How to brew chamomile tea

Simple and gentle on taste, chamomile has long been one of the favorite components for brewing tea. In addition to the delicate spicy aroma with which it enriches the drink, its healing properties are also valuable. It quickly soothes the skin, relieves irritation, helps to normalize the emotional background and sleep, promotes proper digestion and even weight loss. Drink your favorite tea with additives as a light hot drink or drink decoctions for the prevention and treatment of ailments.

What is useful camomile

Dried leaves and flowers of the plant, with a sophisticated aroma, are rich in natural protective substances that have this effect:

1. Anti-inflammatory and soothing - chamomile relieves redness, helps restore healthy skin cells and organs, balance the nervous system.
2. Antiviral and antibacterial - chamomile solution helps to gently disinfect the body.
3. Diuretic and choleretic - chamomile teas normalize the liver and remove retained fluid from the body.
4. Analgesic and antispasmodic - decoctions treat migraines, female pains, soothe articular and muscle discomfort.
5. Chamomile also helps restore appetite and eliminate the symptoms of diarrhea.

How to choose a good chamomile tea

You can dry chamomile for tea yourself: if you have a medicinal variety of chamomile with small flowers growing in your country house, the raw materials can be collected, crushed and dried in an oven or electric dryer at a temperature of 40-45 degrees. So the chamomile will retain all its useful properties. The plant is rich in essential oils that help preserve vitamins for a long time.

A good freshly picked chamomile exudes a characteristic pleasant smell, and will be completely dry to the touch. A broken branch during rubbing can leave a slight ethereal trace and smell on the fingers. Wet leaves should not be taken - they could have time to have mold or bacteria in them.

As for ready-made packaged teas, such a drink, if you do not stint and choose a good branded tea, will be fragrant, moreover, it is often presented in a composition with fragrant herbs and fruits. However, such a mixture will certainly not be as healing as a pharmacy's collection.

The dried chamomile powder is stored for about a year, remaining fresh and healthy, and another year, gradually losing its useful properties. More than two years to store grass is not worth it. If you do not want to throw away the collection, brew a hair rinse with it or take a soothing bath - external use will not be harmful. But for medicinal purposes, you have to buy a new harvest of the current year.

How to drink chamomile for medicinal purposes

1. To calm the nerves and relax, normalize sleep and appetite under severe stress, brew a strong drink in the proportions of 2 tbsp. dry powder in a glass of boiling water. The drug is infused for 40 minutes and begin to take 1/4 cup for a couple of hours before bedtime. If desired, the tea leaves can be diluted with warm water and honey and mint added for taste.
2. A cool infusion is prepared to improve the condition of the skin, treat acne, normalize mood, maintain endurance during intellectual exertion and stimulate digestion. For this, 2 tbsp.daisies are filled with cold water (half a liter or a liter). It is desirable - mineral or refined, but it is also possible ordinary boiled. The drink is allowed to infuse for several hours, usually the mixture is poured overnight. Like any herbal extract, the liquid is filtered before use. You can drink with honey or lemon. They also wash themselves with infusion.
3. With a cold, 1 tbsp. chamomile powder is poured with boiling water and insist 15-20 minutes. In a cup, mix 1/2 tablespoon of grated or crushed ginger and a slice of lemon, mashed with honey. The mixture is diluted with chamomile infusion and drink the drink warm, gargling if coughing disturbs.
4. A mixture of 1 tbsp will also strengthen immunity. chamomile and the same amount of lime on 200 ml of boiling water. Insist a drink for 30 minutes, drink with honey in a warm form (you can heat in a microwave or in a Turk on fire, without bringing to a boil). 1/3 cup of this drug 3 times a day for 5 days will relieve signs of a cold.
5. For weight loss, it is recommended to brew a mixture of birch buds, immortelle and St. John's wort with chamomile, taken in equal proportions. On a glass of boiling water you need 1 tbsp. raw materials. Infusion is steamed in a water bath or in a thermos for 15 minutes. Drink half a glass before meals 2 times a day. After a two-week course, let the body break the habit.

Helpful information

Chamomile is not boiled in the case of treatment, or brewing a fragrant drink. With prolonged heat treatment, the plant loses its healing properties and a pleasant smell. Chamomile can be infused in cold and warm water, as well as boiled with boiling water, and then kept in a thermos from 15-40 minutes to several hours.

They store the finished infusion in the refrigerator for no more than a day - after that it spoils and ceases to be useful. For each drug intake, it is advisable to brew a fresh potion.

Dry chamomile is best stored in a glass or ceramic tea jar away from direct sunlight. Chamomile, which is stored in a canvas bag or cardboard, can quickly lose its healing characteristics and field aroma, as well as absorb foreign odors and moisture.

Contraindications and Cautions

If you like chamomile as a drink, you can sometimes pamper yourself with tea mixes. But do not introduce chamomile tea into a regular diet. The plant has a pronounced effect, for therapeutic purposes it is drunk in courses with interruptions. Chamomile produces a sedative effect, can cause lethargy, drowsiness, and in case of an overdose, arouse a strong appetite or cause irritation of the skin and mucous membranes. Before use, make sure that you are not allergic to chamomile.

As a table drink, drink chamomile 1-2 times a week or regularly with breaks - a week after a week.

What you can drink chamomile tea with

Chamomile is combined with other spicy and mild flavors. For example, a pinch of cinnamon, apple peel, mint, lemon balm and honey are often added to tea. Tea is also seasoned with ginger, cardamom, lemon and lime, pineapple, lychee, elderberry and aronia. Tart tea can be brewed with rose hips and orange zest. They also drink chamomile with rose petals and cherries.

All components are added to taste, there are no universal recipes. Making small experiments, you can achieve a unique taste and create your own secret recipe to enjoy the original taste of your favorite tea.

Video: chamomile tea - a healing drink