Bath Tea

From time immemorial, tea baths have been used by natural healers to treat illnesses, and Red Leaf Tea has proudly developed several of these bathing packages for our clientele.  When the spiritual nurses and healers of villages needed medicine, they turned to the natural world around them, seeking ways to strengthen the effects of the herbs and other organic materials they knew to contain medicinal traits.  Tea baths were one of the most effective techniques they developed.  And don’t forget that wraps and soaks are also a part of the realm of bath therapy.  All of our Tea Bath packets and sachets can be partially used for footbaths or forehead wrappings.

Probably the earliest uses of tea baths were for skin problems.  Tea was known to have an astringent quality, and natural healers quickly realized that most forms of tea were very good at healing and ameliorating the effects of psoriasis and eczema.  The teas were blended with other organic compounds, usually a mix of supportive herbs, and then large doses of the blends were carefully placed in filtering packages called sachets and added to warm baths.  Sometimes the baths were constantly stirred to aid the absorption of the beneficial effects of the teas.  Certain teas were also known to be good for treating arthritis and rheumatism.  The fame of chamomile tea as a relaxing and calming agent led to its use in tea baths as well.  In Ancient China, healers regularly noted the effectiveness of teas and other herbs as medicines, and the also began to catalog their observations.  This created a long tradition of teas prescribed for medical purposes, in the forms of both drinks and baths, throughout the Oriental world.  Over several centuries, Chinese herbalist developed a highly complex series of medical procedure and protocols for the use of teas, herbs and tea baths.  Their work is still studied today under the heading of Chinese Herbology, which is itself a part of the larger world of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM.

It is interesting to consider the commonplace words that have come to us from ancient herbology.  The word “balm” is known to all and it means something that soothes and heals.  We derive this word from the Lemon Balm herb, famous for its lemony flavors and sedative effects in teas.  In a more modern tone, we get the word menthol from the distilled oils of the mint plants, especially the leaves of the eucalyptus tree first noticed in ancient herbology, and we use it in our most up-to-date cough drops! 
At Red Leaf Tea, our development of Tea Bath sachets and packets provides you with a healing option for your medical and even spiritual needs.  We offer a Chamomile Tea Bath to you when you require solace and calm.  We have also created a Mint Tea Bath, heavily tinted with the menthol-producing oils of mint leaves, for those cold and flu seasons, when a hot is the best medicine in the world.  Please return to this page and see the latest blends of teas for baths as they become available.