A calming cup of tea can do wonders for your mood, and I find a cup of Gol Gav Zaban, also known as borage tea, is a soothing beverage guaranteed to make me relax! Easily learn how to steep your own Gol Gav Zaban the way my mom taught me, to reduce inflammation and PMS symptoms at the start of my cycle.
Gol Gav Zaban is the Persian word for borage. Borage is a plant with pretty light blue flowers that are purple when dried. Each word has its own meaning: Gol means flower, gav means cow, and zaban means tongue. It's a description of borage, the "cow tongue flower".
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Taste and medicinal benefits
Borage is not only pretty to look at, but tastes wonderful. Borage has a light, subtly sweet flavor that tastes herbal at the same time. It also has a crisp freshness which some people compare to cucumber or cucumber-infused water.
These blue and purple flowers are brewed in hot water and used to relieve bronchitis, chest colds, flu, inflammation, rhumatoid arthiritis, and even relieve stress and some PMS symptoms. It is cleansing and detoxifying. Read more about borage on WebMD.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Borage - You can find borage at your local Middle Eastern market, or online. Borage grows in most zones, so you can grow your own and dry it very easily, too.
Saffron Nabat - You can get this hard rock candy online or at a Middle Eastern market. My favorite kind of nabat is Sadaf Rock Candy with Saffron.
How to brew this tea
Start with 1 tablespoon of dried borage. Add the dried borage to a teapot and top with boiling one cup of hot water, approximately 212 Farenheit/100 Celsius.
Steep the borage for 5-10 minutes. As you steep it, the color of the tea will develop into a deep color, sometimes reddish/purple-ish in hue.
Next, strain out the dried borage so you only have the steeped tea left in your pot. Your tea is ready!
Sweeten your tea by stirring in some saffron nabat or plain sugar. Serve in pretty, glass teacups for the tea to showcase the incredible color and a slice of lemon!
FAQs
Dried borage flowers look like shriveled and crumbled purple-blue flowers. They look really pretty actually, so much so that it's nice to keep them on hand in a jar in your kitchen!
A great place to start is your local middle eastern market, or you can buy it online. I like to use dried borage which you can find online, or I dry my own.
My preferred method is to stir in some rock candy, like saffron nabat or regular nabat. You can also use honey, agave nectar, or sugar.
Borage tea has been praised as a relaxing tea that helps with stress. I was taught to drink it to relieve inflammation and other PMS symptoms. There is scholarship out there that speaks to other health benefits like releiving bronchitis, chest colds, flu, inflammation, rhumatoid arthiritis, and more.
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Gol Gav Zaban
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon borage dried flowers
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon nabat or sugar, optional
- 1 wedge lemon optional
Instructions
- Bring your water to boil, 212 Farenheit or 100 Celsius.
- Steep the dried borage flowers for 5-10 minutes, covered.
- Serve immediately with nabot or sugar and a slice of lemon.
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