Hannah’s Writing Tea (Recipe)

I’m definitely a morning person, and I’ve noticed that my productivity starts to dip around 3 p.m. each day. With this in mind, I’ve found that it’s really helpful to structure my days so that I write or do creative activities in the morning when my mind is most active, and then I shift over to administrative tasks in the afternoon.

However, some days I just need to keep my head down and keep writing or working on a creative project to make a deadline. If I’m starting to feel sluggish, I’ll typically brew a pot of my favorite Writing Tea (recipe below). Then, while I wait for it to steep, I’ll pull some weeds in the garden, tidy up a bit, snuggle the dogs for a while, or just close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.

Hannah’s Writing Tea Recipe

After years of following complex herbal tea recipes, this simple one has truly risen to the top as being effective, easy to make, and delicious. The green tea lends just enough of a pick-me-up to keep my mind active for a few hours, but not so much that I feel jittery or have trouble falling asleep at night.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp green tea leaves

• 1 tsp dried peppermint (Mentha x piperita) leaves

• 1 tsp dried oatstraw (Avena sativa) aerial parts

To make: Combine herbs in a teapot of your choice, cover with just-boiled water, cover, and let steep 5 minutes. Remove the strainer from your pot, and enjoy!

Why These Herbs?

The combination of herbs in this simple, energizing tea tastes delicious, but the blend is also intentional in terms of how each ingredient affects the body.

Green Tea

Green tea contains caffeine, which is what lends most of the energizing qualities to this tea. Green tea is also packed with antioxidants, and it’s been shown to improve blood flow, lower cholesterol, and prevent a range of heart-related issues.

Interesting fact: apparently vitamin C helps make the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea easier for the body to absorb, so adding a squeeze of lemon will make your green tea all the more powerful!

Peppermint

You can tell that peppermint (Mentha x piperita) is uplifting just from its taste. It’s cooling and refreshing, and it’s part of the reason why this tea tastes delicious when iced, as well.

Peppermint increased mental clarity and aids concentration. Herbalist Rosemary Gladstar refers to peppermint as “a blast of pure green energy” and touts its ability to help one feel renewed and refreshed.

Peppermint is also a digestive aid that’s known to help soothe stomach pain, spasms, and cramps. My anxiety tends to manifest in the form of digestive upset, so drinking a bit of peppermint every day helps my digestion stay balanced. I love this versatile herb so much that I have an entire raised bed dedicated to it, and I dehydrate batches all summer long so that I have gallons of dried peppermint leaves to last me through winter.

Peppermint reminds me that just because an herb in common, doesn’t make it any less magical.

Oatstraw

I’m currently having a love affair with oatstraw (Avena sativa). The grassy flavor is very grounding, and it helps to mellow out the taste of the other two ingredients, especially any bitterness that can happen if you accidentally over-steep the green tea.

Soothing and nourishing, oatstraw is traditionally used to replenish the nervous system. It’s also known to improve concentration and mental clarity (Oatstraw monograph, Herbal Academy’s herbarium).

If I’m reaching for caffeine in the afternoon, then I’m probably trying to make a deadline and I’m a little stressed out. Oatstraw helps balance that feeling. It helps me feel centered and grounded, but not sleepy, which is perfect for getting work done without burning out.

In Closing,

I hope you try my Writing Tea recipe and enjoy it as much as I do! If you brew yourself a steaming mug, then please tag me on social (@hannah_aften) so we can marvel at it together. <3