Linden and Tulsi: Two Great Herbs that Go Great Together!

Looking for a fail-proof cup of tea? Look no further! Linden and Tulsi can turn that frown upside down.

Linden is a tree that grows all around Boston – its deliciously fragrant pale yellow flowers perfume the streets during its bloom. The flowers and the leaves make a delicious tea all by themselves – calming to heart and mind. Linden has actions on both the cardiovascular and the nervous systems – the former possibly primarily due to the flavonoid content, which includes quercetin, an antioxidant that reduces inflammation.
However, Linden is also a demulcent – sort of like lotion for your insides – which, especially in our busy, frazzled, modern lifestyles, is so comforting not just to the throat, but to the nervous system and even to the organs. If you’re feeling fried or frazzled (do you hear the dryness in our favorite stressed-out words?), and what you really need is to go home and find mom’s home-baked cookies warm and waiting for you, you need Linden. We affectionately refer to Linden as a “hug in a mug”.

Tulsi, or Holy Basil, hails from India, and it is so highly valued there that nearly every family grows the plant in pots or in the yard. Rightly so! Tulsi is an adaptogen, which means that it helps the body deal with stress. It’s mildly anti-depressant and gently stimulating, though it does not contain caffeine. It’s currently being studied for use in treating diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune disorders, and a whole host of other ailments. But even before those studies come back I can tell you, we’ve used Tulsi for those conditions and more: it’s one of the most important herbs in our practice. For me personally, when I haven’t had enough sleep but I still have to be nice, or when I’m facing a day that is daunting, Tulsi is the tea I reach for.

So why not put these two amazing plants together? It’s the perfect tea to get through your way-too-busy workday, and it tastes great too! You can drink it warm or cold, whichever you like. If you’d like a little extra of the demulcent action (let’s say you have a sore throat, or heartburn after that free pizza lunch), then let the tea continue steeping after it’s cool for an hour or two before drinking – demulcents extract better in cool water than hot. Drink as much as you like, all day long – in fact, if you know it’s going to be a tough day, don’t wait! Make a pot in the morning and start your day off right!