Jiaogulan seems to be an anti depressant and hangover cure

Recently I have been trying cold tea infusions where I use things like green tea added to cold water and left overnight to steep. The results have been great for some teas I wasn't too happy with hot.

However, I have been feeling down recently. I couldn't put my finger on it. I just didn't feel well and wasn't motivated or happy. Then today I thought that it might be because I haven't been drinking Jiaogulan for a while, so I made a good strong recipe, see below. Which creates a tasty purple cold tea. Now I feel good again.

• 2 dessert spoons of Jiaogulan
• a pinch of about 5 small Ginkgo Biloba leaves
• 10 Hibiscus flowers
• 5 Butterfly Pea flowers (proudly from our own plant)
• small dessert spoon of Chrysanthemum
• a tablespoon of lemongrass mixed with Pandan leaves

I went back to my normal way of adding almost boiling water to the ingredients and emptying immediately to wash any pesticides, dust or dirt off. Then added approx 95 degree water and left it to cool. Then added the tisane (herbal tea) to a 2 liter pitcher of chilled water. Then I added boiling water for a 2nd steep as some ingredients will keep on giving, especially harder ones like lemongrass, for when I need a refill later.

This got me wondering if it was just in my mind like a placebo, so I called 2 friends who drink Jiaogulan and they swear by it for hangovers- they like to party more than me so I haven't tried that one yet. Maybe its an excuse to break open a bottle of rum I have. 😜 They said it just brings them "up" and make them feel better every time. So I think Jiaogulan might be a hangover cure and possibly an anti depressant or at least a good pick-me-up. I was feeling great the first month I discovered it when I drank it most days.

I will update the blog soon with some recipe videos I haven't edited yet. Then start showing which teas go well with cold water steeping and what ingredients are good to add to them.