Sun & Shower

Autumn is a great time of year.  Football games, post-season baseball and open windows.  I love it!  Unfortunately, there’s something in the air this time of year making me miserable.  I haven’t bothered with getting tested to find out exactly what causes it.  I just know that when the weather changes in September, I’m in for itchy eyes and sneezing until that first frost.

Sometimes I take a Claritin-D in the morning and a Benadryl in the evening but they don’t always help.  Not wanting to go on prescription allergy medicine, I turned to natural remedies and discovered rooibos tea.

Rooibos tea, sometimes called red tea, comes from the rooibos plant in South Africa.  It has a red-brown color and a slightly sweet but nutty flavor.  Like other teas, it is high in antioxidants and full of health benefits.  Rooibos is caffeine-free and has been shown to help alleviate nervous tension, allergies and indigestion. 

Having discovered this information, I had to try it for myself.  Last autumn, I drank rooibos tea nearly every day and suffered very little from my allergies.  This year, I had forgotten about it until just recently and gave it another shot.  Sure enough, I had temporary relief from my allergies.

It seems I would need to drink several cups of rooibos tea every day to keep allergies at bay.  Normally I would have no problem with this but with pregnancy, I wasn’t sure how that much tea would affect the baby.  I did some research and discovered it is generally considered safe during pregnancy.  In South Africa, they often use it to treat colic in babies.  Hopefully that means I’m getting a head start and will have some peaceful nights in my future.

I heard back from Argo Tea about whether they serve organic and/or fair trade teas.  Here is the response:

Thank you for your message.  Currently we offer two organic teas: Red Tea (Rooibos) and Gunpowder.  Although at this time our teas are not fair trade, we support fair trade principles and are looking into ways to introduce fair trade, as well as a greater offering of organic teas in the future.  Your interest in Argo Tea is much appreciated, so please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or comments.

Given that they are still somewhat new and trying to grow in Chicago, I’m not going to write them off just yet.  I will, however, be keeping a close eye on whether they follow through with introducing more organic and fair trade teas into their selection.

While walking to work this morning, I was greeted with a glorious vision.  A new Argo Tea location is now open in my office building!  Just yesterday, I was searching for some place other than Starbucks or Caribou Coffee to get my tea.  Today, I have an entire store dedicated to tea located right in my building.

Argo Tea is an up and coming urban cafe in Chicago, seeking to be like Starbucks for tea drinkers.  There are now 7 locations spread throughout the city and Evanston.  The tea is loose leaf and imported from all over the world.  An exhaustive internet search came up short on whether Argo Tea serves fair trade and/or organic teas.   I have sent them an email and will provide an update when I receive a response.

Putting the fair trade/organic question aside, Argo Tea provides a wide range of teas including my favorite: white tea.  Today’s cup was a mix of white and peach ginger.  By combining a fruity herbal tea with a white tea, I get the benefits of white tea’s antioxidants and the taste of sweet fruit.  I highly recommend this combination.