Banana Tea

Our bedtime ritual with banana tea...

 

 

 

 

The Benefits...

Banana tea has become a consistent part of our night time routine. It is rich in magnesium and potassium which is known to regulate the sleep cycle, benefit the nervous system and promote muscular recovery and relaxation. The cinnamon also has an effect on balancing blood sugar levels. 

From personal experience, an hour before bed seems to be the optimum time to drink the tea. This, coupled with starting a wind down process from the day, will help you go to bed more relaxed and parasympathetic, giving your body and mind a better chance to enjoy a good night's rest. 

A few words of warning: after boiling the banana and cinnamon stick, the water will be as hot as hellfire. Leave for at least 10 minutes before drinking.

Use only ripe organic bananas. The taste of unripe bananas is bitter and the skin of non-organic bananas is full of potentially harmful pesticides. If you don’t like the taste of bananas, this recipe is probably not for you. My Dad loves it, my Step-Mother hates it. It seems to polarise the people who try it. Don’t suffer unnecessarily if it's not your thing, there are plenty of other beverages that promote sleep, we just happen to be a house of banana lovers. 

At the bottom of this blog is the article I first read about banana tea. The only modifications to our recipe from those on the article are that we separate the skin from the banana before placing in the water (increases surface area and utilises more of the skin), use of cinnamon sticks over cinnamon powder (less mess and personally I think gives a better taste) and length of time we boil the banana (20 minutes seems to give more flavour to the tea than 10 minutes).

 

Instructions...

Ingredients:

1 Organic Banana

1 Cinnamon Stick

Water

 

Method:

1. Take your organic banana and remove both ends.

2. Peel the banana and put the skin in the pot.

3. Add the banana and the banana skin to you pot of water.

4. Throw in a cinnamon stick. 

5. Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes on a low heat.

6. Strain the tea and serve*

*CAREFULLY: the banana 'broth' gets very hot! Liquid will be hotter than boiled water so alllow to cool for at least 10 minutes before draining the liquid.

7. Dim the lights, turn off your phone, laptops or television and enjoy about an hour before bed.

David Thunder