I like serving tea as a part of my reiki treatments. It’s a nice way to welcome a client to the reiki room, to settle into the space, and to have a sip of something that is hopefully enjoyable. If I don’t manage to serve you tea, it’s likely that I’ve been a bit too busy to get organised (because of my other work, or perhaps two reiki treatments back to back) or you’ve arrived a bit earlier than I expected. I try to be ready for clients twenty minutes before the scheduled time, as that’s when the early birds come, but I don’t always make it!
My most commonly served tea is Genmaicha. This is a Japanese roasted rice tea, that has a mix of green tea and popped roasted rice. It has an interesting savoury flavour with even a hint of oil that you can sometimes see on the surface of the tea. Many of my clients tell me they love it and so I’ve written the name out for them! It’s easy enough to find in Asian grocery stores that sell Japanese products (in the tea section, usually, or in the Japanese section). I like the loose leaf version rather than in tea bags. A photo of my favourite brand is below.
The wikipedia entry on Genmaicha tells me:
- It is sometimes called ‘popcorn tea’ because the grains of rice pop during roasting and look like popcorn.
- The tea was traditionally consumed by poor Japanese, as the rice was considered filler that reduced the price of the tea.
- The tea was traditionally used by people who fasted for religious purposes or went without food for periods (probably because of its savoury qualities).
- Finally, ‘the sugar and starch from the rice cause the tea to have a warm, full flavor that is similar to that of nuts. It is considered easy to drink and helps one’s stomach feel better.’
You learn something new every day.
While I have been remarkably consistent about serving clients genmaicha, I decided lately I needed a bit of a change, and discovered a herbal tea in Woolies (and have since seen it in Coles too). I don’t like all the flavours in the ‘Higher Living’ organic range, a British company: the cinnamon (I love cinnamon) had too much liquorice in it; the ‘ginger kick’ just didn’t have enough kick for me. But I love their ‘green tea with coconut’ and their ‘green tea with chai.’ Great combos. Clients seem to like it too.
When I was in university in Canada, my favourite herbal tea was ‘Almond Sunset’ from the company Celestial Seasonings from Colorado. It was such an odd flavour that they stopped producing it for a long time and then brought it back in 2016 by request, but I don’t think they sell it in Australia!
In any case, let me know in advance if you have a request for the type of tea I’ll serve you during your treatment, or feel free to recommend a new kind of herbal tea to try (I think it’s best to limit the caffeine in drinks for reiki when trying to relax!).
