Tea

I am not sure if I could make it though a day without tea!

I read more and more about the health benefits of drinking tea which makes me feel better about my daily intake. 🙂

• Tea contains antioxidants which help boost your immune system and protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.
• Tea contains less caffeine than coffee.
• Drinking tea helps reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
• Tea helps prevent cancer.
• Tea is calorie free – woohoo, well it is until you add milk or sugar.
• It is said that tea helps increase your metabolism.

I stick to black tea for my daily consumption however I also thoroughly enjoy herbal and fruit infused teas.  There are many varieties of tea available today, some that are new to me and some that I grew up with.

Blooming Tea: Also called “garden in a pot”, blooming tea is actually a small bunch of dried tea leaves with a flower inside which are sewn together with cotton thread and shaped into a ball.  When the ball is placed in boiled water, the bunch opens and unfurls in a process that replicates a blooming flower.

White Tea: Gets its name from the silvery white hairs on the buds,  This tea is made from the immature tea leaves tat are picked shortly before the buds have fully opened and are unfermented and unprocessed, other than being steamed and then air dried

Black Tea: The most commonly used tea in the West, black tea is green tea with the leaves dried further, which changes the colour and flavour.  It is the most fermented all of all results, resulting in a strong taste and dark colour.

Oolong Tea: Sometimes called a blue tea, oolong tea undergoes a degree of fermentation that places it between the green and black tea varieties.

Pu-erh (Red) Tea: Is produced in the Yunnan providence of China.  This tea has much in common with wine as it is usually stored and aged, and them consumed several years after its production.

Fruit Tea: A combination of various fruits and berries, fruit teas are not true teas, but are known as tisanes.  High quality fruit teas are suitable for cooking with.

Herbal Tea: Also not derived from tea leaves, herbal teas are comprised of different herbs, flowers, roots or spices such as hibiscus or camomile and are caffeine free.

Green Tea: Is made from more mature tea leaves than white tea.  Green tea is dried or steamed and can be unfermented or lightly fermented, which accounts for its grassy, sweet, spinach taste.

Rooibos Tea: Harvested in the Cedarberg region, rooibos is rich in antioxidants and is not a true tea as it is a member of the Aspalathus plant group; it is rather a herbal infusion.  Completely pure and natural, it contains no additives, preservatives or colourants and can be stored for long periods without the taste or quality deteriorating.  Rooibos has a sweet, citrusy taste with natural honey notes.

Portions of today’s post were taken from the December 2010 issue of the Ideas magazine.