20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature's Healing Herbs

by Victoria Zak

Fight Colds and Flu
Lower Cholesterol
Beat Depression
Banish Fatigue
Enhance Memory
Lose Weight
And More!

An ancient Chinese legend: Once there was a man who knew 100,000 healing properties of herbs. He taught his son 80,000 secrets. On his deathbed, he told his son to visit his grave in five years, and there he would find the other 20,000 secrets. When the son went to his father's grave, he found, growing on the site, the tea shrub....

Teas are the gentle, natural, most beneficial way to absorb the healing properties of herbs--easily and inexpensively. A simple cup of tea not only has the power to soothe and relax but to deliver healing herbal agents to the bloodstream more quickly than capsules, tinctures, or infusions. Feeling tired? Rose hip tea will rev you up and beautify your skin. Need some help with your diet? Ginger tea will provide the boost you need and help aching joints too. Hot or iced, these pure and simple drinks offer delicious ways to stay healthy and revitalize you from the inside out. This unique guide offers:

An A-Z listing of common ailments followed by the teas best used to treat them
Instructions on how to create your own medicinal kitchen
Advice on creating your own tea blends
Descriptions of the top 100 herbs and their secret healing properties
And much, much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Tea, Health, Food, Reference, Cookbooks, Cooking

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the title (and the reference to a tea bush on the back cover), this 220-page book has about 5 pages of information about tea (the camellia sinensis. All of the rest is unsubstantiated medical claims about various and sundry herbs.

If you're looking for information about tea, this is not your book. If you're looking for old wives' tales about medicinal herbs, perhaps it is.

See my full review on my blog.

[Anthony Chavez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Victoria Zak's book is decent. It includes herbal tea history, remedies, directions on making your own teas, lists of herbs and some ailments said herbs help. Zak lists herbs with cautions as well as parts of plant to use in making tea along with historical facts about many herbs. Recipes and quotes make this book an interesting read, and educational reference to your herbal tea library; however, some of the stuff in the book does seem improvised and self opinion.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine introduction to herbs for healing but I would have liked to have seen more detail about creating tea blends.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic addition to a natural remedy medicine cabinet. It’s not much reading about the tea plant itself, but herbs as tisanes if you want to argue semantics. The only thing I would’ve liked to have seen more of was dosing. Zak does touch on dosing for most of the herbs but I’d of liked it to be more specific though I do understand dosing is circumstantial and one should see a professional for a serious issue. Glad I bought!

[Yves514 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for years and still learn new things when I reference it. A must have if you're into herbal remedies.

[Deanna Martinez-Bey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed with valuable information!

[Ahtmos Fear · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep referring back to this book, especially during the winter months, for new and different teas to try. I've tried a great many of them and all truly do what they claim to do. There is a sweet, soul-warming reminder throughout the pages that tea isn't just a high-society, cute, little bag of leaves that turns your water a different color and makes you feel special. There's real purpose and true healing behind many teas that you likely have already consumed. There's also a gentle encouragement to explore different herbs, research their medicinal properties, and understand their effects on you. This book is especially valuable to those who enjoy making teas from bulk leaves and herbs versus pouring piping hot water over a bag that's floating in the cup. It's not, however, going to give much purpose to anyone who wouldn't find interest in steeping the herbs in a pot of water for a while to make a tea. One of the more unique aspects of this book is that you can typically find many of the herbs growing in your backyard or online. I used to use a specific vendor until I realized how expensive they are compared to other specialty stores. Now that I've read this book and keep referring to it, it's important for me to have a legitimate, secure, and reliable supplier. That's another quality of this book. It entices readers to be creative, find herbs, and make teas with them. It's worth having on my alter or kitchen curio. If you are seeking new ways to use any herbs that you have in your house already, this book will help you do just that. It makes me want to grow another herb garden specifically for teas.

[Mariya Tumanova · Rating 1 out of 5]

"An ancient Chinese legend", she says. And then proceeds to talk about herbs and NOT about tea. If you're not talking about Camellia sinensis then it's not real tea. She wrote about how tea (real tea) was discovered in China and a few facts about the tea shrub, and that's about it. Everything else was about herbs! Nothing about the variations of tea that come from Camellia sinensis, nothing about the differences of white, black, oolong, pu-erh teas or steeping times, etc, etc. And she kept calling the plant "the black tea shrub" (that's even in chapter 1, which was a red flag for me). It's not a black tea shrub, you can make ANY type of tea from this plant, not just black. You can make Pu-erh, oolong, white, green, yellow, black. The same leaves are processed differently to make different teas.

Which isn't to say it's a bad book but the title is misleading. Not what I was looking for. It should have been named 20k secrets of herbs, not tea. But if you're looking for info on herbs this isn't bad.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, ok. Was looking for specific historical info but only got a lot of general stuff. No footnote for the claims about health benefits. I got the same info I glean off marketing packaging.

Reference page was small, in my opinion.

This was more like a ‘pep talk’ about drinking herbal tea over manufactured meds.

I don’t even know what 20,000 secrets were?!

[David Bellangue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good general introduction into the world of herbal teas.

[Liz Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was amazed how this book has become my "go-to" guide for natural herbal health. I have always been a tea drinker. It's like the right of passage for the women in my family to sit down with the elders and have a cup of tea. As I have gotten older, I wanted to be able to help my Tribe and my own body, with the ailments that seem to trouble our lives. I started to take this book with me everytime I went to the market. Not only does it give you a great description of the natural properties of the herb, but tea recipes as well. My favorite part is that this book can allow you to find the right herb/ tea for you by looking up your issue. Menopause, anxiety, men's health, weight issues, cold and flu, etc etc. This book is exactly a great go-to reference book.

[Jillein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information for anyone interested in natural healing. I gained a healthier respect for natural healing and the amazing use of herbs historically, for instance, herbs carried into battle to treat the wounded. I often cross checked specific herbs through WEB MD, which I would definitely advise before attempting to self prescribe by this book. There are inherent dangers not addressed by the author.

[Seattle Soul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book with 4 stars because it is a wealth of information on how to make your own medicinal teas. The information was extensive and broken down in many different ways for easy use. Also for those with access to these kinds of ingredients and that are fresh, you can make so many enjoyable teas. My favorite is chamomile flowers and hops leaves before bed. I throw in a few dried elderberries as well.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book by any means. It is from 1999 so I suspect some of the information is dated now and finding more recent sources on medicinal tea would be better. But there's no real recipes on making medicinal tea. It's just a collection of facts about herbs and what (at the time) they were thought to be good for treatments. More of a small and concise encyclopedia of herbal remedies than anything.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus points for mentioning some herbs that are really useful but not that widely known.
Negative points for not always mentioning relevant and important information. You should always take slippery elm for instance far away ( best is 2 hours after and before) from taking supplements, medicine, food.
Drinking tea can be dangerous when you don't know the medicinal effects of the herbs in it.

[Jenny Garrison-Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an avid looseleaf tea drinker, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I loved learning some new medicinal purposes for the tea in my life. I also loved learning about the every day plants around us that can help heal the body. 4 stars as I would have loved some pictures of the plants that were discussed.

[Judith D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because it is so specific about descriptions. The book not only describes the benefits and parts of the herbs and plants it also tells about possible side affects. Another excellent part of the book are the ways to make tea and tea equipment needed.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely Educational Book

I am a coffee lover but this book has shown me that tea is just as wonderful. Look forward to healing my body with healthy teas .
Great advice and delightfully recipes.

[GH · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book on herbal medicine, without a doubt. It's cheap, portable, and packed with an unbelievable amount of practical information, including info on most common herbs and how they can be used medicinally.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book if you love tea!!!

[Heather Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been using this book for several years. If you are interested in using tea to heal, this is the book for you.

[Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great informational herbs book to help your general wellbeing

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative but with a brief, helpful layout - both by symptoms and by herb.

[Arbeena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my full review of the book here:

https://thekashmirimages.com/2021/05/...

[Abigayle Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it.

[Karolina Caliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite book !

[eilatan eega · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked this book!!! missing spearmint

[Brittney Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're at all interested in getting, like, really into tea, then you should read this book!

[Debra Leigh Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to use for reference if you are interested in natural healing and in using medicinal plants.