Bush Tea

For the past few days, I have been suffering from an extreme case of allergies or a cold. I’m still unclear as to which it was. There was the whole itchy eyes thing and me constantly rubbing them which only made it worse, this would point to allergies. Sneezing every ten minutes (not an exaggeration) and coughing profusely which kept both me and my seven roommates awake. Both obvious things that come with a cold. And then there was the congestion which left me feeling like there was an anvil strapped onto my face. I was beginning to understand how the Wile E. Coyote felt when the Road Runner kept dropping them on him. I tried every allergy medicine our medical room had to offer and still felt no relief. I’ve been told cold medicine doesn’t actually help with colds, so I didn’t even bother with that. I was at my wits end. As it turns out so was one of my roommates who had been kept awake with my heinous coughing (Sorry, Franchesca!) and she told me she had a solution. She told me about how her grandmother was a Bush Medicine Doctor and had been able to cure ailments from asthma to thrush. Franchesca had learned from her over the years and offered to make me something that could help. I’ve always held a certain fascination with the holistic approach to healing, so I agreed to let her make me a tea remedy. What she procured for me was nothing short of a miracle tea. She made me Hibiscus Tea which both tasted and looked delicious. The process was short and simple and the results were better than any over the counter medicince I’ve ever had.

Hibiscus Tea Recipe and Instructions!

Lemon Grass, Lime, Mint, Hibiscus flower

Step 1: Pick ingredients from herb garden

Step 2: Cut up lemon grass, mint and pull flower petals from hibiscus and put in a tea bag. (We didn’t have a tea bag so we used a clean sock.)

Step 3: Put in boiling water and let steep until the color of the tea is a deep pink.

Step 4: Squeeze in lime and sip away your sickness!

I enjoyed my delicious tea with a view of a place that can only be described as paradise.

**Note: When making bush tea of any kind, never use any plants that you are unfamiliar with or those that have been treated with pesticides.