How much do you need?
Generally, studies show that drinking 2 or more cups a day of your favorite tea will ensure that you reap the rewards of its health-promoting properties. Since tea is a tasty and calorie-free beverage and is a good source of your daily water intake, it shouldn't be too hard to add it to your daily diet regimen. To get the maximum metabolism-increasing and antioxidant effects from green tea, researchers suggest 4 cups daily.How should you make it?
Some say the freshest and best quality tea is brewed from whole, loose leaves, rather than from tea bags. Whichever you prefer, the rules of brewing are the generally the same: Temperature: Bring water to a rapid boil for black tea to extract the full flavor. Green tea should be prepared with water that is just about to boil. Water temperature will drop rapidly, so bring your pot or cup to the stove and pour as quickly as possible.
Cover Your Cup: Whenever possible, if brewing tea by the cup, use the saucer to cover the cup and retain the heat. Watch the clock, not the color: Never brew tea by color if you want the perfect cup. Some teas brew light, others dark. Always brew by the clock - about three to five minutes. To make a stronger tea, increase the amount of tea used rather than lengthen the brewing time. Squeeze the bag: Tea leaves can absorb up to seven times their weight in water and compressing the bag enhances color and flavor of the tea. Give a gentle squeeze to the tea bag before removing from the cup.
How should you take it?
Tea can be served boiling hot or refreshingly cold over ice. It can also be enjoyed just as it is with no additions, or sweetened with sugar, artificial sweetener or honey. A squirt of lemon can add a tart, lively touch. In some cultures, milk is added to smooth the taste and produce a creamy effect. Just remember that adding milk and pure sugar adds calories! Sweeteners, milk and lemon do not, however, appear to affect antioxidant levels.
What are some other ways to make tea?
Iced tea: Boil a quart of water and add 5 orange pekoe tea bags tied together. Let the bags steep for at least an hour. Remove the tea bags and add two 2 cups of cold water. To sweeten, add ¾ cup sugar or artificial sweetener. Serve on the rocks with a lemon wedge and enjoy! Sun Tea: Fill a 1-gallon jug with cold water. Add 10 tea bags of your favorite flavor. Allow tea to steep in the sun for at least 5 hours. Sweeten if desired and serve over ice.
Are there other ways to get the benefits of green tea?
You can find green tea in a variety of forms like tablets, powder, liquid, tea bags and capsules. Studies show that capsules provide a more potent antioxidant effect than a cup of green tea. A typical dosage would be about 125-500mg a day.
All tea comes from the leaves of one plant, Camellia sinensis, which can be processed into many tea types including Black, Green and White. A tea's characteristics like color, body, flavor and aroma are determined by the region of the world in which it was grown. Teas are differentiated from one another based on the part of the plant they were taken from and how they were processed. In addition to teas made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, hot-water infusions made from a variety of herbs like chamomile, peppermint or cinnamon, are also called "tisanes" or "teas" but they are not considered true teas.
In addition to the antioxidant and insulin-enhancing properties of tea, which can help prevent many diseases, the different kinds of tea available have been shown to provide a number of health benefits specific to their composition. Although all teas share many of the same health benefits, some are better than others in certain functions. As you may be aware, there are many kinds of tea out there. Take a look below at some of the most common teas: black, green and white, to see how they can individually benefit you.
Trivia: Did you know that the American colonists tossed green tea into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party to protest British taxes? We'll bet that if they knew about green tea's antioxidant properties they would have thought twice! Green tea is another widely known and extremely studied form of tea. About 20% of tea consumed worldwide is green. Green tea has been used for thousands of years in Japan and China as both an enjoyable beverage as well as an herbal medicine. Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted to discover green tea's antioxidative effects - and recently researchers are finding that green tea can provide so much more! First of all, how does green tea differ from black tea? The leaves used to create black tea are fully oxidized, while those used to make green tea are lightly steamed before being dried. Green tea leaves are minimally fermented, which gives the tea a light color and a more delicate, fresh taste which can range from fragrant to very bold and vegetal.
Don't let the delicate nature of this beverage fool you. White tea is stronger than it looks and it provides its own special health benefits just like black and green tea. In tests done at Pace University in New York, researchers found that white tea was 10% more effective than green tea in inactivating viruses, bacteria and fungi responsible for streptococcus infections and pneumonia. While green tea stimulates the immune system to fight off disease, this study noted that white tea or white tea extract can actually destroy the organisms that cause the disease. Research also shows that white tea fights the bacteria that can cause cavities and yeast infections. Scientists believe that white tea contains more antioxidants than black or green because its leaves aren't fermented. White tea also contains less caffeine than green and black tea (about 15mg per serving). Some varieties of white tea include white peony, golden moon, silver needle and white cloud. White teas are produced mostly in China and Japan, but the Darjeeling region of India also produces some fine white teas.
