Drink of the Week: Alaya Tulsi Tea

After a particularly indulgent week of eating and drinking, I vowed to prioritize health and longevity. One of the first things I did was swap my daily coffee for herbal teas and tisanes. I’m particularly fond of tulsi, the Ayurvedic herb also known as holy basil. Some people believe it has anti-inflammatory benefits and can alleviate physical, chemical, and psychological stress. I find it comforting and delicious. My go-to loose-leaf tulsi is from Alaya Tea, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand I first learned about from the talented journalist Mackenzie Chung Fegan.

Founded by Smita Satiani and Esha Chhabr in 2019, Alaya works with regenerative, organic, and biodynamic farms and tea estates in northern India’s Himalayas. The company is refreshingly transparent about its sourcing practices and costs. Plus, unlike many plastic-wrapped DTC products I’ve tried, the packaging for Tulsi teas is completely compostable. 

Best of all, Alaya Tulsi Tea tastes fantastic. Earthy and full-bodied, it has a gentle sweetness that I find deeply satisfying. I tend to drink mine in the late afternoon. But a pot of tulsi would make an equally lovely breakfast tea or evening sipper. For me, it’s always a restorative treat, not some punitively “healthy” antidote to a week of hedonism. 

There’s a pleasant ritual to brewing a pot of loose-leaf tea, too. As a chronically online person, I find it somewhat meditative to watch Alaya’s carefully cultivated herbs infuse near-boiling water for a few quiet, uninterrupted moments. Sure, a person could use the 5-minute steeping time to check their Slack messages or refresh their various email or social media apps. But that strikes me as counterproductive. There are a lot of ways to focus on your health. Taking a few minutes to fix yourself a glass of something that makes you feel great seems like an excellent place to start. $14, alayatea.co