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Frese’s Hamburg Tea

I don’t have an insertion for this because the box is still sealed and I was reluctant to open it. The product is supposed to be a ‘True Herbal Medicine’ for disorders of the Digestive System.  Regulates the bowels for constipation, headache, Indigestion, Dyspepsia, Biliousness, Blood and Skin Ailments. There are directions for use on the bottom of the box:
“Take one tablespoon full of Tea, pour on two or three cups full of boiling water, cover the vessel, and put it in a warm place to draw for about two or three hours, then pour it through a sieve or a piece of screen and give to a full grown person a cup full each in the morning and evening, children less in proportion.  Should this dose not prove sufficient to produce an opening of the bowels two or more times, augment the dose, according to circumstances and repeat every two hours until it has the desired effect.
NB—No tin or metal vessel should be used.”
The Frese family is listed in the genealogy of San Francisco as druggists and herbalists and Frese’s Hamburg Tea was manufactured in San Francisco first by Redington & Co and then by Coffin Redington Co. There is a heritage building in San Francisco built by this company and subsequently converted into residential lofts.
In 1877, the company won a suit in U.S. Circuit Court against a defendant over the use of the name, Frese’s Hamburg Tea.  The box prominently displays the words TRADE MARK and “Not genuine without Facsimile Signature [Emil Frese superimposed over Redington tea].
The “tea” was offered for sale in Germany and as a result of that we have from The Handbook of Secret Medicines by Wittstein, 1871, an analysis of the contents. Hamburg Tea contains 8 parts Senna, 3 parts Manna and 1 part Coriander.
Senna:  The sennas, is a large genus of around 250 species of flowering plants. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species reaching into temperate regions. Sennas act as purgatives and are similar to Aloe and Rhubarb.
Manna:  Manna is often used to refer to the secretions of various plants, especially of certain shrubs, particularly the sugars obtained by evaporating the sap of the Manna Ash.  The Manna Ash, native to southern Europe and southwest Asia, produces a blue-green sap with has medicinal value as a mild laxative, demulcent, and a weak expectorant.
Coriander:  Coriander is an annual herb also known as Chinese parsley or cilantro. Coriander has been used as a folk medicine for the relief of anxiety and insomnia in Iran. Coriander seeds are used in traditional Indian medicine as a diuretic.  In holistic and traditional medicine, it is used as a carminative [combats flatulence] and as a digestive aid.

I didn’t find anything in the tea to directly affect blood or skin but perhaps once your digestive troubles are cleared up, the other symptoms disappear.

2 Comments

  • I like this tea hamburg tea…Is it not good to slim belly?

  • Thank you for such a solution to clean our internal organs

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