The Mantis Touch

A Guardians of the Galaxy Inspired Tea Blend

This rooibos tea blend is inspired by the empath Mantis and The Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Blended with natural ingredients to create a tea to help you sleep.

Mantis is an empath who has the ability to sense feelings in other people and alter them. She has to antennae that appear to amplify her abilities. Mantis is a ward of Ego and uses her abilities to help him sleep in his human form.

I initially developed this tea blend to help my son sleep after long days in grad school. It would certainly have been much simpler if we had an empath in the family, but we did not. So, I got to work finding a blend of sleep-inducing herbs that didn’t taste like dirt. After many failed attempts, I settled on the combination of ingredients found here.

I started with a rooibos base. Rooibos (pronounced ‘roy-boss) means ‘red bush’ and does not come from the Camellia Sinensis plant, but instead it comes from a shrub that is native to South Africa. This herb dates back to the 1700’s but didn’t start being available commercially until the 1930’s. The rooibos bush is actually green, but because it is dried out under the African sun, the leaves change from green to a very deep mahogany color. Rooibos is naturally sweet, naturally caffeine-free, and low in tannins. It is also packed with calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, vitamin c and many others. It’s natural hydration and anti-inflammatory properties made it the perfect base for this tea blend.

Valerian root is commonly referred to as “nature’s Valium”. It has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years to help with sleep. Valerian root is a very strong-smelling herb and can be somewhat overpowering. This is one tea blend where the tea definitely does not taste like it smells.

Passion flower has been used by Native Americans as a low-level sedative and it has been studied extensively over the years. Passion flower is generally safe but should not be used during pregnancy.

Lemon Verbena has a pleasant citrusy flavor and has been used for its ability to soothe nerves and anxiety, and as a sedative to improve insomnia, although there have been few, if any, actual clinical studies to support this.

Chamomile’s calming effects are commonly used to induce sleep and damiana leaf can act as a calming tonic. Although lavender and lemongrass don’t actually contain any form of sedative, their addition helps the other ingredients to be more effective by providing a pleasant taste and a soothing aroma.

You may not know an Empath, so just drink a hot cup of this lemony rooibos blended with natural sleep-aiding herbs 30-60 minutes before bedtime.