Of all the uses that herbs have, the favorite use by most people is tea. The enjoyment of making the tea and drinking it seems relaxing in itself. Herbal teas have been used for decades as a medicinal treatment.

Creating a tea for medicinal purposes is basically the same as for culinary taste and enjoyment. The ritual that goes into preparing the tea is sometimes the best medicine of all. Slowing the body and mind down has great health benefits. My favorite tea is from China and as the dried tea leaves steep they open into beautiful petals. Perfect for slowing the mind down and mediating to. Holding the warm cup and inhaling the aroma is soothing and medicinal in nature.

The ritual or process of making tea for medicinal purposes are pretty much the same. Most herbalist will recommend that you use an ounce of herb to a pint of water and steep for 10 - 20 minutes. As a rule of thumb, if you are using fresh herbs verse dried herbs the amount of fresh herbs is double what the recipe calls for in dried herbs.

Depending on what part of the herb that is being used to make the tea will have more of a role in how the tea is prepared than the difference between culinary and medicinal. If you are using the flowers or leaves the procedure will be the same as they tend to hold the healing virtues as a tea. However, if the root or bark is being used, more than just steeping is needed. In most cases you need to actual boil the root or bark for three ot five minutes before steeping the normal 10 - 20 minutes. In either case, you will want to strain the tea before drinking it.

In preparing medicinal tea it is import to ensure that as much of the medicinal qualities are captured in the water as possible, therefore, most herbalist will recommend that you cover the tea as it steeps to capture any of the herbs benefits from being evaporated into the air.

Some of the more commonly known teas of today that are used for medicinal purposes are chamomile which is good for digestion and disposition, borage tea which is good for relieving stress, rosemary tea which relieves headaches and colds, sage tea helps with colds and fever, and catnip tea which can alleviate colic.

The medicinal tea's that can be used is as long as the history of tea itself.