Tulsi Holy Basil Tea

Crumbled leaves the color of dried sage, releasing a scent equal parts clove and mint when the tin is opened. Steeped, the liquor turns a warm amber and carries that same peppery-sweet aroma into the cup, nothing like culinary basil, and closer in spirit to a mild chai without the black tea underneath. Tulsi, or holy basil, holds a particular place in Ayurvedic tradition, where it has long been called 'the incomparable one' and grown in a pot outside nearly every home in India. It is traditionally used to support a calm, steady mind under everyday stress, valued too as a general tonic for the body's ordinary immune defenses, and taken as freely and as often as any other daily cup. This blend is Krishna tulsi, a purple-leafed variety prized in tradition for a slightly stronger, more peppery character than the more common green Rama tulsi. It is grown without pesticides on small farms in northern India, hand-harvested leaf by leaf rather than machine-stripped, then shade-dried to preserve its volatile oils. The dried leaf is tested for heavy metals and microbial purity before it ships. Steep a teaspoon at full boil for five to seven minutes; tulsi wants a proper, generous steep, unlike more delicate teas. Good on its own, and just as good stirred into a base of green or black tea for a gentler cup. Drink it in the middle of an ordinary day, when the ordinary day needs steadying.