# From "The Hidden History of Beverages" by Alexander Lukashev

## 19. Ginkgo Leaf Tea

Part Two (recipes), chapter 19 · Remedies, taken as a course
Page: https://herbalmind.bar/recipes/ginkgo-leaf-tea/

traditional infusion · preparation time: 10 minutes

Plants:
- ginkgo leaf (Ginkgo biloba L.) — European Medicines Agency monograph EMA/HMPC/321097/2012: well-established use for age-associated cognitive impairment and mild dementia, which applies to a refined dry extract and not to an infusion; traditional use, for the powdered leaf, for heavy legs and cold hands and feet in minor circulatory disorders
- lemon balm leaf (Melissa officinalis L.) — European Medicines Agency monograph EMA/HMPC/196745/2012: traditional use for mild mental stress and to aid sleep, and for mild gastrointestinal complaints including bloating
- peppermint leaf (Mentha × piperita L.) — European Medicines Agency monograph EMA/HMPC/572705/2014 Rev. 1: traditional use for digestive disorders such as dyspepsia and flatulence

From “Before You Begin,” the book’s safety page (free: https://herbalmind.bar/before-you-begin/):
- Seven recipes are remedies, taken on a course. Nothing is gained by drinking them for pleasure.
- The other two — the standardized dry extract of ginkgo leaf for age-related cognitive impairment (Chapter 19) and powdered ginger root against nausea and vomiting in motion sickness (Chapter 33) — belong to pharmacy preparations, not to a tea, and the chapters say so.
- Ginkgo, Chapter 19, affects platelet function and interacts with anticoagulants.
- Ginkgo is here for a different reason: its chapter explains why a tea of the leaf is no substitute for the pharmacy extract.
- Pregnancy: Twenty-six of the twenty-eight recipes here are restricted in pregnancy — most because safety has not been established rather than because harm has been shown, but the answer is the same either way. The two that carry no restriction are the rosehip brew of Chapter 26 and the sea buckthorn of Chapter 28, both of them fruits eaten as food across Europe.

The recipe itself — amounts and preparation, who should not drink it, how much and for how long — is in chapter 19 of the book: https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723

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These are chapter cards — what each chapter covers, with a few short answers and the book’s free pages — not the chapters themselves.
Apple Books, with a free sample: https://books.apple.com/book/id6756108723
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