Basil Herbal Tea

Basil Herbal Tea

This popular herb, Ocimum basilicum species, has an incredible range of flavors, and most varieties are quick annuals, such as the delicious lemon basil, cinnamon basil, Thai basil, ginger basil, and Genoese basil.

However, it is the perennial sacred basil, O. b. tenuifolium (sanctum), that I most often turn to, not only for its rich, clove-like scent and taste but also for its instant antispasmodic effect.

I try to have a cup of sacred basil tea almost every day and grow a bush or two at the kitchen door for quick pickings, as it is thought to be beneficial for the heart in particular. Research in India, its native land, has found it to be helpful in lowering high blood pressure, cleansing the blood, and lowering blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

It is regarded as an ‘adaptogenic’, which helps the body to cope with and adapt to, new bombardments of stress and tension-filled demands, and it acts as a tonic, energizing and restoring balance.

I also grow the huge sprawling High Hopes Basil — the biggest of all the basils, with its mass of flowers which can be included in the tea, and add a jug full of tea to my bath water to experience that lovely, much-needed relaxation.

All the basils have excellent detoxifying and anti-inflammatory properties, and even chewing a basil leaf will help ease indigestion and tension, and sipping a cup of basil tea is a most soothingly pleasant experience.

Take 1/4 cup of fresh leaves (never even think of using dried basil — it loses virtually all its taste in the drying), pour over this a cup of boiling water, leave it to stand for 3–5 minutes, strain, and sip slowly.

Basil tea is also an excellent slimmer’s tea, and is more and more popular today for ‘the detox process, particularly after a calorie-rich meal. Sacred basil tea is effective for bladder ailments, acne, over-oily skin, and blemishes and to stimulate circulation, to name but a few uses, and it is a much loved ‘cure-all’ in its diversity. Try it!

Hibiscus Tea

Basil reviver

• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 6 thin slices of unpeeled cucumber
• 2 thick slices of peeled pineapple

Pour a cup of boiling water over the fresh basil leaves. Let it stand for three minutes, strain it, and pour it into a glass. Stand this in a bowl and tuck ice around it. While it cools, blend six thin slices of unpeeled cucumber and two thick slices of peeled pineapple in a liquidizer.

Add two tablespoons of crushed ice. Mix in the basil tea and serve in a tall glass with more crushed ice.

At the end of a hot day, this is a superb, cool refresher.