What is your favorite kind of tea for relaxing?

earl grey, with sugar and rum

@ragingloli How do you personally like to drink it?

earl gray, hot. with 2 sugars.

rose hip, with a bit of honey. hot.

PG tips with milk and 2 sugars.

Mr. T

Dilmah Morrocan Mint Green Tea, it is very nice.

I think Earl Grey tastes the way perfume smells, can’t get it past my nose, maybe the rum would help!

I love tea with anise in it. Or red clover. Or anything peppery. mmmm….

Decaffeinated green tea. No sugar/milk/anything else added.

For relaxing, I like a good hot cup of peppermint tea.I make it with fresh peppermint from my garden, steep for about 6 minutes. no sweetener necessary—Mmmmmmmmmm!

Numi Jasmine Green

Tops, with a lot of resin.

It doesn’t relax me but I like to drink chamomile with lemon and honey.

Long Island Ice Tea

Rooibos, preferably wild cherry flavour. For those who don’t know, Rooibos (meaning “red bush” in Afrikaans) is a S.African tea, very popular among the Zulus. It’s supposed to have medicinal effects, but basically relaxes your body and soothes stomach and/or period pains. It is caffeine-free.

@Jack79 Yay for Rooibos!

@samanthabarnum Liquorice is my choice.
It tastes so….. liquoricy!

OMg i love umm…yeah I love the mint kind…mmmmm….;]

Matricaria recutita-Chamomile….mmmm

Earl Grey or Yorkshire Gold, either with a smidge of honey or a bit of milk and a sugar.

Celestial Seasonings makes a couple teas that I like to relax with- Plain chamomile, Sleepytime, and Tension Tamer. My husband bought me Tension Tamer as a stocking stuffer one year as a hint ;)

Pepper Mint tea is my favorite

The french herbal tea “verveine” which is verbena in English is wonderfully soothing but hard to get outside of France. I drink it with nothing added to it.

For relaxing, I like chamomile or my very favorite tea, which my husband and I find very relaxing, although I do not know if that is acknowledged as a general property of it:

Silver Needles white tea.

Dried Chamomile mixed with dried Mint leaves, steeped for 10 mins… Mmmmmm….

White Ayurvedic Chai

I love peppermint too, but recently my mom got me hooked on rose tea, which is even more relaxing than the peppermint. My current favorite is a White Rose & Peony tea – it’s very tasty, very relaxing, and it smells heavenly!

chamomile

1. JuPu tea (available in Chinatown in NY… perhaps elsewhere, too); it has a naturally sweet flavor, even when unsweetened.

2. An infusion of fennel seeds or aniseed (just douse them with boiling water and let them sink to the bottom of the cup) – very relaxing, aids digestion.

3. Sage leaves (real, live ones, not dried) boiled together with regular black tea – loose or in a bag – and sugar to taste, then strained. Good for the stomach, and especially for period cramps, gas, or constipation.

4. Chamomile.

5. A bit esoteric, but: An herb called “Zuta Levana” or “Zuta” – excellent for soothing the stomach and relaxing the mind, grows in the hilly regions of the Middle East. Might be available at a Lebanese grocery, or at an emporium such as Kalustyan’s in NYC.

6. Any mix of sage, lemon grass, lemon verbena, mint leaves, and other herbs – with or without black tea, with or without sugar.

7. Last but not least: Sometimes there’s nothing like a good old “cuppa”: English or Irish Breakfast tea, milk and sugar… Mmmmmm

1. Decaf chai, perhaps vanilla. Add soy milk and honey.

2. Black tea with soy milk and honey.

Even decaf tea is a bit much for me when I want to relax. Since all tea has caffeine, I generally avoid them when I’m trying to relax.

Of course, since pretty much everyone calls hot-steeped-herbal-drinks-that-have-absolutely-no-tea-in-them, “tea,” then I suppose I should suggest mint and lemon balm. Try growing and drying it yourself! Much easier than it seems, and incredibly satisfying!

If I want to relax I will usually go for an herbal concoction. Tulsi, aka holy basil, is always a good bet. It seems to balance my narcolepsy and insomnia.