Orthosiphon Aristatus Tea, Cat Whiskers Health Benefits

Orthosiphon Aristatus is known to people who have experienced kidney disease and back pain. This plant called cat whiskers, Java tea, our parents have long known the orthosiphon aristatus tea benefits. This plant is in the family Lamiaceae / Labiatae, one of the herbs spread in South China, India, Southeast Asia and Queensland.

Since ancient times, our parents have used cat whiskers to cure back pain, including diseases related to the kidneys and urinary tract. This plant is powerful in destroying kidney stones and eliminating the pain it causes. Orthosiphon aristatus tea is now known as one of the herbs used by Western and Eastern people, even already produced in herbal medicine.

Orthosiphon Aristatus Tea Recipes

The cat's whiskers made of herbal tea or a mixture of some herbs. Among them are to cure urination, kidney stones cleansing, inflammation of the kidney, rheumatism, syphilis, constipation, and to treat diabetes. Orthosiphon aristatus tea believed to contain genkosid compounds orthosifonin, fatty acids, essential oils, vegetable oils, saponins, sapofonin, and potassium salts.

Orthosiphon aristatus usually attract the attention of bees, butterflies and birds to the nectar. This plant trunked wet, height reaches 1.5 meters and the leaves are oval. The flowers is white like a cat's whiskers, the stems easily broken and square-shape. Orthosiphon aristatus usually grow wild in fields, riverbanks, or rather moist soil. This plant thrives to an altitude of 700 mdpl.

The orthosiphon aristatus tea to treat some diseases, and traditional recipes in Indonesia are as follows:

1. To treat urination. Prepare fresh leaves as many as a quarter of the handheld. Add 1 cup water, then boil for 15 minutes until water becomes half glass. Taken half a glass, 2 times a day.
2. To treat kidney stones. Provide herb plants whiskers cat 6 grams, herb leaves Phyllanthus Urinaria as many as 7 young trees. Put all the herbs into the water 150 ml, then heat for 15 minutes to become 100 ml. Taken 100 ml, 2 times a day.
3. For diabetes treatment. Provide 20 leaves of cat's whiskers, 20 leaves of Green chiretta(Andrographis paniculata). Add all herbs to 150 ml of water and heat for 15 minutes to 100 ml. This herb taken 100 ml per day.
4. To cure back pain. Provide a handful of fresh cat leaf whiskers, and Papaya stems 4 cm2. Add all herbs to 150 ml of water and heat for 15 minutes to 100 ml, then strain. Taken 100 ml per day.

Choose a herbal recipe, its not recommended to use all recipes at once. The benefit of a cat's whiskers depends on how to process them, especially when extraction by heating or making intravenous water. To make the infusa, the herb must boiled at 90-98 degrees for 15 minutes.

Avoid using herbal cat whiskers in patients with heart failure, kidney failure, because it can cause edema. Avoid using cat whiskers for long periods of time, and recommended to drink more than 2 liters of water per day.

Reference

• Kumis Kucing. Oleh Herawaty, Tety dan Ari Novianti (2006)
• Obat Herbal Asli Indonesia. Kemenkes RI 2011.
• Orthosiphon Aristatus, image courtesy of wikimedia commons.