I don’t drink anything but well water, herbal teas, and sometimes apple cider vinegar with Lugol’s iodine and raw honey. I have an electric water distiller, but I prefer the minerals to be in the water and hope that the energy of the well water is pure and fresh enough. I lucked out that my kids grew up in a non-industrial county that was supplied only by well water, so no fluoridation. I just hope chemical spills or explosions don’t occur on my water table, smh. I have recently heard that some well water is too contaminated from agricultural and industrial runoff, but there’s no huge corporate ag over here. My two TDS meters show good readings, around 80-100 parts per million, however they determine ‘total dissolved solids’. I can’t believe I thought it was normal to drink sodas every day when I was young. All of the below include hot water from either a glass kettle or boiled in my wood stove. Honey is referring to raw honey. All are preferably loose leaf, not ground or bagged. Just a fun list, in rough order, with favorites at the top, based on taste:
first flush sencha green tea- Upton Tea is a good source, but it’s hit or miss. I like Yamamotoyama’s sencha tea. I think green tea is one of the best things in this world.
ruda/rue - vegetal tisanes like rue, moringa, linden, wormwood, horsetail, etc. for me are calming and aid digestion, whereas hibiscus, black tea, angelica root, etc. tend to excite. Just bought the plant from an international grocery, so looking forward to eating and steeping this perennial!
moringa
hibiscus/Jamaica and honey- the store-packaged Jamaica from some Hispanic groceries are fresher and cheaper than online.
Davidson’s organic chai black tea mix, coconut cream, and honey. I recommend grinding this blend first, since the cardamom seeds and cloves are whole.
oolong tea. Regarding the tea plant teas, it would be too cumbersome to narrow them by region on this list, except I prefer the Japanese sencha and Chinese oolong and Indian black and chai teas.
rhodiola rosea powder and honey
puerh tea. Puerh tea supposedly has the quality of getting better with age, like wine. I think this seems to be the case, and I still have my stash from a decade ago. And you can steep it at least three times. In the excellent documentary about the tea trade, All in This Tea, David Lee Hoffman says he once steeped a certain tea over 30 times.
chaga mushroom pieces (ground with a mortar and pestle) and honey
spearmint or big-leaf mint and honey. Shear the leaves with your fingers.
licorice root - ground with a mortar and pestle
black tea and honey. By the way, if you buy tea in tea bags, that’s called the fanning grade. I admit, I should not be drinking black tea, since the caffeine really affects me after a break from drinking it, and you want to try to maintain purity with your body and mind, if you’re on a spiritual path. Good whole bean coffee is also a wonder of the world, but a little black tea is good enough for me.
angelica root and honey
rinosan blend - cornsilk, horsetail/shavegrass, etc.
star anise, cloves, cinnamon - grind in mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Star anise has suramin, and is an aphrodisiac ;) . Cinnamon should be the real Ceylon cinnamon, not cassia cinnamon.
turkey tail - tear pieces with your hand and simmer in water for 20 minutes. I have an endless supply on my land. But hey, don’t blame them for killing trees!
prickly ash bark and honey - this will leave a sting on your tongue. Angelica root is also intense, but in a different way. Matthew Wood has an anecdote that prickly ash bark was the only herb that worked for a woman with intense menstrual cramps.
horsetail/shavegrass
carob, raw or whole 100% grass fed milk, and honey. Coconut cream doesn’t seem to work well with kharoub. You can find nibs at some Arabic stores.
chamomile
cacao, coconut cream, honey, cinammon. You can find whole cacao beans for $3 per 12 ounce package at some Hispanic stores.
mugwort and honey (I prefer the dried mugwort, but fresh is convenient, from my garden). Very easy perennial to grow, but will spread all over your garden. ‘Wort’ means it is good for you, so it is good for your mug. It’s probably related to ‘worthy’, ‘worth’, etc.
chanca piedra (bhumi amalaki in Indian groceries) and honey - stone breaker for your kidneys or gall bladder/liver, but keep in mind, in order to get rid of the manifestation of stones, you need to change your diet first, not rely on teas or other quick fixes.
linden
yerba mate and honey. The stainless steel straw I have for yerba mate gets clogged up, so I just strain the tea.
tulsi/tulasi/holy basil, lemon, honey
blue lotus flowers and honey
cascara sagrada bark (sacred bark) - I got mine from TAMETHESPIRIT on Etsy
Korean bodicha - roasted barley
una de gato/cat’s claw and honey - buy the whole bark at Hispanic stores
skullcap
barberry root and honey
gynostemma and honey
loose leaf white tea - white tea is the least steamed of the Camellia sinensis teas, so this preserves more of the nutrients, since it’s not oxidized/burned as much. But this means you get less flavor.
cancerina and honey - similar color to una de gato
black cohosh root and honey
stinging nettle - from my garden. A very hardy perennial, will spread! Boil for 10 minutes.
cuachalalate
pine needles
Teas I do not like:
rooibos
stone root - too hard to grind. The name is very fitting.
damiana
epazote en rama
Pao D’arco
I’m sure I’m missing others. What are your favorites?
Please tell me about your experience with horsetail tea
Just came across your pinpoint. I would suggest looking into John Ellis water and browns gas. Eagle research. Plants don’t lie but they sure show their appreciation!