I make my "tea" from yerba mate - it's the dried, often roasted leaves of a South American holly tree, sometimes adding dried/powdered ginseng root. I drink it loose leaf style, so I use either a traditional or modern interpretation of the bombilla (a filtered strw, of sorts). If I'm at home, I use either a dried hollow gourd or wooden "gourd-like" cup (mate meaning "cup", yerba meaning "herb") and a traditional metal bombilla, and drink it hot, using 4 to 5 tablespoons in the cup, and keep re-infusing it until the flavor is gone...many many cups and many hours, truthfully. At work, I have a modified large travel mug and a sports bottle that I drink it cold from, using a plastic modern bombilla with fine mesh at the bottom.
Yerba mate is an interesting beverage, often consumed in groups ritualistically, but it's also the morning wake up beverage of choice in certain parts of South America (Uruguay, Paraguy, Brazil, and I'm sure I've forgotten a country, maybe two...). It is kind of like green tea, but much stronger, supposedly has more anti-oxidents than green tea, not as much caffeine as coffee, has other xanthines (some found in chocolate), has several vitamins in it, it's a pretty healthy stimulating beverage, if you don't overdo it, I believe. I've been drinking it for a few years, now, and rarely drink coffee. It is very stimulating, but in a much more focused manner than coffee, and it seems there is no horrid "crash" like you experience when coming down from a coffee buzz. Doesn't seem to disturb sleep as much as a lot ofcoffee might... It's my beverage of choice, next to water. It's something of an acquired taste, but once you get used to it, it's quite enjoyable, and I can put several tablespoons of it in my 26 oz sports bottle, fill it with water, and go about my day, refilling it with water wherever/whenever I need to....cold brewing (called terere) is just as good, just takes longer to infuse. Check it out, but just a warning - you might find it in teabag form at the local store, but it's very low doseage and very high price. I can get a kilo of loose leaf delivered for about what it costs to buy a box of 25 teabags(25 grams).
As far as the ginseng, well, I occasionally add that just for the ginseng benefits (I take it in capsule form regularly, as well, so it's an occasional additive). I've also added powdered guarana seeds, but.....a lil too stimulating, as the yerba mate suits me just fine. Sorry to have rambled on and on about it, but ......time to go refill my mate ;)
