Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - with the fresh herbs (literally fresh leaves, from your garden or produce section) you'd strip the leaves off the stem, put them in a big teacup, and add boiling water. Stir and let steep for several minutes, then strain out the leaves.

For loose dried leaves (like the peppermint Tummy Tea) you just put the leaves (about 1-2 Tablespoons - be generous) into a tea strainer. There are all kinds of strainers - those big metal balls, or just mesh baskets, or the "big dipper" kind that's like a teaspoon but with a wire basket on the end where the spoon part would go. Put the strainer in the cup, pour in boiling water, let steep until strong enough to taste. Remember, the stronger the herbal tea the more effective it will be.

The Tummy Teas are a whole pound (16 ounces) of loose tea. This is a good 1-2 month supply, assuming you're drinking several cups every single day. In comparison, a box of tea bags is usually 1-2 ounces total. So the cost for a pound of bulk teas is a fraction of the cost of the equivalent tea bags (and loose tea is much higher quality than what's in tea bags). This is actually exactly why the Tummy Teas come like this. I wanted a quantity that would last someone a while if they were using it several times every day, and it's just too expensive to use tea bags for that. A box of 20 bags should only last you 5 days if you're drinking tea throughout the day, and then you have to go buy more. I wanted people to have a big bag that they weren't trying to make last, but felt they had enough to use liberally without running out so fast.

You can store the loose tea like you would any herbs. A cool dry place is best - you could ziploc the bag and freeze it if you want to store it for several months. You can keep the loose leaves in a canister if you like, so you don't have to keep opening the bag. Whatever works for you!

The tea will stay fresh for several months, though it will still be effective after a year or so. Like all herbs, the fresher the better. I found a supplier for the Tummy Teas that packs as soon as possible after harvest, so I know that what I'm sending out is as fresh as possible. I don't know how you'd tell whether the tea on store shelves is fresh - the best bet would be to pick a high volume store with a fast turnover.

Seriously, if you haven't tried a good bulk peppermint tea it's really worth it. Once I tried the stuff (years ago now) I couldn't believe I'd ever done without it. I have literally never not had loose peppermint leaf in the house since. I've been buying it bulk from health food stores all this time, and have been happy with the quality. But I was totally surprised when I got the samples of the Tummy Tea in from the supplier. It smelled and tasted so much stronger than the loose leaves I had it was quite a shock. I think it has something to do with the large leaf size, too. I brewed up comparison cups and the Tummy Teas cup you could actually see whole leaves and flowers floating around. The closer you can get to whole herbs and spices, the less degraded the quality will be, and the stronger the results. This is true for cooking, too. Freshly grinding your own spices (like cloves or nutmeg) from whole spices will give you shockingly better results than buying spices already ground.

More than you wanted to know about peppermint, eh?

- Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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