Johar Joshanda – very herbal, very strong #365

Johar Joshanda, aka “the Magic Tea” is my new favourite thing in the entire world. Really. Right this second, it might even be toppling Belle the iPhone off the list. Yes, I like it that much.

Anyone who has known me through a winter, be that in IRL, twitter, or here on Bright Meadow, will know that I have a tendency to suffer pretty horrible heavy colds. Not flu, but pretty damn close. With the coughing, and the sneezing, and the… tissues. Oh dear god, the tissues. When I get like this, I tend to shut myself in my room with boxes of tissues, lemsip, olbas oil, and every cold remedy known to man.

As an aside, how is it we can surgically reattach faces, beat cancer, and walk on the moon, but are unable to cure the common cold? I know the reasons they claim, but I reckon it is just a big conspiracy by the pharmaceutical companies. They’re making too much money off me from cold-relief medicine to release a one-shot vaccine which would end this misery.

But I ramble. Blame the cough medicine.

I was forced out of my plague pit yesterday by the fact I was running out of tissues and had no food in the house. Fortunately, there’s a handy asian market on the corner not 30 seconds from my front door, so I dragged on some clothes, stuck a hat on my head, hid behind a scarf, and shuffled off, praying all the while I would meet no one I knew. Basket filled with tissues, milk, cereal, cream crackers, and some toffee crisps (do I know how to party, or what?!) I made it to the counter. The nice man who runs the store knows me well enough after 3 years to say hello, how are you, but I we’re not what you would call close. Still, he takes one look at me and goes “Oh dear, you sick?”

I cough and nod. “Just a cold, but feeling rather nasty”. So, not my best line ever, but give me a break, I’m sick!

The Nice Man (forever more his name to me) turns his back and rummages under the counter, before passing me a packet with a furtive look. “Here, drink this. Very herbal, very strong”.

I must have looked a little… skeptical, because he repeats “Very herbal, very strong. Dissolve in hot water, drink, feel better”. And, I swear, he shoos me out the shop like a mother hen!

I get home, put my haul on the counter, and look at the shiny foil packet I have just been passed, and shrug, before reaching for the kettle. Hot water mixed with what looks like some Bisto gravy granules, gives a dark brown, not all-together-appealing looking drink. I can’t tell you if it has a smell because – duh, cold! Still, I sit back in my armchair, buried under blankets, sipping the tea, and I do some intrigued googling. Turns out this Johar Joshanda stuff is the Pakistani version of chicken soup.

And I think it works. I definitely feel more human today. Enough so that when I went back to the shop just now for some lunchtime samosas (they have the best samosas) the Nice Man looked at me, smiled, and said “more tea?”

(P.S., to all you who follow me on Twitter and Instagram and might think this picture looks very similar to one uploaded yesterday , I am not breaking my #365 rules, because this IS a new picture, it WAS taken today, and because I said so 😛 )

16 thoughts on “Johar Joshanda – very herbal, very strong #365

  1. What a nice story. When people go out of their way to be helpful and caring, it reassures me that humanity isn’t a lost cause. 🙂

  2. Had to cancel a few meetings because it just wasn’t good for client relations to see me looking like I do, but getting better, thanks!

  3. My wife swears by the stuff and has been taking it for years (Joshanda that is), however I’m somewhat rather dubious. After all its only herbal tea – how’s tea going fix my horrid cold?

    Anyway I’m currently suffering from the horrid cold and there’s no lemsip in the house so my wife says “I think we have some Joshanda in the cupboard”. So I rummage through the cupboard and find the box only to find the last packet. Being me, I read the box and the packet, it has writing on it, in both Urdu and English but no mention of “cold relief”. So I decide to google it on my iphone and as we’ll as the link above (smnabil), I also found this blog.

    So lets hope this stuff is really as good as they say! I certainly taste better than any medicine I’ve had in the past.

    x

  4. Happy that you found Joshanda. It was given to me under very similar circumstances. I was suffering from a cold but I was in a shop looking for fennel and cardamom seeds to make tea when the shopkeeper suggested Joshanda and I haven’t looked back. Unfortunately I have to go and get some this morning (sniff!).

    • Well fingers crossed it works its magic and you’re feeling better soon! (and welcome to Bright Meadow and the comments).

  5. Hi just googled this stuff as in Vages and my daughter hasn’t stopped coughing for the last four days(it’s giving me a headache so she must really be suffering) anyways coming home in a cab from the strip and our very nice Indian cab driver told me about this tea and also gave me one packet to try. However my husband work in the pharma industry for 20 years and thinks she shouldn’t take it! I too felt a little uncomfortable taking drugs from a strange man in Vages, all be it a very nice stranger. So does anyone have any good links for me to convince him different? And I also love the fact that there are good folk out there that will go out of their way to help a complete stranger 🙂

  6. Welcome to Bright Meadow and the comments Amanda. I do hope your daughter feels better soon – my first thought is if she’s been coughing that much for so long, see what the doctor has to say.

    As for whether she should take the tea or not, I am not qualified to say. It is simply a blend of herbs that have been traditionally used for a very long time to soothe coughs and colds, and I found it beneficial, much as you might hot honey and lemon tea, or ginger tea.The main Pakistani company that makes it is Qarshi, and they do a break down of the contents (in English) if you and your husband are curious. http://qarshi.com/Product/Johar-Joshanda.aspx The main ingredients are licorice, Malabar nut, hyssop, tea, peppermint, fennel and eucalyptus.

    I do want to repeat – I am NOT a medical professional. I am NOT a representative of the company. I AM a strange person on the internet. Googling this stuff will take you to legions of other strange people on the internet who swear by the stuff. But always go to a medical professional if in doubt 🙂

    • Joshanda is very good I give this to my 3 Year old when she not well . It’s brilliant. Would not of known about this until I went to Pakistan for 3 months. And new u can pickup easily around Asian shops in UK . I totally recommend.x

  7. Hi all

    I’ve been drinking joshanda for colds
    Ever since I was young (hardly surprising as I’m a Pakistani born and bred in London! Just want to add that the stuff works wonders and its all natural (I hope!).

    Actually am enjoying a hot cup of joshanda at the moment. I’ve been having it twice a day since yesterday and feeling much better already! If you’re not sure, just give it a try. You won’t be dissappointed!

  8. I have used this today for the first time and must say it works effectively. I would like to know the individual names of the herbs in JJ so that I may read about the herbs on Google.

  9. This stuff saved (half of ) my weekend from heavy-cold-misery. I went to get curry from http://www.thecurryqueen.co.uk/ in Cambridge last night and the (very attractive) young man realised I was at deaths door (possibly because I didn’t have the energy for outrageous and embarrassing flirting) and whipped me up a cup of this tea, and tucked a couple of spare sachets in the bottom of my take-away bag. So, now he’s my hero big-time, and I need to get a supply of this stuff for my medicine cupboard because I slept like a baby and woke up fever-and-sneeze-free. This is so much better than Beechams!!

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