Tulsi, Rose + Cardamom Tea

The sun has started to shine with warmth instead of harshness, and in my body I can tell that spring is arriving. And so, it’s time for tea!

Specifically, this Tulsi, Rose + Cardamom tea balances all three doshas and helps to clear Kapha in the body.

Into kapha spring

As the winter melts away, and the natural world strives to push through the heavy, density of the coldest season, we find our bodies are also working to wake themselves from a restful slumber. Our systems have taken on additional moisture, weight and Kapha dosha to cushion us from harsh weather, and to allow for deep regeneration that winter provides.

Drinking liquids and eating foods that support this process ensures that our digestive systems and metabolic fire burn clean and light, that our channels remain clear, and that our immune systems are clear and high-functioning. We also notice a loss of weight, heaviness and puffiness in the body, allowing us to spring forward into warmer months with vivacity.

This tea will balance all three doshas; reducing Kapha, balancing Vata and pacifying Pitta

A simple remedy from your kitchen

This recipe only requires three ingredients – all things I recommend keeping in your kitchen all year round, but this is an exceptional excuse to purchase them if they’re not on hand already. Here’s why:

• Tulsi Pungent, light, and slightly dry — tulsi directly opposes kapha’s heavy, damp, cold qualities, making it the workhorse of this spring blend. It’s warming and grounding for vata, and in the amounts used here, perfectly tolerable for pitta (in large amounts it can be slightly heating). Energetically clarifying and uplifting.

• Rose Rose is the blend’s great pitta ally — cooling and soothing to the heart and liver. While its cooling nature might seem counterintuitive for kapha season, it’s light enough not to aggravate. For vata, its sweet, unctuous quality is actually nourishing to dryness. It’s largely responsible for this blend’s sattvic, heart-opening quality.

• Cardamom Warming without being aggressive, cardamom helps cut through lingering winter stagnation in the channels — a key kapha-clearing action. It’s grounding for vata alongside tulsi, and notably, it’s one of the few warming spices that pitta generally tolerates well. A gentle digestive ally across all three doshas.

• Honey A supportive note rather than a central player, honey adds a protective quality that is particularly kind to vata. Always added after steeping and never to boiling liquid — in Ayurveda, heated honey is considered difficult to digest and is best avoided.

Energetically, this is a deeply sattvic blend — it clarifies the mind without agitating it, opens the heart, and supports prana moving upward and outward, which mirrors the energy of spring itself. It would be a lovely addition to a morning ritual or pre-meditation, your afternoon snack time, or anytime you want a little lift.

This beautiful spring tea

Takes just a few moments to make, especially once you have the ingredients on hand (and if you don’t already have these ingredients, you want them in your modern Ayurvedic kitchen!) I share my favorite sources below, as well as some backups in the Recipe Notes. You’ll be using these ingredients in other recipes here on the site to include this summer tulsi tea, this chai bread, these truffles and whole spice chai too.

Because there are so few ingredients here, the quality really matters. Buy the best versions you can find!

When you brew your tea, be sure to steep it while covered to preserve the aromatic volatile oils that benefit the body via aromatherapy.

Beyond this, keep this one close at hand! It’s a gorgeous, balancing and gentle blend that will make you feel even and bright from the inside out!