The Holiday season is a busy time of year and so when we do get five minutes to ourselves it is helpful if we make that time count.
My guilty pleasure every year is to take time to watch Love Actually the movie. It is a ritual for me. This is the space I create to do nothing and to just revisit all the scenes I know and love at a time of year when I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO! During Love Actually, I take a breathe! (Also, London, at Christmas time!)
This ritual has worked so well for me each year that I am actively looking for new ones that will benefit my health and well being at the darkest time of the year when I am often feeling stressed out by my to do list and may also be stressing my body with additional alcohol and sugar.
Making and sitting to drink Kukicha Tea is a new favourite ritual of mine. Again I can take a deep breath!
Kukicha or twig tea is a blend of green tea made from four different stem, stalk and twig parts of the Camellia sinensis or tea plant. It is rich in nutrition because the growing part of the twig and stem is included in this tea with all of the nourishment that a plant would need to sprout a new shoot, included in your teapot.
This stem and twig tea is low in caffeine and rich in antioxidants and polyphenols which prevent free radical damage and support beautiful skin; but I love it for it’s vitamin and mineral content.
Twig tea contains minerals such as Zinc, Selenium, Copper, Manganese, and Fluoride and six times more Calcium than cows milk, making it perfect for supporting bone health as we move through menopause and our bones lose their estrogen protection. (Yes! Your hormones affect your bone strength!)
This tea also contains vitamins B1, B2, Niacin, vitamin A, and two and a half times more vitamin C than an orange so it supports your immunity, tissue health and the health of your nervous system during the Winter months.
It also replaces valuable vitamins and minerals that are eroded and leached from the body by alcohol and sugar, the two best friends of the Holiday Season.
I like to make a ritual of drinking this tea and to double down on its immunity boosting content.
I add fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick to my teapot and squeeze in the juice of a fresh orange. Then I add the twigs and stems of the tea and brew for ten minutes with filtered water that has just come off the boil. I then top up my pot with gently warmed pomegranate juice to boost the antioxidant content of this Christmassy beverage.
Then I sit. And enjoy. And breathe for a moment as I feel grateful for this direct action of self care.
Why not try something new and make Kukicha tea one of your Winter self-care practices?
Immunity boosting Kukicha Tea
Ingredients
4 cups of filtered water boiled and left for 1 minute
1 ounce of Japanese Kukicha, Bancha, Twig tea
1 cinnamon stick
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger sliced
1 large naval orange juiced into the pot
1 cup pomegranate juice
Instructions
Boil the water in a kettle and allow to rest for 1 minute
Whilst the water is boiling and resting, add the tea, cinnamon stick, ginger and orange juice to the pot
Pour the water into the pot and allow to steep for 10 minutes
Warm the pomegranate juice gently in a pan and add to the pot, or, if serving this tea to a child pour the pomegranate juice directly into a mug.
Pour the tea through a strainer and into your favourite mug or cup
Take five minutes of me time to just savour this seasonal health building tea!
P.S. If you love this tea, you will enjoy another decadent recipe for a nutrient dense winter beverage, Mexican Hot Chocolate. Click here to find the recipe and make this gorgeous hot drink your own.