Hi everybody. My name is Jimmy and thank you for stopping by the very first Shui Tea video blog. You are here in my tea room, so you’ll see packaging behind me. There’s some chamomile drying in the corner, there’s a bag of hibiscus and cardamom over there, teas, tea samples all over the place. This is where the magic takes place. It’s about midnight, a few minutes to midnight, in Chicago. And I can’t sleep. Which is normal. So I thought, why throw myself out there and do my very first video blog about insomnia. I know a lot of people out there can’t sleep. Whether you’ve never gotten into a sleep cycle, sleep rhythm, or you drink too much caffeine during the day, or whatever. I’m guilty of all of that. I’ve found also, diet. If I’m active during the day and I’m not eating enough or I’m eating junk food, I can’t sleep. So end result, here I am. I can’t sleep. It’s been going on for awhile, probably since I was living abroad. All the hustle and bustle of living abroad, and my work schedule was crazy. It never really got better when I got back, but it’s fine. Some days I can sleep, some days I can’t. But I’ll stop talking about myself. First up, I am drinking a cup of Good in Bed. Here it is. This is one of my teas, so this is a shameless plug about it. It’s a blend of chamomile and a lot of other herbs and spices. If you don’t like chamomile, just pure chamomile, you might be able to check this out. There’s a lot other stuff, some citrus notes. Some people say it tastes like bubble gum. It’s one of the most loyal teas that I have. People buy, and they buy it regularly every month. People might not buy anything else, but they love good in bed. A customer’s grandmother has her order it for her every 6 weeks or so because she says she can’t sleep without it. So, here it is, cheers. It’s delicious, I love it, not a lot of people dislike it. Also, it’s great if you steep it in vodka. Not that I recommend everyone drink before bed but… great tea. Love it. Some other stuff that I do… if I can’t sleep and feel antsy, a lot of times I’ll get out of bed and go turn on the lights, and drink water. Maybe 3 or 4 full glasses of it. An obnoxious amount. I find that I get dehydrated a lot at the end of the day. Maybe I stop drinking water around 10, and when midnight comes around, when I’m trying to fall asleep, I’m totally dehydrated but I don’t realize it. My body’s all antsy and the water helps me relax a lot. Also, I’ve got keep my laptop, phone, iPad, all that, keep away from the bed. It’s so tempting if I don’t fall asleep right away to reach over and grab it, check my e-mail, read Wikipedia. Whatever it is, it’s a really bad habit, I’ve got to break it. I’m sure there are other people out there that have to also. But at the end of the day, there’s routines, there’s stress. I know, it’s hard to get a good night’s rest when you’re really busy. So, I do have a routine. If I absolutely cannot sleep, I make a hot toddy. Traditionally, a hot toddy is made with black tea and lemon along with some honey. Some people say it’s a cold remedy or a flu remedy. Some people said that their grandmother used to give them some hot water with a little bit of whiskey thrown in. I do add the bourbon. I’ve got it right here. You don’t need a giant jug of it, just a little bit. It does help smooth all the flavors together. It’s a great taste. I use Good Karma because it’s a blend of different spices. So this is shameless plug number two. It smells sort of like food, but the taste is very mild. The ginger and the cinnamon and everything else really bring it together. I actually am steeping this right now because I can’t sleep. I am needing this right now. Add it in whatever order you want. I have a sliver of lemon right here. If you have lime, that could taste fine. Orange I know tastes good, I’ve done it with that. If you have a carton of orange juice or the little plastic bottle of lemon, feel free to use that. You don’t need fresh fruit to do this. I will squeeze in a little bit of… well, I actually have agave nectar, but honey usually works better. Squeeze in a little of that, as much as you want. Then, everybody’s favorite, an ounce of the whiskey. That’s all it really takes, there’s no way to do it wrong. If you don’t drink, feel free to not add a full ounce, add only a few drops, whatever you want. I like the flavor of it, this doesn’t have an alcoholic burn or anything like that. I think the whiskey does help meld all the flavors together. But feel free to omit it if you’re not a fan. So here, cheers. I can gulp this thing down in 2 seconds, it’s really delicious. At least it hits my palate perfect. It’s warming, just all the way down. The tea is still hot, but the other ingredients cool it down a tiny bit, so it’s that perfect temperature. You brew Good Karma with boiling water, and the other ingredients do cool it down a little bit. I don’t have a routine because sometimes I have to stay up later, sometimes I get up early. I think I’ve trained my body that when this hits my lips, it’s time to fall asleep. Delicious, I love it. Thanks for checking out my first video blog about insomnia. Leave some comments. I’d like to hear what you do to help yourself when you can’t sleep. Or what you think of all of this. Links to my store are probably embedded. E-mail me if you have any questions and thanks for watching!