This is the first broadcast from Argentina and I’m glad to announce that everything on the production side is running smoothly…
Internet is working, I bought a Flip Video (that downloads direct to the computer), and we’re having fun while we’re exploring the city of Buenos Aires.
Even better yet, I’ll be giving you some Argentine themed shows this week to give you a flavor of South America.
Today’s show is on a traditional drink of the Argentines as well as the middle of South America–it’s called Yerba Mate–and has actually gotten quite popular in the US and other places around the world recently.
When I first was introduced to Yerba Mate 10 years ago, you couldn’t find it anywhere, but now you can find it in most health food stores…
Enjoy!
Your question of the day: What is your favorite tea?
Go ahead and click here, scroll down to the bottom of the page and add your two cents!
Live Awesome!
Kevin
PS. Please don’t forget to sign up for regular updates of the Renegade Health Show on the lefthand side of the blog or underneath any posting…
8:09 pm on March 31st, 2008
My favorite tea is Rooibos w/ Yerba Mate and my wife’s favorite tea is Wild Power Tea (Wild Borage leaves, Wild Strawberry and Hibiscus flowers) from North American Herb & Spice.
8:23 pm on March 31st, 2008
Fascinating – the custom that goes along with drinking it.
Fav tea Green with jasmine.
8:28 pm on March 31st, 2008
Sliver Jasmine is my pleasure!
Cheers!
8:34 pm on March 31st, 2008
Hi Kevin
Your shows are great, I love to watch them.
To answer your question, there are several kinds of tea that are my favorite, it depends on my mood.
Most of the time I drink green tea with lemon. Also I like the south african “rooibos” tea ( redwood??) and Chinese jasmine tea.
But I have to admit that coffee tastes best. Hope to change this bad habit in the future !
Enjoy your stay in Argentina !
marguerite, Aruba.
9:01 pm on March 31st, 2008
Argentina! YES!
LOVE the big outdoor gathering space! ENJOY!
My Bulgarian father tells the tale of Linden Tea “saving my life” when I was a baby. I have about a dry gallon, or so, of the hand harvested & dried flowers and leaves, from Bulgaria. It’s good stuff!
I think the trick to most teas is in the preparation.
“My Way”:
Boil some water.
Remove it from the heat source.
Add the “tea” & COVER IT!
Let it steep as long as you like.
ENJOY!
I’m not at all about adding water to a cup (The Yerba Mate’ is “special” though… I’m talking “other teas”…).
That said, I like the tip for tea baggers: To lessen the detrimentals, add water to the cup with your bag. Let steep a minute, or so. Discard. (Yes, DISCARD.) Then, add fresh water to the same cup and bag and proceed as you normally would.
I also like the tip for automated coffee pot users:
When making your cinnamon tea, place it in a _PAPER_ COFFEE FILTER, in an automatic coffee maker, then, proceed as though you were making coffee. The filter catches the detrimentals, they say.
Some folk like to add coffee to the cinnamon in the filter and drink it that way. Whatever rocks your world!
SUN TEA:
I like organic green tea in the round, yellow, dome-lidded sun tea jar. I set it out in pure, clear water until a few minutes after I see the “lines” appearing in the water. NOT-NOT-NOT all day, like I did it back in the 70s! That’s not good for the body! I would DILUTE that stuff ~ WAY too STRONG! And, I read it’s BAD for us to do it that way, too!
It’s yummy to crush mint leaves in the bottom of the serving glass/cup/gourd, then, pour the tea over that…
A teensie pinch of organic citrus zest in the bottom, before serving the tea is good, too!
I used to really like lavendar tea… that jag is over now… no comments/recollections about why.
INFUSIONS are BOMBASTIC! Limoncello (Italian) is FUN & EASY to make at home… You can go NUTS making a GAZILLION varities! They end up being sort of like organic EXTRACTS ~ You can add a drop to tea, or just about ANYTHING to add the ESSENCE of whatever you’ve made an infusion of… old gym clothes… KIDDING!… It’ll TASTE & SMELL like the VERY BEST of WHATEVER you made the infusion of!
Infusing takes TIME & PATIENCE & _WORKS GREAT_!
Getting back to those stinging nettles, from the Santa Monica, CA Community Garden show a couple of weeks ago:
They make a FINE TEA for SORE THROATS!
ANOTHER: Pluck 3-5 leaves off your ORGANIC citrus tree and steep those! Cures what ails ya! The essential oils release into the warm water. SO COOL!
TIP:
When making tea, if you notice a kind of film on the top of the pot’s contents, SKIM IT OFF with a clean cotton cloth, or, FILTER it through what you feel it best (layers of cheese cloth/paper coffee filters…)… I don’t know what that “rainbow/opalescent-looking “film” sometimes seen floating on the top is, but it looks too petro to be appealing, so I skim it!
TEA is REALLY GOOD, but pure, clear water is THE BEST!
Subliminal message: chimichurri chimichurri chimichurri…
9:44 pm on March 31st, 2008
Hey all,
Brandon’s favorite tea is: Rainforest Treasure Tea from the Amazon Herb Company. http://www.amazonherb.net.
Ellen’s favorite tea is: Cranberry tea from Celestial teas.
Be sure to check them both out Kevin and all the other readers out there, as they are excellent!
Brandon and Ellen*
9:54 pm on March 31st, 2008
Susana….
Subliminal message received, we’re waiting for the delivery from the co-op.
Someone tells me that you’d want to watch on Wed…
Kev
9:55 pm on March 31st, 2008
We’re loving getting to spend time with you and Ann Marie!
10:54 pm on March 31st, 2008
http://www.guayaki.com/ and an unroasted bulk tea I purchase at the Santa Monica Co-Op. I put it into recycled brown glass jars in the cupboard and don’t know the name. Google insists on giving me green coffee results! I only know it’s in a bag, painted with green leaves all over it. Both of course come from the Rainforest and support the local, indigenous tribes.
However, since I gave up ALL yerba mate/green/white teas since the New Year, I have never felt better. I just can’t tolerate ANY caffeine. Darn it, I have so many lovely green teas! I haven’t touched coffee since I became a raw foodist, June 2001.
My fave tea companies are Traditional Medicines (who insist on brewing their tea bags for 15 minutes!!! They assert it takes that long to release the healing powers of the tea. This ain’t instant tea!) and Yogi Tea (although I can’t stand their repackaging, now all the boxes look the same, instead of the lovely paintings of inspiring, spiritual teacups on the front of each box), and a few others.
Finally, I hope you found some fresh, raw food or at least some healthy cooked food! I am so broke I’ve learned to live on herbal teas instead of meals quite often. But that’s tough to do while traveling, cos you need extra nutrition.
As a herbal tea-lover, I often wonder if I’m getting enough water because I just can’t drink tons of water and tea each day. I’ve read that herbal tea doesn’t count as water. Oy!
Between the fresh greens, teas and water, I want to be able to sit or go somewhere or sleep without having to find the loo! What’s your take on that, Kevin?
Live awesome,
Jenny
10:55 pm on March 31st, 2008
Yerba mate consumption has been associated with increased incidence of bladder, esophageal, oral, squamous cell of the head and neck, and lung cancer. It should be noted that the consumption of hot beverages itself is a risk factor for several kinds of cancer.
Anyway nice post Kevin about Yerba Mate
“We’ve got a blog about nutrition, healthy eating, and health food
too. It includes summaries of articles in the news, lists healthy
recipes, offers tips and personal feedback on healthy eating, and
reports on nutritional research.”
check this out:
http://www.laurelonhealthfood.com
7:17 am on April 1st, 2008
My favorite teas is herbal, ginseng and peppermint by Republic of China. I do have yerba mate with black tea in the morning every day. Celestial Seasonings makes it, it’s called morning thunder. However, I drink it as an ice tea rather than hot. I have never had the coffee habit, it used to be sodas. However, in the past two years my beverage of choice has been tea……….much better for me in any form!
Keep up the show, looks like you are enjoying them as much as we do!
7:25 am on April 1st, 2008
I love jasmine, and green herbal tea.
11:20 am on April 1st, 2008
Wisdom of Ancients (.com) teas. They sell loose Yerba Mate and the bombilla straws, which i love! Also from the same company…Yerba Mate Royale Lemon, Yerba Mate with Stevia, Rooibos…this one is caffeinne free, relieves tension and soothes upset stomach…grows in South Africa!!! Great Video!!!
1:56 pm on April 1st, 2008
Love your shows—I just started watching and realize how refreshing they are. So down to earth, informative, spontaneous at times and keep the humor! And how funny it was that your buddy added his last comment!
Amy
5:50 pm on April 1st, 2008
Green Tea with Jasmine is awesome – especially if you make it in a funky japanese tea pot with the cute little cups
6:10 pm on April 1st, 2008
I am just getting into Pu’erh teas – Imperial Concubine Aroma! http://www.puerhshop.com/
8:48 am on April 2nd, 2008
Wow, I think all of you are way beyond me in tea drinking.
My favorite is Gunpowder Green Tea.
Also “Zen” by TaZo. It is a mix of green, lemongrass and spearmint, I think.
Different teas for different moods and seasons
Mary
5:00 pm on April 2nd, 2008
I have been living in Germany for six years now and I just love how they import such a vast array of teas and have so many of their own. I have four types of teas that I drink and technically only one is a true tea.
The one true tea, Pai Mu Tan, is a chinese white tea with a light and mild flavor and I often mix the other three non-teas with it as its light flavor blends well.
The other three non-teas are Haus Krauter, Fasten and Konig Blend. My favorite, Haus Krauter, is a blend of peppermint leaves, chamomile flower, marigold flower, lemon balm leaves, strawberry leaves, raspberries leaves, currents leaves and blackberry leaves. Made in the Bavarian region.
Fasten Tea is rose flower, basil, cardamon. pepper, jasmine leaves, ginger, lemon grass, mate leaves, and hagebluttenschalen (no translation for this word so I am not sure what it is).Nice flavorful tea, also made in the Bavarian region.
My last favorite tea is completely a fruit tea called Konigs Tea or King’s tea from the Heidelberg area. It is nothing but dried fruits and I sometimes just eat it rather than steep it for tea. This is one tea that I often combine with white, or green teas to add something special.
I leave here in three months and plan on stock piling a few to take back stateside with me. Thanks for all the tea ideas and I plan on trying a few of the others that people listed.
Have a nice safe trip!
5:02 pm on April 2nd, 2008
wow! i have a packet of yerba mate right here, and on closer inspection its from Argentina! i thought i was some sick japanese green tea thing! awesome!!
im the biggest tea person u can find in these neck of the woods.. i bring a thermos to uni every day, and have a couple cups before i go to school (my cup holds 0.5L!)
and my favourite has to be green sencha tea – any flavour, or just plain. looseleaf of course.
peace
1:28 pm on April 3rd, 2008
Hi Kevin:
Wow… I just returned from Argentina and Uruguay on the 16th of March…
I LOVE Yerba Mate and I love the Argentinean People…
Yerbs is my fav tea.. Green Matcha Tea from Japan is my 2nd favorite tea.. A great meditation tea.. I love Jasmine, Ginger and many others…
I brought some cool Mate Cups and bombilla’s home….
Not that I’m an expert, but in Argentinean Spanish, they pronounce the “ll” “zz”… So it’ sounds more like bombizya (phonetically).. LOL…
I’m really enjoying your blogs
1:47 pm on April 3rd, 2008
to Alex…please elaborate…I love Yerba Mate.
10:36 pm on April 3rd, 2008
Kevin: Sure have enjoyed running into your site……My favorite tea is Calli . Just wonderful for you in flavor and very energizing. Have fun…..thanks for sharing. Daphne
8:32 pm on April 4th, 2008
My favorite tea has to be peppermint. It seems cool even as a hot tea and is soothing for the tummy. I like it from time to time with a little rose water and honey added for a treat.
Sharon
9:19 am on April 11th, 2008
Money for information in the health care field is completely acceptable-even on line,it’s still considered a service or product. If you had a health wellness coach come to see you, you’d pay them for their time and information. What’s the diff? Keep up the good work.