Organic
Additive & Filler Free
Gluten Free
Antioxidant
Vegan
Premium Jiaogulan Gynostemma Loose Leaf Tea
✧ What is Jiaogulan?
High in the mountains of Asia grows a modest climbing vine that local people have drunk as a daily tea for generations. They call it xiancao, the herb of immortality, after the communities who drank it and were known for their long, vigorous lives.
Jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) belongs to the same family as ginseng and carries many of the same prized compounds, the gypenosides, yet it is gentle enough to enjoy every day. It is naturally caffeine-free, and the taste tends to surprise people: delicate and slightly sweet, soft and clean, with none of the bitterness you might expect from a green leaf.
✧ What is a dual adaptogen, and why does it help?
Jiaogulan is what is called a dual, or biphasic, adaptogen. In the Chinese tradition it is seen as a Yin and Yang balanced herb, with a relaxing or energising action depending on what the body needs.
A stimulant like caffeine works like a switch flipped on. It pushes you in one direction, regardless of where you started. An adaptogen works more like a thermostat, moving you towards a set point rather than in one fixed direction. When your system is running too hot, wired but tired, it helps bring you down. When you are flagging and depleted, it nudges you back up. Like a thermostat that heats as readily as it cools, it is always working towards balance.
That gentle, two-way action is why jiaogulan is such an easy herb to live with, day after day, by men and women alike. It is far kinder on the body than ginseng root, and can be taken over long stretches of time. It is that gentleness, and in particular how well it suits a woman's body, that has earned it the affectionate name women's ginseng.
✧ When should you drink Jiaogulan?
Because it is balancing and caffeine-free, jiaogulan fits almost any hour.
In the morning it makes an uplifting start in place of coffee: clear and steady, with none of the jitters or the mid-afternoon crash. In the evening it helps you put the day down and let go of work.
It is especially useful when your days do not follow the usual clock. Shift workers, night workers and frequent travellers often reach for it when their body clock is out of step with the world around them, and they need to find their balance whatever the hour.
Many keep it as a small daily ritual, a clean, high-quality cup that feels genuinely special, and generous too, the leaves brewing well several times over.
✧ What's in our Jiaogulan?
Ingredients
100% Whole-Leaf Jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum)
- Mountain-grown in Northern Thailand
- De-stemmed and hand-rolled loose leaf
- Single harvest
- Pan-dried to protect the leaf's natural compounds
- Naturally caffeine-free
Our jiaogulan is grown by a collective of tribal farmers in Northern Thailand, with great care and using only organic practices. The co-operative cannot meet the high fees that international organic certification charges on each farm, so although it is grown organically, we cannot label it certified organic. We would rather tell you that plainly.
No added fillers or preservatives. Product carefully sourced from Northern Thailand. Click here for info on our sourcing policy.
✧ How do you brew Jiaogulan?
Let freshly boiled water cool to around 75°C. Use half to one teaspoon of leaf per cup, and steep for three to four minutes.
- Strain, and avoid over-steeping. Crushing or stirring the leaves can draw out the more bitter notes.
- The leaves are generous: re-steep them up to three times, leaving each brew a little longer than the last.
Prefer it on the go? The same mountain-grown leaf comes as Jiaogulan capsules.
