05/21/2025
In celebration of ! TEA (a cuppa comfort from my book)
"I grew up with a mother who lived in the moment—at least when she had a cup of tea. Every time she raised her cup to sniff the vapors and take her first sip, she would exclaim, after a beat, “This is the best cup of tea.” Her little mantra of appreciation. As my day goes on, I love my time with a cup of tea too. Usually, Earl Grey in the morning for the gentle caffeine kick and the sweet citric note of bergamot. I may go on to green tea in the afternoon, but most often I just make a pot of herbal tea to sip throughout the day.
As an herbalist, I look at each cup as a dose. Each teapot as a prescription of season and place, a complementary medicine from my garden pharmacy. “First, do no harm” is attributed to the Greek physician Hippocrates and a pillar of our modern health care system. I like to think of my garden and teapot as the first line of defense. At the height of summer, I pick bee balm flowers and fill a teapot. Sometimes the hummingbirds are so intrigued by the scene that they continue to sip nectar from the flower stalks in my hands. I either make sun tea, or I let boiled water drop a few degrees and pour it over the leaves and flowers. I inhale the first vapors and put a lid on the pot to keep the distillates within the pot. This type of tea was first known as an infusion or tisane. A typical infusion would be made from the tender aerial parts of the leaf and flower infused into hot water.
If the woody parts of a plant like the root, bark, twig, seed, or hard fruit are to be prepared, they would be simmered into a decoction in order to extract the flavor and medicinal attributes. Often when I design a garden space, I think in terms of planting a garden of allies. They might be balms for the spirit, or remedies for ailments that I am prone to. For instance, there is scarcely a person in my family with a surviving gallbladder, and from earliest childhood, I remember my grandmother and mother preparing a dose of bay leaf tea, perhaps my first foray into the positive effects of herbal medicine. Needless to say, I always have a bay tree growing in my garden. For teas, I have often grown and enjoyed chamomile for upset stomach. Mint for sluggish digestion and to open my sinuses. Haws (hawthorn berries) for heart. Fennel to support diet. Rosemary leaf and especially flower for my spirits. Sassafras for a spring tonic. Valerian to induce sleep. Thyme and sage for their antiseptic and antibacterial properties and flavor. And throughout the season I take inspiration from what can be gathered fresh.
I once had a garden that was relatively orderly except for the constant upstart lemon balm plants. Over time, I pulled up entire plants of this herb, snipped off the roots, and filled the teapot with balm. As I inhaled the scent and sipped the soothing green liquid, I came to accept that it was nature’s way of reminding me to pause, inhale deeply, and chill out. Lemon balm was an herb for an earlier time: never again has it been so prolific for me, and it doesn’t dry well—so on to the next. There are so many plants to enjoy and experiment with. I head back into the garden with some sun tea, and I dry and preserve all the herbs I can for the winter months ahead, when hot herbal teas serve as my primary means of hydration.
A dose of tea, a spot of medicine, frontline wellness from the garden, and a cure for anything that ails you. And as it did for my mom, the soothing ritual of sipping a cup of tea brings me back to center to see the world anew. In life, there are very few things that a steaming cup of tea and a hot bath can’t cure"
*(from an essay in my book https://www.amazon.com/Heirloom-Gardener-Traditional-Plants-Skills/dp/1604699930/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18IE9KRVYB2L&keywords=john+forti+heirloom+gardener+book&qid=1637012192&qsid=142-2534266-1903157&sprefix=john+Forti%2Caps%2C304&sr=8-1&sres=1604699930%2C1635650836%2C0486429784%2C1452145768%2C0760368724%2C1641525096%2CB097L1DXL7%2C076035992X%2CB08W7DMWZ3%2C1571988459%2C1525804618%2C1401324398%2C0988474913%2C1603442138%2C1616895543%2C1603421386&srpt=ABIS_BOOK
