure stuff. Pure Chamomile, pure mint and pure ginger. Do not get anything that isn't just that herb. Yes, it makes it a tad more expensive, but it's worth it.

You can sweeten this tea, but I would advise that you use honey, real honey, and only one spoonful.

Ratios of the blend

• 4 parts Chamomile
• 2 parts mint
• 1 part ginger

Chamomile should be the majority of the tea. If you're brewing a pot, you want about a tablespoon and a half (or two bags). Just one cup? Two teaspoons (or one bag).

Mint for a pot of tea is half of a tablespoon (one bag). For one cup use 1 teaspoon (if you have only bags, just go ahead use one bag).

Ginger is where it gets tricky. Ginger is very effective and you don't want a lot of it in your tea because it will overpower the other two herbs in terms of flavor, and then you're left choking it down. For a pot of tea, use a teaspoon and no more. For just a cup, use a pinch... literally, Use whatever minimal amount you can pick up with your thumb, index finger and middle finger. Again... do not use too much ginger.


Why chamomile, mint and ginger? 

I'm glad you asked. All three are great for upset stomachs, and nausea is common among menstruating women, even more so than the urge to rip off people's heads!

Chamomile:

• helps you relax 
• reduces insomnia (oh, how I love it for this property) 
• eases anxiety 
• boosts the immune system 
• helps your body not only end diarrhea, but also makes recovery more comfortable 
• lessens cramps (In my experience with this tea, it reduces the amount of pain reliever I need to take in order to deal with the cramps. As this is my personal experience, take it with a grain of salt as each woman's body will react slightly differently)

Mint:

• eases digestive problems 
• helps keep brain fog at bay 
• improves your mood 
• seems to be an aid in increasing blood flow, which can reduce the magnitude of headaches 
• reduces stress 
• is a mild pain reliever

Ginger:

• is used to treat all sorts of digestive track problems 
• is a pain reliever 
• has a compound that reduces bloating 
• counter-acts loss of appetite 
• improves blood circulation 
• reduces inflammation 
• is a mood booster

As you can see, there are some very common themes between these three herbs. 

Advice

Remember, do not use too much ginger. Too much ginger can actually make your stomach problems WORSE. It doesn't take a lot of ginger to be effective. 

Three mugs on the first day is usually all I need. Sometimes I need to drink it for 3-4 days straight, but in those cases I only have two mugs a day and spread out over the day.

Be sure to read over the links I've included. There's a lot more information on the herbs themselves and conditions that they might aggravate.

Happy sipping!

Links for more information

Please be sure to check out these articles for information on allergies and side effects,

Chamomile:

• The Tea Talk
• Web MD

Mint:

• Peppermint heath benefits
• Web MD

Ginger:

• Web MD
• Ginger Tea Benefits