Echinacea: Benefits, Taste, Caffeine, and How to Steep It
The purple coneflower of the American prairie, and the best-known herb for cold season. Naturally caffeine-free, light and herbal with a soft floral finish.
Meet the ingredient
What is Echinacea ?
Echinacea is the purple coneflower, a tall, tough prairie wildflower native to the central and eastern United States. Its daisy-like heads have drooping pink-purple petals around a spiky orange-brown cone, and that cone is where the name comes from: echinos is Greek for hedgehog. Several species grow wild across the Great Plains, and two of them, Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia, have been used as medicine for as long as people have lived there.
Our Organic Echinacea is the dried leaf and flower of the plant, cut for tea and grown in the USA. Steeped in an infuser or tea bag, it gives a golden cup that is light, herbal and faintly sweet, with a floral note at the finish and, sometimes, a gentle tingle on the tongue from the plant's natural alkylamides. It has no caffeine, and it is the herb most people reach for at the first sign of a scratchy throat.
- OriginNorth American prairies
- FlavorHerbal & Floral
- CaffeineNone
Botanical origins
The Echinacea family tree
Echinacea belongs to the Asteraceae, the daisy family, which makes it a cousin of chamomile, calendula, dandelion and chicory, and of the sunflower it most resembles. The genus holds around nine species, all native to North America. E. purpurea, the purple coneflower, is the one in most gardens and most tea; E. angustifolia, the narrow-leaf coneflower of the drier western plains, is the one the Plains peoples used most. Both are sold as echinacea, and both are considered medicinal.
The plant is a hardy perennial that grows two to four feet tall from a deep, dark taproot, with rough, lance-shaped leaves and a single flower head on each stem that blooms from midsummer into fall. It thrives in poor, dry, sunny ground and shrugs off prairie drought. For tea, the leaves and flowering tops are cut in bloom and dried; the roots are dug from older plants for tinctures. Every part of it is bitter-sweet and faintly numbing, which is how the old healers judged a good root.
Health benefits
Echinacea tea benefits
Is echinacea tea good for you? Echinacea is the best-known immune herb in the West, used on the American prairie for centuries and studied more than almost any other herb for cold season.
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Echinacea's reputation rests on the immune system. Its alkylamides, polysaccharides and chicoric acid have been studied for the way they nudge immune cells into action, and it remains one of the most researched herbs in the world for that reason. Most people drink it at the first sign of a cold rather than every day.
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Dozens of trials have looked at echinacea and the common cold, and taken together they suggest a modest benefit: a slightly lower chance of catching one and a somewhat shorter run when you do. It is not a cure, but a warm cup of echinacea when you feel run down is one of the oldest habits in herbal tea.
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The Plains peoples chewed echinacea root for sore throats and toothache, and the faint numbing tingle it leaves on the tongue is why. Steeped as tea, it is a gentle, warming cup for a scratchy throat, especially with honey and lemon.
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Echinacea leaf and flower are rich in polyphenols, including chicoric acid, caftaric acid and echinacoside, which help the body manage oxidative stress. These compounds are also behind much of the research into the herb's anti-inflammatory and immune activity.
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Echinacea was a general remedy for swelling, bites and aches on the prairie, and its alkylamides have since been studied for anti-inflammatory activity. It turns up in blends for everyday aches for that reason, though the research here is far thinner than it is for colds.
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Cooled echinacea tea has long been used as a wash or compress for minor cuts, insect bites and irritated skin, and the plant's antioxidants and mildly antimicrobial compounds have been studied for skin care. Drunk as tea, it is a light, hydrating, caffeine-free cup that fits easily into a skin-friendly routine.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
History
History of Echinacea
Echinacea is a North American plant with a North American story. On the Great Plains it was one of the most widely used medicines there was: the Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Pawnee and many other nations dug the root for toothache, sore throats, coughs, snakebite and infected wounds, chewed it on long journeys and used it to steady the nerves. Archaeological finds suggest that use goes back hundreds of years before Europeans arrived.
Settlers on the plains learned the herb from their neighbors, and in the 1870s a Nebraska patent-medicine seller began bottling it as a cure-all, which made echinacea one of the most popular herbal remedies in the United States by the turn of the century. It fell out of fashion in America as antibiotics arrived, but Germany picked it up in the 1930s, grew the purple coneflower on farms and produced most of the research that revived it. The 1990s brought it back home as the herb for cold season, and today most of the echinacea in tea is grown on farms in the USA, a short drive from the prairies where it started.
- Herbal tea Caffeine free
- White tea Low caffeine
- Green tea Low caffeine
- Black tea Medium caffeine
- Matcha High caffeine
Levels are typical; steep time and leaf amount change them.
Caffeine
Does echinacea tea have caffeine?
No. Echinacea is naturally caffeine-free. It contains no stimulants at all, so you can sip it through the day when you are feeling run down and again at bedtime.
Taste
What does echinacea tea taste like?
Echinacea tea tastes light, herbal and gently earthy, like a mild meadow tea, with a soft floral note at the finish and a faint natural sweetness. The cup is golden and smooth, with a little bitterness if you steep it long, and some people notice a slight tingle on the tongue, which is the plant's signature rather than a flaw. It is an easy-drinking cup on its own, and it blends naturally with peppermint, elderberry, ginger, lemon and honey, which is why it anchors so many cold-season teas.
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Making the tea
How to make echinacea tea
Heat
Bring fresh, filtered water to a boil.
- Heat
- Measure
- Steep
- Remove
- Enjoy
Where to buy
Where can I buy Organic Echinacea ?
You can find Organic Echinacea on our website! We are USDA certified organic, and our products are vegan and free of GMOs. Try it out today!
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