Getting To Know Hibiscus Tea Benefits

Hibiscus tea or roselle tea as it’s commonly known, is rapidly growing in popularity as word spreads of its curative properties and delicious flavour. So why all the fuss? Well, here’s the full lowdown, including why hibiscus is rapidly gaining kudos in the herbal tea world.

What’s in a name? Hibiscus or Roselle?

Starting with the name, what you call it depends on which part of the world you’re from; over here, hibiscus and Roselle are pretty much interchangeable, but in Australia, Jamaica and Latin America, the Hibiscus Sabdraffa flower is known as Roselle or Rosella. In Egypt, Sudan, Italy and Russia, the tea is known as Karkadé, whereas in Iraq it’s Chai Jujarat, and in the Philippines and Iran it’s Chai Torsh.

It may have many different names, but one thing is certain – it’s drunk widely throughout the world as it’s both delicious and healthy.

So, we hear you ask, if the Hibiscus/Roselle are interchangeable, why did The Natural Health Market decide to call it Roselle Tea? Well, it’s simply because we source our hibiscus tea from Chang Mai in the North of Thailand, where it is known as Roselle. So, from here on in, we’ll refer to it as just Roselle.

Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea

A natural herbal tea popular throughout the world must provide the body with substantial health benefits, right? Yes, the health benefits of Roselle tea are significant, not least because it contains anthocyanin, an antihypertensive compound that works as an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, meaning it helps to lower blood pressure in people living with type-2 diabetes and hypertension.

As with most herbal and natural treatments, large pharmaceutical companies aren't particularly motivated to prove they work, as it's tricky to patent plants. They therefore don't offer grants to scientists who want to study their benefits.

Roselle tea is as effective as captopril (a pharmaceutical ace-inhibitor)

There have been a few studies about the effects of the hibiscus flower. A 2004 study shows it was as effective as the pharmaceutical drug Captopril as an ACE-inhibitor.

Ayurvedic Health Benefits of Roselle Tea

Widely prescribed by traditional medicine practitioners throughout the centuries, Roselle Tea is known by Indian and Chinese cultures to heal the body. And even though there was no scientific data to compare it against, they just knew it worked.

Visiting an Ayurvedic practitioner with any one of the following symptoms could see you prescribed Roselle Tea:

• common cold
• inflammation
• upper respiratory tract pain
• loss of appetite
• stomach irritation
• swelling
• fluid retention
• circulation disorders
• nerve disease
• constipation

The Delicious Taste of Hibiscus Flower

Apart from its many uses as an effective medicine, Roselle is also a favourite ingredient in many foods and beverages, it has a distinctive and appealing taste, which is not entirely dissimilar to cranberry.

Roselle juice has a tartness reminiscent of cranberry juice, but the overall flavour is rounder and more pleasant. It is equally good in a hot or cold drink and can quench a thirst for sustained periods.

Potpourri: The Roselle Flower Around The Home

Increasingly, the Roselle flower is being made into potpourri – quite simply because of its exotic aroma and pleasant bright red appearance; a bit of a waste of such a dominant plant if you ask me, but it takes all sorts...

Try Roselle Tea or Juice For Yourself

When a herbal tea can stand the test of time as Roselle has – and has globally recognised health benefits – I think it's pretty hard to come up with reasons not to try it for yourself, especially when you bolt on that it's delicious!

At The Natural Health Market, we sourced our Roselle tea by visiting Thailand and purchasing the best; it’s part of a new range of healing herbal teas we’ve launched that includes:

• Turmeric Tea
• Lemongrass Tea
• Chamomile Tea

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