Sharpen your brain and boost your mood with this simple tea

I love experimenting with the flavors of herbs and plants right outside my door and rosemary is prolific here on our property. The boys and I have turned the rosemary flavor into a fun summer spritzer with peach but it had never occurred to me to add it to my warm tea until I caught this study on the link between rosemary, mood, and mental clarity.

In this interesting study (abstract here), both rosemary and lavender had a positive impact on mood but while lavender basically impaired work (*yawn* — lavender is relaxing), rosemary improved mental alertness. I read the article and minutes later handed my son a pair of clippers and asked for two short sprigs of fresh rosemary. I added the rosemary to a ginger tea I was about to brew on my stove top. I was a bit skeptical that the flavor would be good, but it was quite good. Experimenting with it over the weeks I have decided that a light hand is important in working with rosemary. I added about twice that amount to my next batch and it was quite bitter. I also like to reuse my herbs in multiple, successive batches of tea, a strategy that works well for ginger and turmeric tea. (Find ginger tea here and turmeric tea here.) Rosemary is not a good herb for reusing — it does tend to become bitter after the first brew. I still use rosemary in my perpetual tea batches but I leave in the ginger and turmeric (or whatever might be in the pot) and I pull out the rosemary. It is easily done. However, you can also just brew up a quick rosemary tea. It has good flavor alone and is great sweetened with honey.

Rosemary Tea Ingredients

• One quart of water
• One two-inch sprig of rosemary or a teaspoon of dried rosemary
• Honey to taste

Rosemary Tea Steps

1. Bring water to a boil. Add rosemary. Cover.
2. Allow the tea to steep covered for 10-20 minutes.
3. Sweeten with honey to taste.