Chrysanthemum tea is making its way across the world and finding new takers as people migrate from places where the aromatic herbal infusion has traditionally been popular, bringing their tastes to distant shores. The goodness of a cup of this floral concoction extends to everything from helping with colds and fevers to being a detox agent and preventing coronary artery disease. Interested enough to head on to your local Asian or specialty grocery store to get yourself some?
What Is Chrysanthemum Tea?
A popular drink in some parts of the world like China and Singapore, chrysanthemum tea, as the name suggests is an infusion made from the flower of the same name. It isn’t strictly a tea, since it doesn’t contain tea leaves, but is treated like one in that it needs to be brewed and gives you the lift you need or relaxes you, like a regular cup of tea would. But thanks to the properties of the flowers, and the nutrients in them, you’ll also be sipping on a world of goodness.
Say Cheers To These Health Benefits
Raise a toast to the many benefits of chrysanthemum tea, which can help you overcome colds and fevers, improve oral health, relax your nerves, soothe a stressed mind, and do a world of good for your body on the while.
Fight Off Colds, Fevers, And Allergies
The golden floral brew is also good for you if you have a cold due to the high levels of Vitamin C, an immune booster that has antioxidant properties.1 The vitamins A, B vitamins, iron, and zinc in it2 can help with overall immunity too, and a deficiency of them can. On the other hand, cause weakened immunity.3
To increase the effect of the drink, add a little honey, a natural antibacterial4 as a sweetener.
The flavonoids contained in the tea exert an anti-allergic effect that can keep you safe from respiratory problems linked to allergic conditions.5 It also help bring out phlegm and treat fevers.6
Improve Oral Health
If keeping your teeth sparkly and white is a priority, you could do it with a little help from some chrysanthemum tea. In one study, researchers investigated different kinds of tea and their effectiveness in fighting different strains of Streptococcus bacteria. Chrysanthemum tea as well as pu-erh tea caused the most significant reduction in the bacterial attachment to gingival(gum tissue), helping improve overall oral health of the soft tissues in the mouth.7
Anti-Inflammatory And Antioxidant Power To Fight Cancer
The floral tea extracts also help inhibit inflammatory pathways in the body, while also activating antioxidative stress pathways, to provide a possible therapy for multiple illnesses, even cancer. That’s because chronic inflammation is one of the known factors that increases the risk of developing cancer, and this tea could possibly help cut that risk due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Some research has shown that the extracts could help suppress colon cancer cells.8 The flavonoids in the flower also help inducing cell death or apoptosis of tumor cells.9
Anti-Anxiety And Stress Relief
The fragrant hot drink can relax you on the power of its aromas alone, but it is also said to help relax the nerves, sealing the deal as a good de-stress tool. Like chamomile tea which has apigenin, a flavonoid with anti-anxiety benefits, chrysanthemum tea too can calm you down. For this reason, it is sometimes suggested to help those with insomnia. Animal studies back up this claim of its anxiolytic(anti-anxiety) effects.10
Give Your Liver A Detox
Looking to give your liver some TLC? Then use chrysanthemum tea to help with a detox. Traditional Chinese Medicine suggests it as a remedy to purge the body of any excess heat and cool and calm down the liver, balancing the energies in the body. If you have headaches, high blood pressure, or dizziness, these could be signs your liver needs some cooling off.11
Cardiovascular Health
Two bioactive components of chrysanthemum tea – apigenin and luteolin – are good for cardiovascular health. These flavonoids are said to help protect your heart and improve circulation.12 TCM also uses chrysanthemum for lowering blood pressure/treating hypertension. Animal studies have shown the effectiveness of the ethanol extract in countering arrhythmia(improper beating of the heart) and myocardial ischemia(reduced blood flow to the heart).13
Refresh Your Eyes
Vitamin A, also present in the tea, can help to keep your eyes healthy and improve low light vision.14 Besides this, Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) suggests that Ju Hua, as it is called in TCM, and help brighten your eyes by clearing up the body and relieving any swelling, redness, or pain.15
Get Rid Of Heat Rashes
If you have a rash due to overheating of the body, the tea can help cool you off from the inside allowing you to stop the rash on the outside. Traditional medicine sees this rash as a result of temperature imbalance within. The tea is especially good during summer when you’re prone to various heat-related problems like sweating too much, allergies of the sinus, eye problems, dehydration, and headaches.16 People have said that taking the tea every few hours should help cool the body down and allow the balance to be restored, and the rash too should subside.
How To Make Chrysanthemum Tea
Brewing the tea is fairly easy. Simply take dried chrysanthemum flowers, and sugar or honey as a sweetener. About a tablespoon of the flowers to each ounce of water should be just right. Boil some water which you can pour over the dried flowers and allow it to steep for 5 to 8 minutes. The tea should be a pale yellow color. The Thai version of the drink has the added dried Chinese plum seeds which lend it a brighter hue. The drink can be enjoyed hot, or chilled to have as an iced tea.17
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