Every so often I get headaches. I don’t really want to call them headaches because that makes it sound like “ouchie. I have a slight throb behind my forehead bone”, but I also don’t want to call them migraines because I don’t have a trigger, and nothing makes them worse once they start like your typical migraine. But picture the pain you might experience if, say, a blood vessel burst in your skull. The kind of brain-crushing pain that, at the same time, makes your eyeballs feel like they’re going to erupt out of your face. Mine start at the front of my head behind my eyes and near my temples, then the pain gradually moves to the back of my head, completely numbing the back of my neck. Then the nausea starts. Eventually all I’m left with is a slight rash on the back of my neck, and the pain disappears almost as fast as it starts. Like magic. Best part? No known cause. I’ve stumped many a doctor. One suggested I was fabricating the pain. I suggested I could fabricate him a broken nose and a puddle of blood on his nice white carpet. He retracted that statement.
Anyway. Relevance.
When I start to get a headache, this is the only beverage I can consume. I don’t know what about this SPECIFIC tea makes it so palatable, but this is it. I have it stocked at home and at work, and usually only drink it during those times of searing pain. I’ve tried regular peppermint or spearmint leaves (which ease a queasy stomach for other reasons), but they just don’t do the trick. It reminds me a lot of an herbal tea my friend from Saudi Arabia used to make; too bad I didn’t write down the ingredients of her tea. I’ve been looking for an equivalent ever since, and this is as close as it comes.
Two other ways to drink it like a pro: iced with dark rum, and half-tea half-coffee with frothed milk. I’ve never had it as a latte on its own; I should try this sometime.
Verdict: will always have this stocked at all times.
