What are the Remarkable Benefits of Drinking Tea?
November 29, 2010
People, since time immemorial, have been reaping the many remarkable benefits that one can get from drinking tea. In fact, various studies have already been conducted to find out just how beneficial teas can be to the human body, and these studies have given us a very good understanding how teas help us.
But what are these benefits exactly, and how can tea help us live a healthier life?
One of the many benefits that tea offers is that it has anti-aging properties, especially those teas made from the oolong tea leaves. Regularly drinking oolong tea decreases the rate of wrinkle formation, which is a mark of aging.
For a person who regularly suffers from allergies, it would be very beneficial for him to drink a regular cup of tea, especially green tea. It has been found out that green tea has antioxidant properties, and these antioxidant properties not only help in the prevention of cancer formation but it also plays a role in preventing an allergic attack by blocking a biochemical process. In fact, these studies have also shown that regular tea consumption is beneficial to patients suffering from common allergic attacks like pollen and dust allergy as well as pet dander allergy.
As to its anti-cancer property, countless researches have been conducted and have shown that regularly drinking tea may very well be one of the best anti-cancer routines that a person can have. It has been found out that both green teas as well as black teas have these anti-cancer properties, although green teas have much more anti-cancer properties than the black teas.
Drinking tea can also help you lose some weight by helping your body increase its metabolism rate which results in faster calorie burning. Aside from helping you lose weight, it is also good for the heart. Not only can drinking tea lower the bad cholesterol levels in your body, but it also has properties that can help in the prevention of blood clot formation. In the long run, drinking tea regularly will help you decrease your chances of suffering from a heart attack or a stroke.
Lastly, teas have properties that are very beneficial for your skeletal system. Not only can it help alleviate the inflammation around the joints, but it will also help make the joints more mobile and pain-free. Aside from this, regular consumption of tea also helps increased the bone mineral densities of your skeletal systems. Not only does this help you have healthier bones, but this will also make you less prone to diseases of the bone such as osteoporosis.
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Does decaf tea retain all the health benefits of caffeinated tea?
September 28, 2010
Mostly talking about black teas here, tea bags and loose.
Thanks!
Depending upon how it is decaffeinated, it can be good or bad. Most quality decaf teas retain about 90% of their antioxidants and other health benefits. You definitely want to go with the higher quality decaf black teas. Also, you might want to find out which tea companies use chemical processing and which use natural processing as it makes a difference. The more natural the processing used to decafinate the tea, the more health benefits that are retained.
Some teas are just naturally decaf and need no processing, and so they retain all of the health benefits inherent in the tea (white tea, green tea, etc.).
Which has more health benefits: Green tea or chai tea?
September 9, 2010
I tried chai tea the other day, and really like the taste (a lot more than green tea). I do usually have 2 to 4 cups of green tea a day.
Is one better than the other, or are they pretty much the same as far as health benefits go?
EGCG is a potent antioxidant
Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant found in green tea, is at least 100 more times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times more effective than vitamin E at protecting cells and DNA from damage believed to be linked to cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. This antioxidant has twice the benefits of resveratrol, found in red wine.
Special Benefits of Green Tea
* Reduces high blood pressure. Drinking green tea represses angiotensin II which leads to high blood pressure.
* Lowers blood sugar. Green tea polyphenols and polysaccharides are effective in lowering blood sugar.
* Fights cancer. There have been many studies that have shown that green tea catechins are effective at preventing cancer.
Green tea also boosts the immune system because of its high concentrations of polyphenols and flavenoids.
Source:
What are some good tea recipes.?
August 20, 2010
What are some good types (such as green tea) and brands of tea that taste good without puting in sweeteners or anything in the tea mix. Also what are some good tea recipes. Thanks and please comment your answers.
Matcha is heavenly if you can find it. (it’s rather expensive too) and eat them with daifuku, those little rice cakes that are usually pink or white and squishy. Here’s a recipe for daifuku and how to make matcha:
Ichigo daifuku (If you don’t like Bean paste, then use another filling. Jelly is delicious)
1 1/2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups of anko (sweet red bean paste)
About a dozen small to medium strawberries
Wax paper or a cutting board
katakuriko (potato starch though corn starch works too) for the cutting board
Mix the flour, water, and sugar in a pot. When it’s good and mixed, put the heat on as if you were trying to bring it to a boil. Cover. After a few minutes it will thicken alarmingly at the bottom. Stir it up, and keep stirring every minute or so until you have what looks like a pot full of white chewing gum. Take the pot off the heat and leave uncovered.
Flour your working surface with the potato starch, or if you don’t have that more rice flour, because this stuff is *sticky.* Using a wooden spoon or whatever, pull out globs of goo, about as much as you want to use for each daifuku (golf ball size is a good point to aim for, though it’ll be difficult to judge because of how stretchy it is) and set them on the potato starch. This will help them cool faster. Otherwise you’ll be waiting forever. The pot will keep a layer of the gluey stuff no matter how hard you scrape. Don’t worry about that, just set it aside to cool.
Wash the strawberries and cut the leaves off. Smear anko all over them. (The recipes I’ve seen show them rolled up in neat little anko balls. Hah! If anyone knows how to do this trick, tell me!) It doesn’t have to look pretty, as this will all be covered up.
When the dough is cool enough that you can work it without burning yourself, flour your fingers, then work the dough balls into rounds. It’s stretchy stuff, so this is easy. When you’ve got a good round place an anko-covered strawberry on it, then draw the dough up over the filling and pinch it together so it sticks. Pinch it all off and you have an ichigo daifuku! Resist the urge to eat it right there and make the rest.
Caution: don’t stretch the dough too thin. If you do, the thing won’t have much structural integrity and can tear.
Oh – remember the layer of crud in the pot? When it’s cool you can just peel it out and eat it, maybe even make another daifuku with it, although the texture will be a little weird. If there’s some papery stuff hardened on the sides, peel it off and eat it. It’s tasty
For the Matcha (non traditional preparation, for tradional you’d need to look up tea ceremony)
6 oz hot water
3 heaped teaspoons Matcha
Just whisk these together and drink. Very yummy.
I know that green tea is good for you and has lots of major health benefits, but what about chai tea?
August 20, 2010
Specifically chai latte? It’s just so good I can’t keep my hands off it. But is it good for you at all? Does it have any health benefits like green tea does?
First off, Chai is not a type of tea in the same way that green is.
Green, red, black tea all refer to the various oxidation stages of the leaves used.
Chai tea is tea (usually black, but not necessarily) to which spices and sugar and sometimes milk or creamer have been added.
Sometimes there is a fairly large amount of sugar/sweetener added to bring out the flavor, so you’ve lost some net health benefits there.
With a chai latte, you have quite a bit of sugar/sweetener and milk/creamer added, which I agree definitely tastes good, but the combination of the sweetener and creamer counts against you.
To summarize, it certainly won’t hurt you, but you’re getting alot o tasty but unhealthy additives along with the tea. You still have some of the anti-oxidant benefits that come with black tea. But you definitely don’t have the same health benefits that green tea offers.
My recommendation:
Have one every so often if you like them, but cultivating a taste for green tea would be better for you!
