Echinacea Tea and the Bradford, VT Film Slam

Just a quick update this Tea Tuesday. If you like An Opportune Moment on facebook (see what I did there?) you know that a couple weekends ago I was in Bradford, Vermont for the 4th Annual Cohase 48-Hour Film Slam.

It’s one of two Vermont film slams my boyfriend, E, and I (and a group of our wonderful friends) compete in each year. I wrote about the other — The Green Mountain Film Festival’s 48-Hour Film Slam — back in March.

In case you’re wondering, a 48-hour film slam is when teams of intrepid filmmakers get together to write, shoot, edit, and screen an original film over the course of a weekend. According to the rules, every team must use a particular prop, location and line of dialogue in the film, and genres are drawn out of a hat at random. We made a superhero movie, which you can watch below:

But why am I talking about filmmaking on Tea Tuesday? Because I had a cold the weekend we were filming, and I spent most of the weekend guzzling echinacea tea.

Getting sick in the Fall is actually pretty typical of me, especially if I go to an event which involves long days, close quarters, and little sleep. I’m prone to stress colds, which meant that all through high school and college I’d get sick right at the start of the school year. Last Fall was amazing because I was traveling and although that can be stressful, I felt free and relieved in September for the first time in years.

Anyway, I felt like I was getting sick on Friday, so I picked up some echinacea tea at the grocery store to try to combat my cold. While studies about the health benefits of echinacea are inconclusive, it’s thought to support a healthy immune system, and personally, I find it hard to argue with the healing effects of a steaming cup of tea. At least in the sense that hot beverages can be soothing, calming, and help you flush out whatever ails you.

I wasn’t the only one at the film slam trying to stay healthy, so between E, myself, and the rest of our teammates, we drank almost an entire box of echinacea tea over the course of the weekend.

Some brands of echinacea tea can be a little bitter and licorice-tasting, but others have a stronger mint character. If the flavor skews bitter, I recommend adding honey, which is, of course, also good for you when you’re sick.

Despite feeling a little under the weather during the slam, we still managed to have quite a bit of fun.

Let me know what you think of our movie in the comments. Or, if you hated our movie and don’t want to hurt my feelings, let me know what kind of tea you drink when you’re feeling sick.