A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Coffee or Tea

This post isn't about herb gardening, but I always think of tea, when I am buying herbs. So many of the leaves can be used to steep a tea. Even the sage that I wrote about can be a tea.
I was sitting here this afternoon and thought that I would like some coffee. Hubby said he didn't want any and I hated to make a pot just for me. We do have a small pot, but the coffee doesn't taste as good to me. I decided to have some green tea. I have tea in the afternoon quite often, but when I want coffee...tea doesn't quite satisfy me. I have to drink decaf...both in coffee and tea. I decided to check out these beverages on the internet.Something new, to me, caught my eye. There are test strips to test your beverage for caffeine to insure that - if you MUST drink decaf - your cup really does contain "unleaded." I had to find out more. In case you don't know, decaffeinated beverages are not totally caffeine free. Under federal regulations in the U.S., caffeine levels have to be 2.5 percent of the product or lower in order for a product to be labeled "decaffeinated." Now, according to most sources, an 8 oz cup of regular drip coffee contains between 104-192 mg caffeine. Tea can run between 20-90 mg caffeine per 8 oz cup. What is being sold as decaf varies, too, but there was a study showing that your average restaurant "unleaded" can contain caffeine ranging from 8.6 milligrams to 13.9 milligrams, and Starbucks decaf espresso contained 3 mg to 15.8 mg of caffeine per cup.
Obviously if you have to cut caffeine out of your life entirely, drinking "decaf" won't do the trick. The article told about a D+Caf strip that tests for caffeine levels of less than 20mg per 6 oz cup. The article says that they tested using Millstone Hazelnut Cream, regular and decaffeinated, using the same amount of coffee / water and same brewing method. These little strips are something like a pregnancy test. It's either yes or no. So, if the little line on the left is all you see, then you're safely in the unleaded zone. If you see two lines, or one dark line on the right, you've got too much caffeine in your cup.
That is valuable info if you have a caffeine sensitivity like I do... and really REALLY need to know what you're drinking. I would like to see more precise information. These strips sound like a good idea to me. Some restaurants have decaf coffee that tastes so good...I often wonder, "Is that really decaf?"

Do you have a certain cup that you like to use for coffee and another for tea? I tend to go for a thick pottery cup for coffee and a clear glass cup for tea. I have had all kinds of coffee and tea pots. I guess my favorite would be one called Chemex. Known as a pristine coffeemaker, Its hourglass shaped flask is made entirely of glass. The Chemex has no moving parts and will work forever, unless it is dropped or in some other way demolished. Chemex filters are made of the highest quality filter paper. You would put a paper filter in the top of the hourglass and put your coffee in it. Then you would pour boiling water in...just to dampen the coffee. A couple of minutes later you pour the rest of the hot water in. It made excellent coffee. I think what I liked about it most was how cool it looked. It went by the wayside, when we got a fancy electric pot. Sure wish I had it now. Why do we always think that new products are better? Faster maybe...but not necessarily better.

Balisha

5 comments:

coolwaterworks said...

Hi Balisha,

Very informative post on coffee and tea... I am a coffee lover, and I too have a preffered mug... :)

Although I love coffee, I think I can say I am not yet an addict... :) Well, I don't really crave for it and I just drink coffee early in the morning at times for me to be alert...

Anonymous said...

I'm a mostly coffee drinker, although I do love a good cup of tea, too. :) I enjoy my coffee in a heavier, porcelain mug, and my tea in a china mug. Isn't that odd? As if coffee were the "tougher" drink. :)

Margie's Musings said...

Me too. I didn't drink it at all until they said it was healthy a couple of years back. I could go a lifetime wit out it.

Balisha said...

Hello Mark and Nancy,
it seems that we all have a favorite mug or cup. Tea does seem more delicate...hence the more delicate cup. I love the cups that they use in diners. The heavy white or beige porcelain mugs.
Margie,
I think that I could go without it too, but it is something that you can share with others and relax with.

OhioMom said...

For me it is coffee (2 cups) in the morning .. then tea the rest of the day. I like to grind up cloves to add to my tea in winter, or cinnamon ... very warming. I also buy loose bulk tea leaves, store it in a tin and the taste is far superior to the commercial bagged tea.

Great post!