Cosmic Trip (herbal tea)
Cosmic Trip (herbal tea)
Ingredients: Schizandra berries, rose hips, kava root, butterfly pea flower, pau d’arco bark. lemon verbena leaf, gotu kola herb, sage leaf, skullcap herb
Good for: Chi and meditations
Tastes like: A spring garden; Sour and intoxicating
Makes you feel like: You’re on a cosmic voyage to the moon!
Art by: Michael Keane
85 grams / 20 servings (1 tbsp per 8 oz water)
Caffeine-free. All ingredients are organic, except for kava and pau d’arco. Kava is certified noble and pau d’arco is wild harvested.
Kava Warning: Do not mix with alcohol. Excessive consumption may impair one’s ability to drive or operate heavy equipment. Not recommended for pregnant or nursing women. Ask a healthcare professional before use if you have had liver problems, frequently use alcohol, or are taking any medications.
Recommended brewing: 200° for 20 minutes
A sour, garden-like tea based on the hypnotic music of Steve Gunn
Cosmic Trip is a special tea made as a one-night-only tea for a Steve Gunn show at Skyspace, a meditation spot in Chestnut Hill. I’m a big fan of Steve’s music and Skyspace is one of my favorite places in Philly, so needless to say, I had to make a tea for the event!
The blend is based off Steve’s music, as well as Skyspace, and ended up as my most cosmic tea to date. Steve’s music can take you for a mental ride, so I used a good dose of herbs that were good for the mind and soul - kava kava and schizandra berries - and combined them with head-clearing herbs, sage and gotu kola. Rose hips enhance their effects - this is for those who like it STRONG!
I’m a big fan of Cantos de Lisboa, an album Steve made in Lisbon with Mike Cooper, so I added an herbs with Portuguese roots (although really Brazillian) - pau d’arco. Lastly, given the nature of Skyspace - a holy space that changes color - butterfly pea flower was added to give this mental tea a little color.
Vinyl Pairing: Sun Ra - Cosmos (Inner City Records, 1977)
Cosmic Trip has changed a little since the Skyspace event. It now resembles more of a Sun Ra record. The Sun Ra Universe is about as big as, well, our universe, but Cosmos is a good one to put on for relatively chill set featuring Sun Ra on Rocksichord. Recorded in Paris in 1976 and featuring members of His Arkestra that are still in the band to this day.
Further Listening: Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff - Melodies for a Savage Fix (2013); Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper - Cantos de Lisboa (2014)
Try it as a nitro cold brew!
For a truly unique experience, watch as nitrogen bubbles cascade through the wild colors of Cosmic Trip.
