By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
What’s your drink? I don’t mean vodka or gin or Bloody Mary. I mean, aside from water, what do you drink often? Do you drink tea or coffee? Of course, I won’t ask if you are drinking milk or chocolate because that’s out of the question. Me? I drink tea more than coffee. I grew up in a household of non-coffee drinkers. I don’t think coffee-drinking is a tradition of iBesaos. It’s ironic, though, for my family to be like this because my Dad was a coffee-grower. Although I remember that our parents taught us that coffee is for adults, not for children. So for my apo’s birthday when this issue comes out, I will make lemongrass tea. Happy 3rd birthday, Gilan dear!
One time, we had a cooking demonstration in the cozy house of Manong Tony and Manang Nellie Baguiwet and I got enamored by the peppermint tea they served us. Manang Nellie went out to her organic garden, got fresh sprigs of peppermint, placed them in cups of very hot water (one sprig for each cup) and presto! After 2 minutes, an alluring yellow green tea with the peppermint swimming in it. It was as tasty as it was aromatic and colorful. No sugar or any other sweetener added. It was perfect with the delicious camote cake that Manong Tony baked. (Who said only women bake?) Peppermint is yerba buena in Tagalog or singsinggam in Bontok. Aside from being a healthy beverage, it can relieve fever and pains. If you don’t like the tea, you can just pound the leaves and apply directly to the painful area. Yerba Buena grows well in wet soil thus you can find it naturally abundant in the “baneng” of Malegcong rice fields.
Balaniw, or tanglad or lemon grass is perhaps the most popular herbal tea. It is like a mild sambong in that it cleanses the body of toxins and excesses. It is also aromatic and flavorful thus it is a popular ingredient especially in Thai cuisine. Because of its detoxifying properties, lemon grass tea or sambong tea is good after a meaty meal. Instead of Coke.
Bernice, our head pharmacist at the Bontoc General Hospital, has this knack of combining an assortment of leaves from the hospital garden – balaniw, oregano, pandan, etc – and the tea turns out to be special. Everytime! We ask her for the recipe and there’s no recipe. She just boils them in any combination as her mood dictates. Likewise, Ma’am Shirley, who runs the All Saints School canteen in Bontoc, gathers an assortment of herbs from her garden, boils them together with a little muscovado and comes up with a delicious tea that the kids look forward to. One pupil would go to school early just so he can drink that herb tea in the canteen. This canteen has long stopped selling carbonated drinks. By offering this natural fresh tea, Ma’am Shirley is able to help keep the kids healthy and because the tea doesn’t use any bottles or sachets, helps keep the environment healthy, too. Truly a good mother.
There are a lot of leaves to choose from when you want to make your own tea. There was this wedding reception in a famous restaurant and their after-meal tea was tarragon tea. Just a sprig of fresh tarragon steeped in hot water. Although it didn’t have any color, it was aromatic and tasty- perfect to cap a rich wedding banquet. Boiled camote leaves tea make very good tea also. Don’t wait till you have dengue fever before drinking this nutritious drink. Just drink as is or with a little lemon or salt. In the past when boiling was our main Igorot way of cooking food, this camote leaves tea is actually our “sabaw.” Nowadays, just add more water when you cook vegetables and have the whole family drink the sabaw as tea or labay for the kids. That way you get the nourishing and healing benefits of the vegetables. The good thing with vegetables is that you don’t get overdosed. Why? Primarily because nature controls the production (most are seasonal) and your natural taste will control your intake (ma-uma ka). Nature is biodiverse. Take note, I said “nature”. Let us be careful with tampering with nature through monocropping or inducing maturity and fruiting by artificial means.
Avocado leaves, pomelo leaves, guyabano leaves, lemon, calamansi, orange,etc, make very good teas. The rule of thumb is if its fruit is edible, then you can eat its leaves also. But because the leaves of these trees are tough to eat, we just boil them as drink. The healing properties of these plants are innumerable. Just imagine the countless phytochemicals they have, many of which, I am sure, are not yet identified by the gadgets of today’s western science, but which all work together to promote health and vitality and prevent disease. Avocado leaves are good for anemia and insomnia. Aside from other health benefits, guyabano leaves tea boosts energy so it’s best taken in daytime.
My cup of tea? It’s called Varietea made by the famous company, Mother Nature. Mother Nature has provided us with a wide array of wonderful teas in our yard, um-a, payeo, even the roadsides, which we can boil or steep, fresh from the garden. No caffeine. Avoid adding sugar and milk as much as you can so that your taste buds will be awakened and you can savor the natural flavor & of course, you don’t want those bad chemicals. And because nature is very generous, you can drink tea everyday. Peppermint today, avocado tomorrow, lemon grass the next day, a combination when your friends visit (after lockdown), etc. As much as I can, I bring my teas when I travel. I am surprised why even some plush hotels in the Philippines only offer Lipton tea! These are imported. We don’t have tea plantations here. But the Philippines abounds with all these herbal teas which can be simply dried, crushed and packed in teabags. My friend, Cesar Guillet, used to grow peppermint, tarragon and other herbs in his veranda so anytime he wants a cup of tea, it’s there. Nourishing, refreshing, calming, cleansing, healing – choose which plant. No toxic garbage generated as no sachets or cans or bottles are used. Then you have a bonus of additional oxygen! What more do you need to perk up your day or slow you down for the night?***
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“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12
