Monday, January 28, 2013

Tea Recipe to Keep You Healthy!

My first yoga class was in 1998 at a place called Yoga Yoga in Austin, Texas.  A skinny man with a beard dressed in white clothes with a turban on his head had us do strange chanting and fast breathing and other things like make faces like a lion and laugh spontaneously and then we all had to lay down while he played a gong for what seemed like a very long time.

I thought it was the weirdest thing ever.

Then, after is was all over, we were served a cup of the most amazing tea I had ever had.  Seriously.  It tasted SO good to me.

So I went back.  And I went back again.  And again.  Because, although yoga was extremely unusual to my Southern upbringing, I sure did feel good after class and for the days afterwards.  And that tea!  How could I pass up that tea?

That was my introduction to yoga; it was kundalini yoga.  My first teacher was Mehtab (aka Michael), and his classes were quite magical.  And that tea is known as Yogi Tea (or chai), and it's a recipe passed on from the famed Yogi Bhajan.

I still practice Kundalini yoga, and I don't think it's weird at all any more, just awesome.  I now live in my home state of Alabama, and I take the occasional kundalini class here at the various yoga studios around town that happen to offer it.  Recently I was in Akasha's class at Birmingham Yoga, and he reminded us of the awesome benefits of yogi tea and suggested we make it ourselves.

Wow.  Why haven't I thought of that?



So at New Year's, a friend and I went to the store seeking out the ingredients, and I now drink this wonderful tea in the comfort of my own home just about every morning.  Because it's just so darn good!

AND, I have not gotten the flu.  I swear, I think this tea may be the best cold/sick preventer out there.  Be gone, flu.  Be gone, flu-shots-that-get-us-sick-anyway!

So drink up, friends!

Here's the recipe courtesy of Birmingham Yoga!

Photo Source
YOGI TEA:


When Yogi Bhajan was a military commander in India there was an epidemic among the troops. He ordered all of his men to fill their canteens with yogi tea and drink nothing else, not even water. His Battalion was the only unit that didn’t get sick! Yogi tea purifies the blood, lungs and circulatory system. It cleans the liver and has many more unseen benefits. It’s good to drink this tea every day.
1 Gallon Water
30 Cloves
30 whole Green Cardamon pods
30 whole Black Peppercorns
1 inch or more of fresh Ginger, thinly sliced
5 sticks Cinnamon
1 teabag, Black Tea ( leave out if sensitive to caffeine or planning to drink at night)
*Milk and Honey/Maple syrup to taste or Almond Milk.
  1. Bring water to boil.
  2. Add all spices except black tea bag. Boil 30 -45 min. If you want to make it stronger boil longer and add more water as needed.
  3. At the end add black tea bag and boil another 5 min.
    **The black tea is added last because it amalgamates the spices and sort of seals them. Also the tannins help assimilate the spices into the body.
  4. Add milk & sweetener to an individual cup as you require.  This will allow you to store the raw tea in the fridge and prepare with milk and sweeteners as you like.
  5. If you go cup by cup, you can leave the raw tea on the stove on the lowest flame to enjoy all day.
**Milk helps to ease the shock of the spices on the stomach and intestines so drink with milk if you’re sensitive. Note: for a stronger tea you can let the spices sit and sink to the bottom.




2 comments:

Marisa Petroro said...

Had a blast buying these ingredients with you on New Year's Day! I've been loving my homemade yogi tea too! xoxo

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing this post last fall and thought, "I should take the time to read that." Well, I didn't :-( I've had a cold the last week so thought, Hey I need to find Katie's tea recipe and I did! Can't wait to go home and make this tonight and be on the road to a healthier me. Thanks Miss Katie :-)
Hugs,
Idaho Sheri