Fulfilment tea ingredients

"The best quality tea must unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.”  Lu Yu, The Classic Art of Tea, c. 760 – 780 AD

Inspired by Ancient Chinese beliefs, de Mamiel teas are therapeutically blended to nourish the body from within, helping to achieve inner harmony and a more balanced flow of energy.

Autumn is the time of harvest.  It is a perfect time to enjoy the fruits of our labour and celebrate our accomplishments during the year while also reflecting and acknowledging the changes that have taken place over the past twelve months.

It is also a time of storage and preparation for the Winter.  As the leaves turn dry and fall silently to the ground to await the depths of winter, so we can learn from Mother Nature around us. It is a time of turning inward; a time to gather what is good, healthy, abundant and pure to our selves; a time to let go of what no longer serves us well and release what holds us back.  It is a great time of year to check in with ourselves.  It gives us our sense of quality and value, and our capacity to look at what lies beyond.

The Chinese see Autumn proper as a time when energy once again begins to withdraw and pull back so it can begin to accumulate its powers and store them for the lean times to come.  Autumn is associated with the Metal element characterized by expansion, contraction, and transformation on physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

The Metal element is the part of us that seeks perfection of form and function. It is our inner disciplinarian and perfectionist. It is that which desires justice and is the defender of moral values as well as art and beauty.  It evokes inspiration, awe, reverence and a longing to find value and meaning in what we do.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Autumn is represented by the lungs, large intestine and skin.

The lungs take vital energy from the air, they bring what is pure into our bodies, allowing life to be sustained and allowing us to receive and let go by way of the breath, getting rid of waste products from our blood.

Because the skin is viewed as the third lung it reflects this notion of receiving, allowing and letting go.

The lungs have an energizing, revitalizing role to play in the body and mind. They maintain the vigour of our “vital spirits” and ensure a clear, optimistic outlook. They are home to the ‘p’o’, or Bodily soul – the instinctive “animal” nature within the individual; the part of us that thrives on the life of the five senses.  The lungs additionally represent our boundary with the external world – a dynamic interface where there is cross-movement and interchange.

The large intestine takes vital nutrients and water from our food while eliminating the toxins and unnecessary matter.  Through its releasing nature it allows us to let go of what is not needed physically, allowing us to rid our bodies of unwanted waste materials and toxins.  It holds onto our true essence and releases impurities, helping us to give up old, unnecessary habits, toxic emotions and resistances.  It represents our capacity to receive, allow, release, let go, forgive and ‘move on’ to what is physically and emotionally more pure.

de Mamiel Fulfilment Tea has been blended therapeutically so it works at a deeper level, supporting the body and striving to achieve a balance of yin and yang energies.  The Ancient Chinese belief is that in Autumn we should avoid the dryness caused by insufficient moisture in the air.  This can be particularly damaging to the lungs and, when combined with cold, can bring on headaches and a blocked-up nose. When combined with heat, dryness will cause excessive thirst and profuse sweat, a sore throat and dry nose. Both these forms of dryness will make your skin feel hard and dry and your lips chapped.  The Metal element of Autumn encompasses the continual energetic renewal of the lungs and large intestine as their primary function is to govern ‘qi’ and regulate water passages.

de Mamiel Fulfilment tea supports the lungs, large intestine with decongesting, cooling and soothing properties, rich in immune boosting herbal remedies, essential minerals and antioxidants that help to clear body and mind of unnecessary burdens so that you can move on feeling fulfilled.

Ingredients:

Wild Cherry (prunus serotina) bark - helps to clear the lungs, airways and respiratory functions; anti-inflammatory; helps to slow a nervous or rapid heartbeat; helps to reduce cellular damage from free radicals.  Almond-like aroma with bitter, astringent taste.

Thyme (thymus vulgaris) leaf – beneficial in treating coughs related to flu and colds, bronchial ailments, relaxant and bronchodilatory effects; relieves indigestion, carminative, antispasmodic tonic, helps relieve intestinal cramping; antioxidant properties. Traditionally associated with courage - medieval women gave sprigs of thyme to knights going into battle; beneficial in hysteria.  Contains essential minerals (iron, Vitamin K, manganese and calcium).  Increases our defensive qi (immunity).  Aromatic, slightly peppery.

Meadowsweet (filipendula ulmaria) flower – sometimes referred to as nature's aspirin, used as a supportive ingredient for fever and common colds, appears as an ingredient in herbal preparations for treating coughs, influenza, rheumatism and kidney and bladder complaints, digestive remedy, helps soothe inflammation, helps reduce acidity caused through over anxiety or indulgence.  Nicholas Culpepper wrote in 1652 that meadowsweet "helps in the speedy recovery from cholic disorders and removes the instability and constant change in the stomach."  Aromatic, bitter, sweet.

Caraway (carum carvi) seed – potent diuretic, carminative, tonic and antispasmodic properties make it valuable for bronchitis and bronchial asthma.  Used in traditional Chinese medicine for various gastrointestinal disorders (such as abdominal pain, hernia, stomach ache, indigestion, nausea, lack of appetite and hiccups) and low back pain; moves the liver and warms the kidneys.  Sweet, spicy aroma with sweet but faintly sharp (like aniseed) taste.

Echinacea (echinacea angustifolia) flower – natural supporter of the immune system; used to treat the common cold, influenza outbreaks and mild to moderate infections of all kinds; helpful in cases of chronic fatigue.  Honey, musty aroma with earthy, warm taste.

Peppermint (mentha piperita) leaf – cooling, clearing and revitalising (headache, stomach ache, sore throat, rashes, coughs related to colds and allergies, helps with mild asthma), digestive stimulant; encourages circulation to brain.  Fights stress, strengthen/calms nerves, helps to push people through emotional blocks and repressed feelings.  Cleansing minty aroma and taste.

Licorice (glycyrrhiza glabra) root – used to treat coughs and colds, expectorant, helpful for catarrh of the upper respiratory, and for gastric ulcers; contains powerful antioxidants. Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat various forms of chronic fatigue.  Alexander the Great recommended that his troops carry and use licorice to help with stamina for long marches, as well as for thirst in areas of drought.  Sweet.

Cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum) bark - ancient herbal medicine mentioned in Chinese texts as far back as four thousand years; mildly astringent, spasmolytic, eases cold symptoms, treats problems of the digestive system such as cramps, flatulence, nausea; antimicrobial, high in antioxidants; stimulates the circulation and the senses yet calms the nerves, hypotensive.  Comforting, warming and energizing.  Helps the body’s fire; warms the kidneys and spleen.  Spicy sweet but powerful.

Jasmine (jasminum officinale) flower - improves digestion; increases toxin elimination, expectorant, antispasmodic (flower syrup once used for coughs); accelerates metabolism, stimulates blood circulation; good for dry, itchy and sensitive skin.  Uplifting, helps with anxiety, fear, low vitality and lack of confidence.  Works on yang deficiency.  Sweet.

Spearmint (mentha spicata) leaf – mentally stimulating; refreshing and internally cooling, a digestive remedy, anti-spasmodic and anti-inflammatory.  Relieves stress and lifts mood.  Stimulates the flow of ‘qi’ to the stomach.  Clean, fresh and minty aroma and taste.