Coffee 2 Tea

While there are thousands of different tea varieties, one tends to stand out as the most often quaffed.  While Earl Grey tea is popular around the world, the black tea from which Earl Grey is derived is the favorite amongst dozens of different cultures.  Earl Grey tea is standard black tea complete with the addition of bergamot oil, which gives the tea its natural citrus taste.  But black tea had been around for centuries upon centuries before the invention of Earl Grey tea.  While the exact location is not known, most speculate that black tea was first invented somewhere in ancient China, Mongolia, or Tibet.  The tea was renowned for retaining is flavor for several years, and was even used as a dye for clothing at some points throughout history.  Black tea accounts for more than 90% of all tea sold in the West.

While green tea has seen a revival in demand because of its renowned health benefits, black tea is still the choice of millions of people around the world.  In addition, black tea has a more distinct flavor and you can find premium discount tea due to its widespread availability. You can even find many tantalizing varieties of flavored black tea online or in your local grocery store.

Enjoying a hot, soothing beverage in the comfort of your own home can be just what the doctor called for. Spend a quiet evening sipping delicious tea and experience the magic of figuratively leaving everything behind. For a few moments, let your mind clear itself of all the day’s stresses. Close your eyes and inhale the fragrant aromas from your tea cup.

Let the soothing smell of tea infuse your senses with well-being. There is a wide selection of beverages to choose from that are sure to satisfy your discriminating tastes. You can get quality custom tea blends, gourmet chai in various flavors and combinations, fruit tisanes, and a whole lot more.

If you’re looking to branch out in your tea repertoire, try oolong tea. It is a traditional Chinese tea that’s somewhere between green and black in oxidation. It has a taste more akin to green tea, but lacks its grassy notes. It’s commonly brewed strong and has a bitterness that leaves a sweet aftertaste. In fact, oolong tea is unique in that high quality oolong can be brewed multiple times from the same leaves, and the flavor improves with reuse. Typically the third or fourth steeping is the best.

Oolong tea is often scented with jasmine flowers. A popular jasmine-scented tea is known as Dragon Pearls, which come rolled into tiny balls of leaves. When you add water to them, the pearls (or leaves) unroll. This is a fun way to make oolong tea, since it provides not only a delicious drink, but entertainment as well!

The study, which began in 1994, followed 40,530 adults, ranging in age from 40 to 79, in northeastern Japan for up to 11 years. Within this region, 80% of the population drinks green tea with more than half consuming at least 3 cups a day.

Compared with participants who consumed less than 1 cup of green tea per day, those drinking 5 or more cups a day had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes and, specifically, risk of death from CVD, with women receiving even stronger protection than men:

Only weak or neutral relationships were seen between black tea or oolong tea and all-cause or CVD mortality.

While this study found no cancer-preventive benefit from drinking green tea, other large studies, including a meta-analysis of 13 studies published July 2006 in Carcinogenesis (Sun CL et al), suggest that green tea reduces risk of breast cancer. In this study, compared to women who did not drink green tea, those consuming the most green tea were 22% less likely to develop breast cancer.

Often in studies, the effects of a certain health-promoting behavior are likely to be confounded by the fact that those who try to follow a healthy lifestyle practice a variety of healthy habits. In this study, however, since green tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in Japan, it is unlikely that study participants were choosing to drink green tea primarily for their health, and thus also unlikely that the significant drop in risk of death due to all causes and CVD was due to other habits related to health consciousness.

For more health related articles like these visit  http://www.whfoods.com

Many coffeehouses are now selling chai tea or chai lattes, but what is chai exactly? In many countries, chai is actually the word for tea. In the U.S., chai has become synonymous with masala chai, which is a beverage from the Indian subcontinent made by brewing tea with a mixture of spices and herbs. There is no set recipe for chai, but the spices usually consist of cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, pepper and ginger. Chai is usually served hot and sweet; the sweetness helps bring out the full flavors of the spices.

Chai tea can be brewed with black tea, the aforementioned spices, milk and sugar. It can also be found in prepackaged tea bags that are ready to brew. It’s also available as loose leaf and can be brewed with the help of a tea strainer. No matter how you drink chai, you’re sure to enjoy its sweet, distinct flavor – try a cup today!

Too Your Health

Well its not exactly an easy question to answer due to the huge variety of teas out there and how exactly you want to measure health benefits.

If we say the health score of a tea is based on its levels of antioxidants (flavinoids, catechins) then we could draw up the following table…

[1] Jasmine tea’s base is green tea and its total antioxidant content is boosted by the presence of jasmine.

[2] Although Rooibos isn’t of the same species and not strictly a tea it is commonly referred to as a tea. Now although many have claimed it has a higher antioxidant content than tea this isn’t true although it does contain a variety of unique antioxidants.

[3] The general consensus is that iced tea is the most heavily processed and thus least antioxidant rich of the teas. However, Lipton do claim that their tea with lemon contains an unusually high amount of flavinoids. How much we believe this is up to you.

(Hakim IA, Hartz V, Harris RB, Balentine D, Weisgerber UM, Graver E, Whitacre R, Alberts D. Reproducibility and relative validity of a questionnaire to assess intake of black tea polyphenols in epidemiological studies. Cancer Epidem Bio & Prev 2001; 10:667-78).

Antioxidant Activity of Black Tea vs. Green Tea (Ki Won Lee and Hyong Joo Lee) Department of Food Science and Technology School of Agricultural Biotechnology Seoul National University Suwon 441–744, Korea

There are six types of tea– Black, Green,White, Oolong and Scented and Compressed.

Black tea includes Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri form India: Ceylon and from Sri Lanaka; and keemun and Lapsang Souchong form China. Each has its own distinctive flavor and aroma. The leaves undergo four processing stages: withering (which happens when the leaves are laid out to dry), rolling, fermenting (a process that makes the leaves turn their familiar brownish color and imparts a healthy flavor), and drying. Darjeeling – considered to be the Premier of teas – is grown at varying altitudes in the Himalayas; the higher up it is grown, the lighter the tea. Especially prized by connoisseurs is the new season’s tea, the light and fragrant first flush Darjeeling, picked in April.

Green tea, which is paler and milder than black tea, was the first to be enjoyed throughout the world, but its popularity waned as peopled showed a preference for a stronger brew. There are only two processing stages involved in producing green tea: rolling and drying. Varieties include gunpowder form China and Matcha and Sencha from Japan.

White tea is produced in very small quantities in China and Sri Lanka and is available from specialist tea suppliers. A tea for the connoisseur.

Oolong tea is semi-fermented and is generally the most expensive type of tea. The best varieties are produced in Taiwan and include the exclusive Monkey picked.

Scented teas are made from green, oolong, or black tea flavored with fruits, herbs spices and flowers, such as roses, orchids, and jasmine.

Compressed teas are formed into ball, brick, hest, and cake shapes. These are produced in China.

Blended Teas

Blended teas have an important place in modern tea-drinking, particularly the English Breakfast tea blend. Originally a mix of black Indian and Chinese teas, today Assam, Ceylon, and African teas are blended to provide drinkers with the three elements they require – strength, flavour and colour. More exotic sounding is the blend of Chinese tea called Russian Caravan tea, which is named after the camel caravan that bought Chinese tea to Europe along the silk and spice trade route.

Earl Grey, so called after Charles, the second Earl Grey who was the Prime Minister of Britain between 1830 and 1834, is a popular blend. Made with Indian and Chinese teas, flavoured with bergamot oil, it is a refreshing tea, best served black or with lemon.

There are four key types of this beverage which are white tea, green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. One study out of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that drinking green tea can help abate esophageal cancer, while another from Pace University reveal that drinking black tea can help destroy oral viruses such as herpes, as well as prevent diarrhea, pneumonia, cystitis, and skin infections.

Many folks drink tea simply because it taste great, and not just for benefits. There are two main methods of brewing tea, loose leaf style, and by tea bag. But only one method will give you the ultimate tea flavor and benefits!

Most people brew their tea form a tea bag and remain unaware of the true way tea is meant to be enjoyed. Even drinking white and green teas that are in iced tea form in bottles sold in stores does not provide the same taste and benefits. The reason is because tea bags consist of fanning (or tea dust) which happens to be the lowest grading of tea. Loose leaf tea is the way to go; it offers more varieties and drinking pleasure over any tea bag! So brew it, sip it and enjoy it!