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Tiny tea leaves boast big benefits.
What’s soothing, refreshing and, reportedly, better for you than broccoli?
Hot or cold, black or green, tea is fast becoming a universally preferred beverage—and for good reason. With more antioxidant properties than broccoli, carrots or vitamin E, tea not only tastes good, but it can have a positive impact on your health.
Tea drinking is a custom dating back to 2737 BC. Legend has it that Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, first discovered tea by accident, when a gust of wind deposited a few stray leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant into an open pot of boiling water. Soon recognized for its medicinal qualities, tea was used to treat everything from headaches to depression. Today’s research confirms what the Chinese discovered long ago. Studies indicate a correlation between the protective agents found in tea and a reduced risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, not to mention a host of other health benefits.
HOW TEA WORKS IN THE BODY
Tea is a plant product containing natural compounds called phytochemicals. Particularly significant are flavonoids and catechins which help prevent free radicals from damaging cells. Following are just a few of the many ways you can benefit from adding a cup of tea to your daily diet:
Fight cancer: The antioxidants contained in tea help the body ward off harmful free radicals which can lead to various cancers, particularly those involving the lungs, esophagus, prostate, colon and stomach. In addition, major compounds of tea are known to inhibit proteins which are associated with tumor growth and metastasis.
Prevent cardiovascular disease: Flavanoids in tea help prevent blood from clotting and decrease lipid oxidation, thus keeping arteries clear of harmful cholesterol buildup. Tea drinking has been proven to help lower blood pressure and improve blood vessel function, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. If you are taking a blood-thinning prescription such as Coumadin, consult your doctor about how much tea you should consume.
Preserve your memory: According to the Journal of Neuroscience, the antioxidant EGCG, found most abundantly in green tea, may prevent the buildup of plaque in the brain linked to the memory-robbing diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Protect teeth and strengthen bones: Tea contains fluoride that helps prevent tooth decay and the buildup of plaque. Polyphenols found in tea help increase bone density and prevent osteoporosis.
Improve digestion: Polyphenols in tea increase the flow of digestive juices, aiding your body in the digestion of fatty foods. The catechins in tea work as a sterilizing agent, killing germs and bacteria and helping to prevent food poisoning and stomach disease.
Look younger: Whether consumed as a beverage or applied topically, tea can help protect the skin, reducing the aging effects and skin cancer risk from sun exposure.
Lose weight: Early research indicates that drinking tea affects insulin activity, increasing energy expenditure and fat oxidation as well as overall metabolic rate. If you don’t add milk or sugar, tea is a calorie-free beverage.
Strengthen immune system: Researchers have discovered that a substance in tea, L-theanine, actually primes the immune system to fight bacteria and viruses. In a clinical trial, drinking tea was shown to increase levels of interferon, a protein produced in the body that boosts natural resistance to infection.
CHOOSE YOUR TEA
The three main types of tea manufactured are: green tea, black tea (often labeled as pekoe or orange pekoe), and oolong tea. The difference between them lies in how the leaves are processed. Black tea is produced by allowing the leaves to ferment before drying; oolong tea production involves partial fermentation; and green tea is not fermented at all.
The fermentation process activates the oxidation of catechins, converting them into secondary flavonoids, which are responsible for the rich color and flavor of black and oolong teas.
Because green tea is not fermented, the most significant catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), thought to be 100 times more powerful than vitamin C and 25 times more powerful than vitamin E, is more abundant. Therefore, some studies indicate that green tea offers the most benefits. However, recent research shows that, while their chemical structures are different, both black and green tea provide similar health benefits.
Scarcer and more expensive than traditional teas, white tea is similar to green in that it undergoes little processing and is not fermented. It has a lighter, sweeter flavor and contains less caffeine than other varieties.
If you are sensitive to the effects of caffeine, you can still get the benefits of tea with a decaffeinated brand. Decaffeinated tea contains fewer polyphenols than regular tea, but according to the Tea Council, it still provides significant antioxidant benefits.
Herbal teas are produced from other roots and flowers and are not really tea. However, many varieties of herbal tea have health benefits of their own.
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CUP OF TEA
To insure that you get all the benefits of the catechins and flavanoids in tea, drink it freshly brewed. (Bottled and instant teas have less of these healthy components, and there is no conclusive evidence that tea extracts or pills have the same benefits as drinking tea.)
TO BREW THE PERFECT CUP:
- Start with 3/4 of a level teaspoon of loose tea per 6 oz. of water or equivalent number of tea bags. (Use more or less, to taste.)
- Bring water to a rolling boil for approximately 10 seconds.
- Pour boiling water over the tea leaves.*
- Steep tea for a minimum of 5 full minutes, unless otherwise instructed based on the tea you have purchased or the recipe you are following.
- Remove the leaf from the tea liquor and enjoy!
*For green or white tea, allow the water to cool to 185 degrees before pouring over tea.
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
Recent studies conducted at both Harvard and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston concluded that even a single cup of tea a day could cut the risk of heart attack and stroke by 44 percent. Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that five servings of tea per day reduced LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 11.1 percent and total cholesterol by 6.5 percent. A large population-based case control study found that participants who drank three to five cups of tea per day significantly decreased their risk of colon, rectal and pancreatic cancer. The evidence is in. Add one to five cups of tea to your daily diet and drink to your health!
Tea RECIPES
GREEN TEA CONCENTRATE
Pour one cup of boiling water over three tea bags, let steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and squeeze out the tea bags. Refrigerate until ready to use. Add ²/³ cup of water to every ¹/³ cup of concentrate to reconstitute your tea; heat just until hot for hot tea, or add ice for iced tea.
For an antioxidant boost, add a little prepared concentrated green tea to your fruit smoothie in place of some of the liquid.
SOME LIKE IT HOT...
Cranberry Ginger Tea
2 tea bags • 2 cups hot water • ½ cup ginger, fresh and thinly sliced • ½ cup cranberries • ½ cup cranberry juice
Pinch of nutmeg
Steep tea, ginger and cranberries in water for 15 minutes.
Strain and add nutmeg and cranberry juice. Serve warm.
CAPPUTEANO
2 cups milk • 2 tea bags, black • 3 Tbs. brown sugar
Heat milk and sugar together in a saucepan, almost to boiling. Remove from heat and add tea bags.
Steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and serve.
HOT TEA PUNCH
6 cups water • ¾ cup sugar • 2 cinnamon sticks • 8 whole
cloves • 5 tea bags • 1½ cups orange juice • ¹/³ cup fresh lemon juice
Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in heavy large saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil 6 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add tea bags. Cover and let steep 10 minutes. Discard tea bags.
Add orange and lemon juices to punch. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Re-warm before continuing.) Using slotted spoon, remove whole spices. Serve hot.
SOME LIKE IT COLD...
Ginger Iced Tea
5 tea bags • 1-inch piece fresh ginger • Sugar to taste
Thinly slice ginger root and crush. Heat 1 quart of water and let tea steep with the ginger for at least 10 minutes.
Strain out tea and ginger slices and add sugar. Let cool and serve over ice.
Fit to a TEA
Vonna Caldwell knows a thing or two about tea. As owner and sole proprietor of Lil Peace of Heaven Tea Shop, Vonna has been serving up heavenly brews for four years out of her historic Port Royal home. Vonna opened Lil Peace of Heaven with a friend after both women lost their husbands around Christmas, 2001. Their shared grief brought them together to open the tea house, and they have been pleasing customers ever since.
Vonna was kind enough to provide us with this recipe for their Heavenly Cream Cheese Scones, an essential ingredient to a high tea.
3 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 stick of butter
4 oz. cream cheese
Mix flour and sugar, cut in the butter and cream cheese until coarse and crumbly. Add vanilla and buttermilk, stir until well blended. Turn out on a floured board and knead until easy to handle. Pat to a one-inch thick circle, cut with a one-inch biscuit cutter. Place on greased cookie sheet close together. Bake 10-15 minutes at 400º until lightly brown at the edges. Call A Lil Peace of Heaven Tea Shop at (843) 524-4832.
There are four many varieties of tea: white, green, black and oolong. The differences between them stem largely from how long the tea leaves are oxidized or fermented before they are dried out. White tea is not allowed to oxidize at all. This is accomplished by steaming or heating before the leaves are dried out. White tea uses both buds and leaves (which gives them their white appearance). Green tea is prepared in much the same way as white tea, but only the leaves of the tea plant are used. Oolong tea is allowed to partially oxidize by tossing the leaves in a basket to bruise the edges. This allows only enzymes from only part of the leaves to be exposed to the air. Fully oxidized tea is called black tea.
The most common tea in the West, black tea results when tea leaves are dried and then rolled up roughly, to create cracks where oxygen can soak through the leaf. They are then left to dry until they develop a deep black color.
