A Nice Cuppa

I have heard many times that Hyssop tea is the way to go for a sore throat, no matter what the cause. Being a firm believer in “doctoring”, as my grandmother would say, I was a doubter. How could a simple herbal tea compete with the technology of modern chemistry? I’m not completely ignorant. I do realize that what we rely on in pills contained in plastic bottles packaged in cardboard boxes is all derived from the medicinal arts of anecdotal herbal lore passed down through the centuries, but still. I was skeptical.

I devised my own experiment.

First, I went to my favorite local natural food store, Mama Jean’s, to purchase dried hyssop. Then, I sat back and waited for a summer cold or ragweed season, whichever came first. Heeeellllooo, August!

It hit. But not so fast. One of the doubts I had about the efficacy of hyssop wasn’t the herb, but the delivery mechanism. Was the relief in the hyssop or the hot the water? Aha! I’ve got you wondering now, too, don’t I?

I devised an experiment.

On morning one that I woke up with the terrible sore throat I drank two cups of plain hot filtered water. It was soothing to my throat…as long as I drank the heated water. As soon as I finished each cup, the soreness returned and didn’t go away. I immediately reached for an antihistamine and a throat lozenge.

Morning two, I woke up with the same sore throat as the day before. I drank two cups of hot filtered water steeped with 1 tsp dried hyssop. Again, my throat was soothed as long as I was drinking the tea but to my surprise, I admit, my throat remained itch and pain free for about two hours after I’d drained the second cup. Later in the morning I still took an antihistamine just because I’m a good hypochondriac, I mean preventative care specialist, but I didn’t reach for the lozenges all day.

The moral of the story is for real sickness you need real medicine, of course, but for a little scratchy itchy throat a nice cup of hot hyssop tea just might do the trick for you, too.

Glenna Anderson Muse