Some time ago I was looking for an herbal tea that would increase Yang energy. I was hoping to use it in place of caffeine as a pick-me-up before workouts. Rockyn found a tea called Firestarter distributed by
www.CooksCorner.net I have tried it a few times now and thought I would comment on it to satisfy Rockyn’s curiosity and anyone else who might be interested.
The first time I tried it I made it way too strong and it tasted wretched. I think I put in about 3 times what I should have. The directions on the package were not very good and I believe you don’t need to infuse as much as they recommend. I’m not sure what it’s made of (looks like different kinds of bark thought the package says “leaves”) but there is strong herbal and cinnamon flavor. The taste is not as unpleasant when you use only a teaspoon or less but there is no way I would drink it for pleasure.
Taste aside, it certainly does what its name implies and I think it is a great substitute for caffeine though I’m not sure what would happen if one were to drink too much of it. I’ve tried it toward the end of the work day so I would have more energy to work out and it fits the bill perfectly. In fact the other day for the last hour of work I was pretty amped up and wanted to spar with someone, anyone, even though I had lowered the dose. After my workout that day I still felt as though I could lift a bus. I had this urge to jump up and try to grab things that were way out of my reach. I’m not sure I’ve felt that way since I was 13 or 14. It is phenomenal but I feel like if you had too much you could get violent or work out too hard and injure yourself. I suppose this is because an imbalance of yin-yang is created and I’m not sure that that’s a good thing to do very often.
The one possibly negative side effect is that it really heats you up, just as the name implies. Even at night when I go to bed I feel really warm, as if I’m radiating heat. It hasn’t interfered with my sleep though and the warmth can be nice as the weather gets colder here. Plus my extremities tend to be very cold and this seems to solve that problem.
All in all, I give it a big intense thumbs up and will continue with it on those days when I need to train and I’m feeling a little rundown. I might even try it when I’m catching a cold to see if it will help. Thanks Rockyn!
Treid Firestarter 
