Super Water

We are advised to drink eight glasses of water every day.  It’s a good idea, but why not make it super-water?

Recently I’ve become interested in herbal alternatives to pharmaceutical products, which have many undesirable side effects. One is hibiscus tea. Who would guess that red hibiscus flowers pack so many health benefits, benefits – lowering blood pressure and cholesterol as well as benefiting the liver? It’s also rich in vitamin C.

Drinking hibiscus tea has deep cultural roots. In Jamaica, Mexico and Central America it is called "Agua de Flor de Jamaica" It is also a traditional drink in North Africa, Asia and Italy. Although the traditional drink is sweetened with sugar, I’ve been making plain hibiscus tea to mix with my morning orange juice.

I’m also drinking oat straw tea, a mildly sweet, grassy tea. Oat straw has just about everything one could need: calcium, magnesium, vitamins A and B complex. It’s good for insomnia, estrogen deficiency, thyroid conditions, depression and anxiety. It boosts the immune system and lowers cholesterol. Oats are native to Scotland but have spread to many parts of the world. It was the Scots who first made tea from oat straw.

In the following photos I’ve already started my daily oat straw tea and am ready to brew hibiscus tea. The proportions are one tablespoon oat straw to one cup of water and one-fourth cup hibiscus flowers to two cups of water. Hibiscus flowers and oat straw are available in bulk at your local health food store.

Here I’ve just poured boiling water over the hibiscus flowers. Quickly the water turns red.

Here the teas have finished brewing and are ready to be strained. I let them cool completely before straining.

Let's drink to the health benefits and delightful tastes of super water.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer