The Benefits of Tulsi Tea
I discovered Tulsi Tea through an ad. Taking up two pages in a issue of body + soul magazine was an ad by Organic India claiming “One Cup of Delicious Tulsi Tea… One Woman Able to Determine Her Own Future.” This intrigued me because I was wondering how a tea could help women’s rights, which is how I interpreted the claim, but while reading the fine print to determine if the claim was true, I discovered an interesting herb: Tulsi.
It surprised me that Tulsi is an herb because I assumed that Tulsi was a brand name. It is used as a medicinal herb in Ayurveda Medicine and is known for Tulsi, “The Queen of Herbs,” is a sacred herb in India. (It is also known as Holy Basil but is in no way related to the traditional basil plant typically used for cooking.) The secret to Tulsi is that it is full of antioxidants. We all know that studies have proven that antioxidants have several health benefits and the more we can get into our system the better.
Many people associate tea with antioxidants, especially after all of the research released in the past few years, however not all teas contain antioxidants. It is specifically the green tea plant and white tea plant that have been proven to contain a high amount of antioxidants and have all the health benefits. The problem I find is that green and white tea contain caffeine. Most people drink herbal tea when they don’t want caffeine, but many popular herbal teas don’t offer health benefits - they just taste good. However, Organic India has introduced its line of Tulsi Tea that is both free of caffeine and full of health benefits associated with antioxidants.
Tulsi has been used as a medicinal herb in India for thousands of years. It is even named after a goddess! Tulsi was a goddess and devotee of Lord Vishnu and Indian scriptures say she was re-incarnated as the plant Tulsi. “It is said that in order to express her devotion to her beloved Lord, she took this form as a herb which would be offered in worship and service to Him (Garg, 1982).” Tulsi is an important symbol in the Hindu religious tradition and is worshipped in the morning and evening by Hindus at large.
Tulsi is relatively new to parts of the world other than India. I’m sure studies proving or disproving the health benefit claims found all over Organic India’s website will be published soon enough. Meanwhile, the tea tastes good and since it does not contain caffeine, I like to have a cup or two before bed. After all, if it has been used as a medicinal herb for thousands of years it must have SOME benefits.
By the way, Organic India’s claim of helping women “determine her own future” seems to be valid. Organic India works with family farmers in India and trains them how to maintain organic farmland in turn for them growing the Tulsi plant. The farmers are paid premium market rates for their crops. Making a partnership with a company like this would be advantagrous to native Indian farmers which is a benefit to all.
