Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Savannah's Spring Detox Tea

tea time still life:
herbs, almond galette and a good book

Not long ago, I ran into Savannah in the spices and herbs section of my favorite coop, Rainbow Grocery. Her and her friend seemed to be having so much fun picking up bulk herbs from the big jars that I wondered what kind of witches' brew they were going to make. As it turns out, they were making detox tea. I was myself shopping for spices to make a cleansing soup for Spring (modeled after my Winter detox chorba, but with Spring veggies) so we exchanged recipes*.

I love this tea, mostly because of the licorice. In fact it's so good that I ironically find it pretty addictive. I usually brew a big pot on the stove and keep drinking it all day when I'm at home. Or I transfer it to my crockpot so I can always enjoy a hot cup.

Savannah's detox tea**
2 parts burdock roots
1 part red clover flower
2 parts dandelion root
(for mucus, phlegm:)
1 part fennel seed
1 part fenugreek seed
½ part licorice root

Apart from being fabulous and awesome, Savannah Knoop is a talented local fashion designer from San Francisco, and Tinc, her business, is green! Check it out here. And if you like good stories -and juicy Hollywood revelations- read her inspiring memoir, Girl Boy Girl, how I became JT Leroy, on her impersonating the infamous young queer writer.

one of Savannah's Spring o9 creations

* My favorite part of the story is when we ran into each other that very same night, "detoxing" at a bar with hot toddies!
** Found in Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Salut Sandrine!

I don't live someplace where buying bulk herbs is as economical as Rainbow in SF. Is there a pre-packaged detox tea you would recommend?

Sandrine de Paris said...

Bonjour BebeJardin!

I know there are coops in NYC that sell bulk herbs (like Flower Power http://www.flowerpower.net/). I'm guessing the prices are similar to Rainbow's, but don't know for sure.

I can't name a brand, but I know some tea companies make detox & organic blends. I would recommend reading the labels to see if they use the same herbs. I'm not very helpful!

Erin F said...

Great reading your bblog post