This tea is mineral-rich, good for your nervous system, builds bones, is heart-healthy, is super yummy, and has a beautiful purple color. Purple is one of my favorite colors. I actively work at bringing wild foods of all colors into my diet. Purple can be one of the harder colors to get year-round.
This tea is a crowd-pleaser. I highly recommend it for hot summer outdoor gatherings. It also has a great Latin name It’s Latin Clitoria ternatea. Yup, super fun conversation starter.
Butterfly Pea potential benefits:
Butterfly pea flower is common in many herbal teas, mixed drinks, and cosmetic products. It is rich in antioxidants and may be linked to several health benefits, support mitochondrial health, better blood sugar control, and improve hair and skin health. It’s blue or purple depending on how you brew it. Do we need more information?
Herbal Energetics of butterfly pea flower–
Clear communication, self-expression, and truth. The blue (Throat) chakra helps people communicate effectively, listen, and use their creative energy. It also helps people connect their ideas, openness, truth, self-expression, and communications to become more empathetic and effective communicators.
The purple or crown chakra is a powerful energy center crucial to spiritual growth and development. This chakra is our connection to our higher self and the divine. When activated and balanced, the purple chakra can enhance our overall physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Ingredients:
Butterfly leaf tea- 4 tsp or tea bags (depends on how you purchase it)
Oatstraw or Linden leaf and flower– 1/2 ounce
Spearmint- 2 tsp
2 quart jar
Lemon juice– 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon of juice
Sweetener of choice- optional (you can also use 1 tsp of licorice root or 3 fresh stevia leaves. It takes time to learn your pallet so start small)
Oatstraw will make this brew supportive of the nervous system and bone building. Linden is cooling during the summer months and has immunomodulatory effects with an affinity for the heart and vascular system. Make both and see what calls to you.
Pour all ingredients into the jar except the lemon juice. Add boiling water to the top and let sit at least 2 hours. Strain and compost the plant materials. Add lemon juice and watch the jar turn a beautiful purple color. I enjoy this cold but you can try this in the winter months as a warm beverage.
A little bit about Oatstraw:
Dried oatstraw is my favorite form of oats for the bones, nervous system and reproductive health.
The green and fibrous material is rich in minerals, especially those that are important for the nervous system, as well as the integumentary system (hair, bones, teeth, nails). According to Nutritional Herbology by Mark Pederson, dried oat straw is high in calcium, magnesium, chromium, niacin, and silicon. The best way to extract these minerals is by decoction: simmering a generous portion in water for 20 minutes or longer or an infusion. I’ve spoken to countless people who attribute their stronger hair, nails, and teeth to oat straw. This type of preparation is commonly used for osteopenia.
A little bit about Linden:
Linden flowers and leaves have been used as food and medicine for thousands of years. It has a wide variety of uses, from being a relaxing nervine to a relaxing diaphoretic, and is even often used for people with high blood pressure.
Linden tea is cooling, soothing, and delicious! Linden is very well known in France for its medicinal qualities. After meals, especially dinner, we were always offered a ‘tisane’ or herbal tea and, you guessed it, linden was the most frequent tea on the menu. Linden has long been used to nourish and support the heart, especially for people with hypertension. As a relaxing nervine, linden can release tense musculature and relieve acute stress. We know how it feels to walk around with our shoulders tense to our ears, feeling jumpy and on edge. That alone can raise blood pressure! Linden is ideally suited to relieving this tense condition.
Wishing you happiness and health!
Chrystal Cocek
Northern Colorado Herbalist
Integrated Earth Medicine
Herbalist and Medince Journey Guide