Next up in our Omnivore’s 100 series is nettle tea. I’m not a tea person. I’ve drunk coffee every morning of my life since high school. I have a caffine addiction — the withdrawl headache sets in about 1 pm — that led me to carrying around packets of instant coffee when traveling in remote regions of Asia. But I think I speak for tea drinkers everywhere when I ask: “What the hell is nettle tea?
The next food on the list is nettle tea. We looked for tea made from the leaves of the stinging nettle in Whole Foods (this list is turning into a Whole Foods advertisement) and The Vitamin Shoppe, the ubiquitous store that I believed only sold un-FDA approved bodybuilding supplements. Nettle tea is also available on Amazon.com.
I wandered around Whole Foods until I found the tea aisle. The racks were filled with a boggling variety of teas touting a boggling array of promises. There are teas for colds, for weight loss, for pregnancy, for getting pregnant, for better memory, better skin, better hair and better moods — just to name a few.
The closest thing I could find to nettle tea was Allegro Fine Tea’s “Glowing and Flowing.” Although the main ingredient is green tea, nettle is second on the list. (I didn’t want to hold up my blogging by ordering away fro the food.) The name frightened me; the packet described drinking the tea as “spring cleaning for your body.” But at least it’s preferable to the conception tea, which was the only other one containing the super herb.
When I got home and began to research nettle tea, I found that the plant’s promises are equal to that of Whole Food’s entire tea aisle. According to one website, nettle tea fights coughs, tuberculosis, asthma, arthritis, rheumatism, tendonitis, intestinal disorders, skin problems, allergies and urinary tract infections.
However, Foodmatters.tv boils down nettle tea’s charms to one thing: It gets your bowels moving. ”The nettle leaves increase the thyroid function, increase metabolism and releases mucus in the colon allowing for the flushing of excess wastes,” says the site.
Sure, it tastes like grass clippings, but maybe it’s a way to “flush out” this weekend’s gravy binge. But, a few days and a few cups later, it, um, hasn’t yielded any noticeable results.
Next up: steak tartar. Impatient? Check out last week’s post on venison.
One Comment
Why is this on the list!?! Aren’t there many other teas that taste much better?