Chaga Tea Benefits

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Chaga Tea Benefits

Latest Tea | April 6, 2020

Chaga is a parasitic fungus characterized by its blacktop crust and brown-orangey, spongy core. Chaga is also known by many by it's lating name - Inonotus, which means 'fibrous ear' and obliquus, which means 'oblique' (spores). It belongs to the Hymenochetaceae family which infects hardwood trees like birches, making them the birch tree the host. The medicinal mushroom was identified and described by Persoon in 1801 but has been around primitively in Eastern Europe since the 12th century. Chaga mushrooms have been used in folk medicine to help treat a variety of health disorders and maintain wellness.

The Health Benefits of Drinking Chaga Tea

During the early 20th century, farmers in the northern hemisphere harvested the chaga mushroom and made their own aromatic hot chaga beverage and consumed it. Chaga is considered an adaptogen and a superfood. Adaptogens are found in medicinal herbs that support the body's natural ability to counteract stress. They possess compounds that both relax and stimulate. Chaga is also a fully-pledged superfood. It is not only fully packed with nutrients but also has a high antioxidant count that help fight free-radicals.

Making Chaga Tea

Chaga mushroom can be purchased online or in natural food shops. They may be sold in chunks, elixir, extract, tea bags, or powdered form. However, if you live in the Northern hemisphere, you could find chaga mushrooms in the wild forests!

There are many methods to prepare wild-harvested chaga. You can divide the conk into medium-sized chunks or shatter them into smaller pieces using a hammer. You can also grind them into powder form using a decent blender. Breaking it more to pieces releases its medicinal properties and will leave you wanting more. Whichever type you may have, put the chaga pieces into a pot and bring to a boil. The longer you boil, the darker it gets. The end product is a deep red-caramel to a black color solvent that has slightly bitter bark taste. You can normally steep the chaga chunks a few more times to make sure you get all of the goodness out.

While there are millions of testimonies from real people who have experienced the powerful use of chaga to their health, the benefits of Chaga mushrooms have been studied clinically but not heavily in human subjects. Further clinical trials and studies are therefore required to confirm these claims. We recommend you follow Health Canada's recommendations for chaga consumption.

Notice to the Public

It does look like chaga mushrooms were given by the nature on purpose. However, mycologists and shroom-enthusiasts are quite worried about the over harvesting of chaga in the forests. Chaga mushrooms take years to decades to mature and fully develop. Therefore, unsustainable and irresponsible harvesting can destroy the ecosystem and the planet! Unlike other mushroom species, chaga is difficult to produce commercially. Remember, when harvesting chaga make sure to properly harvest by not removing the whole chaga growth and be sure to not over harvest or waste this sacred mushroom! Be sure to follow guidelines set forth by land conservation authorities as well your local governments.

Birch Moon Wellness Co.'s views on medicine, fungus and mushrooms may differ from the authors of these articles as well as some of the studies or authors cited herein.

References:

Gery, Antoine, et.al. (2018). Chaga, a future potential medicinal fungus in oncology? A chemical study and a comparison of the cytotoxicity against human lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549) and human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Integrative Cancer Therapies.17 (3). https://dx.doi.org/10.1177%2F1534735418757912

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