A Spot of Tea

We keep reading about the studies proving the health benefits of tea drinking.There’s simply no denying that a daily spot of tea does the body good....even if it's only the fact that we relax and take time to sit down...in our busy lives. I’m sold on the fact that a few cups a day will do its best to protect me from heart disease, a stroke, cancer, and more.

Tea contains high levels of antioxidants.... all of which take on the “free radicals” in the body and prevent them from harming the healthy cells on board.
Sending in antioxidants is disease prevention in its finest form. Antioxidants are ready and waiting not only in teas but also in several fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, and even wines. Need I say more?

Questions we have about tea..is green better than black, is hot better than iced, is herb tea a real tea...and on and on. Higher quality teas may have more antioxidants than lower quality teas....White tea has more antioxidants than any other tea.... Green tea has more antioxidants than black tea since black tea goes through more processing..Freshly brewed teas have more antioxidants than instant or bottled teas...More researchers seem to agree that brewed (cold or hot) or caffeinated tea has more antioxidants than instant teas. What about decaffeinated teas? If you are someone like me...you can't tolerate caffeine. Here are some facts that I found about caffeine in tea.

Looking for a green tea vs coffee comparison?
If you’re only comparing caffeine levels, you can roughly estimate an exchange of
4 to 10 cups of green teas for 1 cup of coffee
2 to 5 cups of green teas for 1 cup of black tea
1 to 5 cups of green teas for 1 caffeinated soft drink

You can also change the rate of absorption of green tea caffeine by drinking your tea with meals and spreading your total intake out during the day. Drinking green tea with meals may also help you block cholesterol and fat.

Well, it all makes sense to me. Brewing some tea in a favorite old teapot, the antique teaball gets some use, I use filtered water, pick out a favorite teacup from the shelf on the wall, cut a slice of lemon studded with a couple of whole cloves, no sugar for me, no milk, just a wonderful tea from the glass canister on the counter. Holding that warm cup in my hands becomes a habit. Sipping tea and enjoying the simple pleasure of this wonderful ritual is something that we can do for ourselves.

Balisha