Saturday, March 08, 2008

Balanced dosha digestive tea

I got this recipie from my roomate who studied with Ayurvedic practitioner and educator Vasant Lad. It is a delicious blend of carminitive seeds which improve digestion in a mild, gentle fashion, relieve gas or discomfort and won't overheat or aggravate any of the three doshas (constitutions).

Equal parts
whole cumin seeds
whole coriander seeds
whole fennel seeds

Mix well.

Crush the seeds gently in a mortar or in a spice grinder JUST prior to steeping. This releases more of the flavors and volatile oils into the tea. Store the tea as whole seeds though to maintain the flavors in storage.

1 tsp of crushed seeds per 8 oz cup of hot water.

Add a splash of lemon or lime, honey, or agave nectar. Drink hot after a meal, first thing in the morning to wake up the digestive system, or before meals if you have digestive weakness.

The following is From: http://www.drmarkvinick.com/articles.html

The energetics of Coriander are:
taste: bitter and pungent.
energy: cooling
post digestive effect: pungent.
Doshas: decreasing to all three doshas, although if the fresh leaves of the plant are used, its effect is decreasing to pitta and kapha, while neutral to vata.
Body systems: digestive, respiratory, and urinary systems.
actions: alterative, diaphoretic, diuretic, carminative, and stimulant.

The energetics of Cumin are:
taste: pungent and bitter.
energy: is slightly warming
post digestive effect: pungent.
Doshas: decreases both Vata and Kapha, and does not overly increase Pitta.
Actions: stimulant, carminative, diuretic, and galactagogue.

The energetics of Fennel are:
taste: sweet and pungent.
Energy: neutral to warm
post digestive effect: sweet
Doshas: decreasing to all three doshas.
Body systems: digestive, urinary, and nervous systems.
tissues: lymph, plasma (rasa), blood, (rakta), muscle (mamsa), bone marrow, and nervous tissue (majja).
actions: carminative, antispasmodic, stomachic, stimulant, and diuretic.
From: http://www.drmarkvinick.com/articles.html

2 comments:

Oakmoss Changeling said...

Nice! I've used variations on this before, I especially love the coriander and fennel together. These three would make an awesome multipurpose salve too.

Darcey Blue said...

I've always loved fennel for reasons I couldnt always explain, but I have to admit I had never thought of cumin tea. LOL! The blend is actually really pleasant. the coriander is a nice fresh bright taste, with the sweeter earthier fennel. The cumin is still cuminy....but nice.

:P
i agree. Would make a loverly balancing massage oil for all the doshas. Mmmm...foot rubs with coriander fennel oil...mmmmm

"The mother of us all, the oldest of us all, Hard, splendid as rock, Let the beauty you love, be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth"~ Rumi ~