Are you still sipping tea from 2017?
I’m good at hiding it, but I will be honest.
Every now and then, I do.
The taste is hard to describe, but I’ll try.
It has that sharp flavor that puckers your lips from the over-steeped black tea base you must start with, to wake up.
No worries though, because, I mean, tea is healthy, you know?
My stout 2017 blend is also peppered with notes of stress, emotional struggle, and moderate to major overwork.
It’s finished off with a syrupy sweet cream so that I can swallow the whole thing down and get on with my day.
It’s such an interesting mixture of ingredients, because each and every time you look down in your mug to take a sip, you see something different in the cup.
Back in 2017 when I created this tea, with my first sip I saw my sick mom’s medical appointments on my “brain” calendar.
Next sip and the projects and math-lesson struggles of my homeschooled child came floating by.
Last sips before I’d fly out the door were me gulping down all the work assignments I’d have to complete when everyone else was sleeping or relaxing.
I barely had time to do my hair, let alone take time to relax.
I’d brew up a big mug of this “healthy” tea every morning without fail.
No matter how much I thought I didn’t have the time to take care of myself…
…Deep down, I believed self-care was important.
But trying to do a complete 180-degree turn and transform my life overnight was like participating in the Las Vegas marathon where you run the strip in the dark, after just getting your broken foot out of a walking cast.
I’ll get there one day…but, oops, slightly off topic!
You get the point though. I was setting myself up for failure.
Instead, I started small.
I decided I would take one tiny step to take better care of myself.
My mother always told me how tea was one of the things given on God's green earth that could heal all types of ailments.
She reminded me how way back when she was a child, the doctor would come to your house only if you were “low” sick, she said.
Otherwise, her mom (Granny) and their local community used their own home apothecary, or maybe a neighbor’s, to pick up a batch of medicine (licorice root, ginger, sage, etc.) which they brewed up as tea.
Granny lived a very long life. She always found time to make “drinking tea” a part of her daily routine.
Plus, she always seemed to be very relaxed and calm.
When you’re a kid, you hear your elders tell you things and even model behavior for you, but often it doesn’t sink in until later.
I started searching the internet for the best tea for relaxation. I planned to grab a box of tea from the grocery store.
But, as I was digging through multiple pages on the internet looking for herbs that would support my body and my health, I stumbled upon a tea challenge.
The challenge was to only spend five minutes a day drinking loose-leaf tea and reflecting on the day ahead.
I knew five minutes a day was doable. It wouldn't take much to get started.
I will admit…I wondered how much of a difference this tea challenge would have on my life.
A question that crossed my mind was, “why did the tea have to be loose leaf?” Honestly, I didn’t even know what loose-leaf tea was.
I thought loose-leaf tea was basically something tea snobs did, and although I was curious about it, I didn’t have the time or the equipment.
I really believed that I should just leave the loose-leaf tea to the people with the thick cardigan sweaters that sit leisurely at the outside coffee-shop table computerless, with a 500-page book in their hand and their steaming mug of tea.
Not exactly my life!
But, nevertheless, I decided to give the 5-minute-per-day tea challenge a go anyways.
Little did I know that my journey towards self-care as a busy working mom would change.
I started to learn about different types of loose-leaf tea and how it supports our bodies.
I always thought tea was much better for you than coffee. But I never had anything to prove that theory.
I did realize I felt much more centered in the morning when I drank a cup of hot tea over a Vanilla Latte.
I still wondered why the challenge called for the tea to be loose-leaf over something I could easily grab at the grocery store…
…Until, I learned some information that made my jaw drop.
Most of the tea that came in bags most of us think is better for us… You know, the tea any one of us would normally buy from the local grocery store… didn't have many benefits.
In fact, I learned that most teas in bags is what’s broken off of the whole tea leaves you find in loose leaf tea.
Loose leaf tea is the tea that holds the actual nutritional benefit. I even learned many of the teas that came in bags were the leftovers that would fall on the table (or even the floor) from the whole leaf tea.
First of all, I thought, “that is disgusting.” But I also thought, “if I'm going to care for myself, shouldn't I have tea that’s supporting my body? I bought my first loose-leaf tea in a tin. Wow, not a box!
As I sipped on some loose-leaf tea over that 5-minute challenge, I noticed something started to change.
#1: I felt more relaxed
I felt much more grounded at the beginning of the day after tea and a short meditation. (I had to learn how to meditate because I had no idea.)
My mornings were filled with joy.
I felt uplifted and excited for the days to come.
I noticed throughout the day I was much more relaxed.
I came into each homeschooling session in a much better mood.
I honestly hadn't felt this way in decades. I started to feel like myself again.
#2: I fell in love with loose leaf tea
What I love about loose leaf tea is knowing that I’m getting the full nutritional benefits.
I'm not getting the stuff that’s leftover, found in most tea bags.
It’s self-care when you realize you’re giving your body the full benefits sprouted from God’s earth. (Many modern medicines mimic what comes from the earth anyways. Look up white willow and aspirin.)
Loose leaf tea is filled to the brim with many benefits you'll struggle to find anywhere else.
If I’m going to put something into my body I want to make sure it's filled with quality, whole, nutrient-rich ingredients…not leftover scraps and artificial flavors.
#3: My love for supporting others who care about honest ingredients grew
During this time in my journey, I found out from my doctor that I had been diagnosed with cancer in the uterus.
My health and self-care became an even greater part of my everyday life.
Wander into the tea industry and you’ll soon realize most loose leaf tea sold in America is grown overseas.
As much as I love to drink rare exotic teas from across the globe, there is a sense of trust I felt for American-made farmer-grown products.
I love knowing I can take a stroll onto a farm and see where my food comes from.
I also believe in supporting your local community.
I frequently visit Soil Born Farms on Saturdays to purchase fresh herbs, seeds I use to plant my own garden, and even teaware made by local artisans.
As much as Americans focus on working hard from dusk to dawn, it feels good knowing I’m putting money back into the hands of hardworking local business owners.
I wanted to buy all of my tea from local farmers - made locally. And have tea that tastes really good - enough to make people swoon over.
But, you may or may not have realized American-made loose leaf tea is very hard to find - it’s extremely rare.
That's when I decided to become an herbalist and I started creating my own loose leaf tea filled with real ingredients from the U.S.
I knew I was drinking ingredients that care for my body and my soul. Being able to sit in the morning with a nice hot or cold cup of tea has changed my life.
I’ve found sipping loose leaf tea is one of the simplest and greatest forms of self-care, and it’s easy to make it a habit.
Give it a try and after, like me, you’ll look forward to drinking a cup of tea every single day.
I started sharing these recipes with my family and friends. They too started realizing the benefits of drinking loose leaf tea.
Fresh ingredients, and tasty recipes, with a modern apothecary approach, are inside of their cup.
Friends and family started to say how they’d look forward to their cup morning, noon, and night.
Even my daughter’s boyfriend who loves his coffee ‘John Wayne style’ - black and no sugar - was sipping the tea recipes and saying how delicious the tea was.
Knowing how loose leaf tea helped my self-care, nurtured my body, mind, and spirit, even throughout having cancer, surgery, and finally reaching remission?...
…I knew I had to share this with others.
That's why I started Bonner Grove Teapothecary — A small, family-owned loose leaf tea company.
We only source ingredients harvested from local farmers and devote hours to perfect each blend for a premium quality taste.
Plus, we only choose the highest-quality ingredients to take a modern apothecary approach that supports the body and the soul.