Tea Tusday #3 Sage, Astragalus, Calendula

Toady I wanted something to support immunity, considering that I have been fending off that stiff necked, stiff muscled, blah, I might be coming down with something sort of feeling.

So I pulled out some herbs from my cabinet of curiosities and blended them up: two parts sage, one part astragalus, one part calendula.

Sage is one of my favorite herbs when I am feeling stretched thin and frazzled, and I find it also works wonderfully on tight neck muscles preceding a cold. Astragalus is an old standby for winter immunity woes, and Calendula is a lesser known but equally potent winter ally for sluggish lymph glands.

The yellow petals are especially cheerful looking on grey, drizzly days like today,

and the tea even takes on the cheerful yellow color of the calendula blossoms! I'm not quite sure how to describe the taste of this one. The sage comes through very clearly, and the other two stay more in the background. Astragalus always tastes a bit sweet and spicy, and a bit like the way pencil shavings smell. Calendula has a warm, earthy, hay taste.