Tea’s gotten me through a lot of tough scrapes. It can help colds, provide an extra push when working on projects, and it’s good for de-stressing too. I tried the whole coffee thing, but I just couldn’t get past the taste and the jitters. So here are a few of my favorite teas and practical applications of them for the everyday art student life.

Green Tea  is good for basically everything and comes in a bunch of herbal and fruity varieties. It will help you focus on the task at hand and it has many health benefits. You’ll be quick to comment during critiques for sure.

If you don’t like coffee but still want a kick in the teeth so that you can power through that project you haven’t even started yet, try some caffeinated black tea. Chai, English Breakfast, and Earl Grey are a few tasty examples. With a cup of black tea, you won’t have to worry about having to “rest your eyes” or drooling all over your artwork in an unintentional slumber.

Herbal teas are natural remedies. Mint tea is a good for nervous nausea before a review. Chamomile will help you sleep at night and keep you from thinking about composing that piece that’s not due for another two weeks. Rosemary relieves anxiety and tension so you can feel confident presenting your work to the class. Or maybe you pulled one too many all-nighters working on that painting and you feel a case of the sniffles coming on. In that case, take some time to brew yourself a cup of thyme tea. Just breathing in the hot vapors will open up a stuffy nose.

Those are just a few of my favorite brews. Not only is tea and all of it’s traditions and accessories an art unto itself, but I find that drinking it helps my creative process. As an artist, it is my life’s blood. Do you have a favorite tea that gets your creative juices flowing?