Brazil's lemongrass tea: fresh 'holy grass' leaves infused in hot water and drunk after meals and at night throughout the Northeast
Origin: Salvador & the Brazilian Northeast
From the journey of Lemongrass.
Brazil has more names for lemongrass than for almost any other herb: capim-limão, lemon grass; capim-cidreira; erva-príncipe; and, above all in the North and Northeast, capim-santo, holy grass. The plant came from Asia in the colonial period and found the Brazilian climate ideal, and the tea made from its leaves is one of the most drunk herbal infusions in the country, taken after meals, at night to calm the nerves, and as a remedy when a cold comes with fever. In the Northeast it grows in almost every backyard, and it is one of the plants of the farmácias vivas, the community gardens of medicinal plants that Brazil's public health service encourages. The leaves are chopped and steeped in water just off the boil, and the tea is drunk plain or with a little sugar. Its name capim-cidreira causes endless confusion, since erva-cidreira is lemon balm and, in much of Brazil, a different lemon-scented shrub, Lippia alba.
In summer the tea is often chilled and served with ice and a slice of lime.
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