A couple of weeks ago, I did a post for making chicken soup when you’re sick. While that keeps you nourished, you can also try some of these natural teas to help you get better faster. Most of the ingredients are Alaska based ingredients, but one is an old European recipe that I learned from Day Berndt (whom I also learned the chicken soup recipe from). I use parts for some of these recipes because not everyone is from the U.S. So, if you want to use tablespoons and the recipe calls for 1 part chamomile and two parts rose hips, figure out what you want “1 part” to be. It could be ½ a tablespoon, or 1 tablespoon – you choose. So let’s say you choose ½ a tablespoon as your “1 part”. You would use ½ a tbsp of chamomile and 1 tbsp of rose hips for that recipe. If you go by weight, say 10 grams is your “1 part”. You would use 10 grams of chamomile and 20 grams of rose hips (that’s a lot, honestly, but I’m keeping it simple). If you have any questions, you can email me at info@alaskaherbalsolutions.com

Natural Teas

By itself

These are some herbs that work well on their own if you’re feeling a little under the weather, but you want to hit it before it comes full force.

Chamomile

White clover

Yarrow

Coughing/Lots of snot (mucus)

Use equal parts of all the following herbs.

Chamomile – antispasmodic to help with coughing

Spruce tips – vitamin c, expectorant (helps the body get rid of mucus)

Rose hips – vitamin c, colds in general, fever

White clover – good for the cold virus in general

Garlic tea

I use this when things are really bad. Garlic is an excellent antimicrobrial.

Three cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of lemon juice

1/2 cup of honey

3 cups of water

1) Cut the garlic cloves in half. You have to cut them. If you don’t, you will not get the antibacterial benefits of the garlic.

2) Put the garlic in the water. Bring to a boil.

3) Boil 5 minutes.

4) Turn off heat, add honey and lemon juice.

5) Enjoy!

I generally will make triple batches of this so that I can put it in the fridge and drink it over several days. You can drink it cold or heat it up to drink it. I prefer to drink it warm

For fever

If you have a fever with your cold, you can add one part of one of the following to your choice of cold tea.

Yarrow

Valerian

Willow Bark

Poplar (cottonwood or aspen) Bark

1 Tbsp raspberry vinegar or one glass raspberry juice

Wormwood

General cold

This is the one that I learned from Day.

2 parts Linden Blossoms

2 parts Elder flower

2 parts Chamomile

½ part Anise seed –  you do not need a lot of this one.

1 part Mint

Store bought

You can also use what I call the triple threat. I am not getting paid to advertise these, but I personally use them in my home care, especially when I run out of what I’ve collected myself. The Traditional Medicine teas I use and make a pot out of: Gypsy Cold Care (which has a lot of the ingredients I listed in the general cold tea above), Throat Coat, and Breathe Easy. Look at the ingredients list before buying and make sure that you are not allergic to any of the ingredients. Additionally, if you are only having one problem, i.e. sore throat or runny nose, then you can use just one of them.

Hopefully you won’t have to use any of these this winter! Either way, now you have them in your arsenal in case you get sick.

~Feel better naturally, the Alaskan way~