Osha Root Tea Recipe (5 Cups Made with Bear Root Tincture)

The quickest osha root tea recipe takes about a minute. Pour 250 ml of hot water into a mug, squeeze in half a lemon, stir in a teaspoon of honey, then add one dropper of Bear Root osha tincture and stir again. The cup turns faintly golden and smells of celery leaf and pine resin. That's the whole method, and the five recipes below build on it.

Every recipe here starts from a dropper of tincture instead of a pot of simmering root. Bear Root is an extract of osha (Ligusticum porteri), a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, and the product page sets the amount at 1 to 2 droppers a day. So each cup below uses one dropper, or two if it's the only cup you're making that day.

What osha tea tastes like

Earthy and warming first, then a sharp, celery-like bite that sits at the back of the tongue. The celery note makes sense once you know the family. Osha belongs to the Apiaceae, the carrot and parsley family, and is a close relative of lovage. Lemon, ginger and honey all sit well against it. Cinnamon rounds it off in the evening.

If you're new to it, start with one dropper in a full 250 ml mug. The bite is easy to like at that strength, and you can go to two droppers once you know the flavour.

Five bear root tea recipes

All five use hot water from the kettle (just off the boil is fine), a chilled glass or a water bottle. Add the tincture last so it goes into a finished drink.

1. Morning lemon and honey cup

1. Pour 250 ml of hot water into a mug.
2. Stir in 1 teaspoon of raw honey until it dissolves.
3. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon (about 15 ml).
4. Add 1 dropper of Bear Root and stir.

This is the one most people settle on. The lemon cuts the earthiness and the honey softens the celery bite, so it drinks like a plain lemon tea with something deeper underneath.

2. Fresh ginger cup

1. Cut 4 thin slices of fresh ginger (about a 3 cm piece) and drop them in a mug.
2. Pour over 250 ml of hot water and let it stand 5 minutes.
3. Lift out the ginger, or leave it in if you like it hot.
4. Stir in 1 teaspoon of maple syrup or honey.
5. Add 1 dropper of Bear Root and stir.

Ginger and osha are both roots with a kick, and together the cup tastes spicier and drier than the lemon version.

3. Iced osha with citrus

1. Fill a tall glass with ice.
2. Add the juice of a quarter orange and a squeeze of lime.
3. Top with 200 ml of chilled still or sparkling water.
4. Add 1 dropper of Bear Root, stir, and drop in a sprig of mint.

Sparkling water makes this one taste close to a bitter citrus soda. It's the recipe to make on a hot afternoon or with lunch.

4. Water bottle after a hike or run

1. Fill a 600 ml bottle with water.
2. Add 1 to 2 droppers of Bear Root.
3. Add a small pinch of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon if you have one.
4. Cap it and shake for a few seconds.

Spread over a full bottle, the flavour is mild: a faint earthy, savoury note under the lemon. The bottle of Bear Root rides in a hip pocket or a running vest, so this recipe works at a trailhead as well as at home.

5. Evening cup with chamomile and cinnamon

1. Steep 1 chamomile tea bag in 250 ml of hot water for 4 to 5 minutes, then remove it.
2. Add a cinnamon stick, or a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
3. Add a splash of oat milk if you want it creamy.
4. Add 1 dropper of Bear Root and stir.

The chamomile brings a soft, apple-like sweetness and the cinnamon picks up the warming side of osha.

Preparing osha root tea from a tincture instead of dried root

Most recipes you'll find online start with dried root on the stove: 15 to 20 minutes of simmering, then straining, for about four small cups. A tincture skips all of that, and the reasons go past saving time.

• No simmering. A dropper goes into any hot or chilled drink, so the tea is ready as soon as the water is.
• The same strength in every cup. The root's main aromatic compound, Z-ligustilide, measures anywhere from 0.15% to 2.5% of dried osha root, a sixteen-fold spread between batches. A tincture is extracted once and measured out by the dropper, so cup ten tastes like cup one.
• The bottle travels. A 50 ml bottle fits in a bag or a pocket and lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day. No jar of root, no strainer, no pot.
• The extract stays out of the light. Bear Root is bottled in dark Miron glass. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction, but Miron is the gold standard: its maker, Heinz-Glas, says it blocks the whole spectrum of visible light, which keeps the extract from breaking down on the shelf.

Osha is also hard to come by as raw root. Almost all of it is wild-dug, often from plants more than ten years old, and United Plant Savers lists it as at-risk. A small bottle of extract goes a long way: one dropper flavours a whole mug or a 600 ml water bottle.

Osha bear root tea has a long history

People have been drinking osha as a tea for a long time. The Rarámuri of Northern Mexico call the plant wasía (Irigoyen-Rascón and Paredes, Tarahumara Medicine, 2015), and Rarámuri families brewed the root as a tea. Further north, Hispanic ranchers in New Mexico call it chuchupate (Dodson and Dunmire, 2007). In Colorado's San Luis Valley, botanists Robert Bye and Edelmira Linares recorded in 1986 that families shaved the root, infused the shavings and drank the tea, and that local pharmacies stocked it under the name chuchupate.

Lab work has looked at the same root. In a 2008 study at the University of Texas at El Paso, Oscar Beltran tested three plants used in Northern Mexico and the US Southwest, and osha extract stopped more than half the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at the lowest concentration tested. For more on where the plant grows and how it's harvested, read our full guide to osha root.

Bear Root considerations

The product page recommendation: "Contains alcohol. Not recommended during pregnancy. If you're nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it."

Osha root tea recipe questions

How many droppers of osha tincture go in a cup of tea?

One dropper in 250 ml is a good starting cup. Bear Root's product page sets the amount at 1 to 2 droppers a day, so use two in a single cup or one in each of two.

Can you add osha tincture to iced tea or juice?

Yes. The product page lists water, tea, juice and smoothies, and the tincture mixes into chilled drinks as easily as hot ones.

What is the best time of day for osha root tea?

Any time of year, any time of day. Most people make the lemon and honey cup in the morning and the chamomile cup in the evening.

Is bear root tea the same as osha tea?

Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha, Ligusticum porteri, from the story of bears digging up the root after hibernation. Our post on bear root tea covers the name and the plant in more detail.