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Saffron Tea Benefits
5 benefits of saffron tea
Saffron tea might help:
- Improving inflammation
- Boosting your mood
- Enhancing weight loss
- Protecting brain cells against progressive damage
- Boosting your libido
The History Of Golden Saffron Tea
The saffron spice comes from the flowers of the crocus sativus. The crocus is traditionally grown in Iran, India, Afghanistan, and Greece. The saffron crocus only flowers for about three to four weeks during the months of October and November. The flowers are handpicked and the saffron stigmas are then separated from the flowers and dried.
The saffron stigmas are also called threads and are dark red. This is what is considered the saffron spice. Each saffron flower produces about three stigmas. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world because it has to be harvested by hand. It is a very labor-intensive process to harvest that cannot be automated. It takes about 450,000 saffron stigmas to make one kilogram of the spice.
Historically saffron has been used both as a medicinal herb and for its culinary purposes to add flavor and color to foods and drinks. Just like many herbs saffron can be prepared as tea as well. It can be enjoyed both hot and cold.
Can I Drink Saffron Tea Everyday?
The golden saffron tea is a great and simple recipe that you can turn into a daily ritual to help slow you down and nourish yourself.
Whether it’s at the start, during or at the end of your day, the golden saffron tea is a great ritual to incorporate in your daily routine. A ritual is the form or guideline of behavior that you intentionally perform. Making your saffron tea and sipping it slowly can be a great daily self-care ritual.
The best way to do this is to make your saffron tea and not multitask while doing so. While you sip on your golden saffron tea, be as fully present as possible to experience the taste, scent, and temperature.
Other things you could do to enhance your ritual are to light a candle at the beginning, take a few minutes to meditate, have a dedicated tea cup for your golden saffron tea, try to perform this ritual at the same time each day.
How Much Saffron Tea Should I Drink?
Research studies and recommendations by the European commission have indicated that a daily dose of 1.5 grams has been consumed by people without risks - potential toxic effects might occur at high doses of 5 grams or above.
A daily dose of 30 mg of saffron has been shown to provide health benefits in several studies. One teaspoon of saffron is about 700 mg.
Saffron Tea Nutrition Facts
Saffron has many health benefits. Drinking golden saffron tea as a daily ritual may help improve your mood. Research has shown that saffron helps in treating mild depression. The saffron stigmas are rich in antioxidants that aid your body against oxidative stress.
Saffron is also a great alternative to medication in treating PMS symptoms. Many women suffer from PMS symptoms that could include mood swings, headaches, fatigue, bloating. A review in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology looked at herbal treatments for PMS. In this review saffron is listed as being an effective treatment for premenstrual symptoms. Researchers found that 15 mg of saffron twice daily is effective in relieving PMS symptoms.
Crocin and crocetin are two of the elements in saffron which researchers believe may help your memory function and learning ability. A study published in Phytotherapy Research found that saffron was able to improve learning and memory problems. This means that saffron has potential in treating diseases that affect the brain such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Source: US Department of Agriculture
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170934/nutrients
Variations To Saffron Tea
Saffron tea can be prepared just by steeping the threads in hot water - plain and simple. However, the spice can have a strong and bitter taste so many recipes feature the herb paired in a variety of ways. For example, you can mix it in with tea leaves, or add other herbs and spices.
How to make saffron tea?
Follow this simple recipe and enjoy one of the healthiest and most delicious spicy teas out there. You can also enjoy it cold!
Saffron tea ingredients:
- 1 pinch of saffron (15 threads)
- Hot water
- Optional:
- Green cardamom powder
- 1 tsp honey
- Boil your water, pour in cup and add your pinch of saffron.
- Let it steep for 5 minutes. Your tea will turn golden and you can add a pinch of green cardamom powder and honey, if you’d like.
- Sip and enjoy!
Risks of Saffron Tea
Saffron is generally safe with little to no side effects. Keeping the standard cooking amounts, saffron does not appear to cause adverse effects.
Where to buy saffron
It’s important to purchase saffron from a reputable brand to ensure you get an authentic product. Make sure to always check the quality of the saffron by using your senses:
- The smell: saffron has a distinguished and soft scent. The aroma should be floral, honey-like, with a slight sweetness to it. This is a measure of the safranal in saffron.
- The taste: despite its scent, saffron has a very distinguished and hard to pinpoint taste. The taste profile of saffron can best be described as being floral and sweet but also earthy and some would even say it’s bitter. This is the measure of picrocrocin in the saffron.
- The appearance: add the saffron threads to water so it can steep. If it starts coloring the water quickly, your saffron may be fake or low-quality. Real saffron slowly turns the water into a yellow/golden color. This test measures the crocin of the saffron.
