Drinking Rose Flower Tea to Combat Depression
<U>Chinese Herbal Atlas</U>
Dry rose flowers, vividly colored, are commonly sold in tea shops. Many overlook their benefits due to lack of awareness. Actually, roses are excellent food-medicine dual-purpose items. Women often drink them as tea, enjoying many benefits. Especially during menstruation, when mood dips, complexion fades, or cramps occur, rose tea provides relief.
<U>TCM</U> views rose flowers as sweet and slightly bitter, warm in nature. Their main benefits are regulating qi, relieving depression, activating blood, resolving stasis, and regulating menstruation to relieve pain. Moreover, roses have mild nature, gently nourishing heart and liver blood, releasing stagnant qi, providing sedative, calming, and antidepressant effects. Women often feel irritable before or during menstruation—drinking rose tea helps regulate emotions. In today’s high-stress world, even outside menstruation, drinking rose tea can soothe and stabilize mood.
For women, regular rose tea consumption can make the complexion as rosy as the petals. This is because roses strongly regulate qi, activate blood, resolve stasis, and harmonize internal organs. Common issues like poor complexion, facial spots, menstrual irregularities, and cramps stem from poor blood flow and stasis in the uterus or face. Once blood flows smoothly, the complexion naturally becomes rosy and the body healthy. To achieve this: drink 15 grams of rose flowers daily, steeped in water. Qi-deficient individuals may add 3–5 jujubes or 9 grams of American ginseng; kidney-deficient individuals may add 15 grams of goji berries.
When brewing, adjust sweetness with ice sugar or honey to reduce bitterness and enhance efficacy. Caution: do not brew rose flowers with tea. Tea contains abundant tannins, which impair rose’s liver-soothing and depression-relieving effects. Also, due to rose’s strong blood-activating and stasis-resolving properties, those with heavy menstrual flow should avoid drinking during menstruation.