How to Make Delicious Iced Tea Using Gourmet Teas
According to the U.S. Tea Association, 85% of tea consumed in the US is iced. Unfortunately, the bulk of the iced tea consumed is made of low quality tea, such as the iced “tea” you find in fast food establishments. Their tea is often made of tea-flavored syrup. Many people also use low quality tea bags to make iced tea. However, you can make delicious, healthy, and original iced tea using whole leaf gourmet teas.
Iced tea is cold and refreshing on a hot summer day but it can also be a delicious, thirst-quenching way to enjoy your gourmet teas throughout the year. After all, it can get old drinking your gourmet teas hot all the time. Why not change it up on occasion by drinking your gourmet teas on ice? Not only is preparing iced gourmet tea fun, it is also a lot more flavorful and healthy for you.
7 Practical Ways to Use Tea for Diet
Weight loss has always been a challenge for a lot of women and even men. Tea is and has always been one of the best solutions for losing weight that we want to find practical ways to use tea for diet purposes. Since weight loss is our main concern let us take a look at how we can use tea to promote our weight loss plans and reach our weight goal in the process.
1. Drink tea pure. Drinking tea as plain as can be, no milk or sugar, will give you all the beneficial properties it contains in all its purity. Tea has been known to increase metabolic rate and burn fats in order to promote weight loss. If you would like to drink tea sweetened, use honey for its health benefits and enhance the tea’s properties.
2. Brew fresh tea leaves. Using tea leaves instead of processed tea bags in brewing your tea will supply you with a mega dose of catechins and polyphenols which you need to boost your metabolism and burn fats.
3. Drink tea daily. Three to four cups of tea a day is the recommended intake however you should take note that the more you increase your tea intake the more antioxidants will be available in your body to promote your weight loss.
Read more
Green Tea for Good Health?
Good health, fitness and weight loss? Green tea could be the answer you are looking for. For thousands of years it has been known to promote good health in nearly every possible way. Research has found time and again that it can lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease, fight cancer, boost immunity and give you great skin!
How is this possible you might ask? Well, research has shown that green tea burns more calories and is a powerful anti-oxidant. That it not only inhibits the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.
More importantly green tea is known to calm the mind. What could such a mind achieve? Anything! Think about it. We could set our minds on what we want to do and achieve it. Even if the day is hectic, one doesn’t feel it. You have the energy to finish all the office work, ordinary chores and go to the gym or for a long walk. A combination of the right food, right exercise and the right mind-set can achieve wonders. Any thing that one does is with the right focus and the results speak for themselves. The Zen monks call it mindfulness.
Wu Yi Tea’s Medicinal Value
Tea is one of the most consumed beverages next to water. It’s believed to have inherent medicinal value that other substitute drinks like coffee don’t have. Wu Yi Tea, also called Oolong Tea is a uniquely blended natural drink which was traditionally used by people of Asian origin, especially the Chinese and Japanese. It was very famous for its outstanding supplements and antioxidants. Its unique nutrients are believed to help in weight loss if drank regularly. Wu Yi Tea contains no calories, fats, chemicals and carbs but has a great taste and smell.
The health benefits of taking Wu Yi tea include helping burn cholesterol from the body which is a major cause of heart diseases like heart attacks. If taken15 minutes before consuming fattening carbs, it reduces the effects of insulin boost and thus can be consumed by people suffering from diabetics. Carbs that are usually converted to fats are blocked so that a person can consume fatty and starchy foods without adding on weight. It also suppresses ones appetite when at the same time moderating blood sugar levels. It also works as anti-ageing remedy by helping eliminate the radicals associated with aging and therefore delaying visible aging signs like wrinkles. It’s also believed to prolong the life span of the users.
Read more
Green Tea Benefits – A guide to the health benefits of Green Tea
Green tea has enjoyed considerable attention in western countries lately due to its claimed health properties. This attention doesn’t come as a surprise to people living in Asian countries like China and Japan who have been enjoying the benefits of green tea for more than 4000 years.
However many companies have recognised the interest in green tea health benefits and created a range of green tea related supplements. Sometimes these companies make unproven claims about the health benefits of their products.
How is green tea better than other types of tea?
There are 3 main types of tea:
* Black Tea – made by exposing the tea leaves to air, heat, crushing and light
* Green Tea – Leaves are steamed or heated quickly to stop them oxidizing
* Oolong Tea – This is in-between, is not processed for as long as black tea but more than green tea
Because Green Tea hasn’t oxidized as much as other teas and it’s subjected to less fermentation and processing it usually contains higher levels of antioxidants and other health giving properties. However there are different grades of green tea and the levels of antioxidants present in the finished product depend on how, where and when it was picked.
Wu Long Tea For Weight Loss
The Wulong tea for weight loss is a traditional Chinese tea which is somewhere between green and black tea and ranges from ten to seventy percent in oxidation. Polyphenol is a substance found in this tea which is believed to have a role in activating the enzymes in the body that breaks down body fat. Inside the molecule of polyphenols there are more than two phenol-based hydroxyl groups.
In Chinese, the word Wulong means “black dragon; several legends show the origin of this strange name. In one legend, the owner of a tea plantation scared away from his drying tea leaves by the appearance of a black snake; when he cautiously went back after a few days, the tea had been oxidized by the sun and gave and wonderful brew. Another tale tells a man named Wu Liang (later corrupted to Wu Long, Wulong) who found about WuLong tea accidentally when his attention was diverted by a deer after an exhausting day of picking tea, and he almost forgot about it that the tea had already started to oxidize. Others say that the tea is named “WuLong” because the leaves look like little black dragons that awaken when hot water is poured on them.
Japanese Organic Green Tea
Is Japanese organic green tea the best tea in the world? That might be a stretch but all in all it’s a great tea that will help your health. There are a couple Japanese organic green tea’s such as Tombo Tea – Sencha and Tombo Tea Genmai. One of the factors when considering organic green teas of any sort is finding out of they certified and actually organic and not just labeled organic.
Green tea has many benefits and just plain makes you feel good physically and mentally. I have been a fan of this type of tea all my life, it could be a coincidence but I never been to the doctor in my life, I guess a dentist won’t count. My eyes are fine which could be genetics and I have no heart problems. I’m not saying that this kind of tea is the cure all but it certainly does help.
The Secret Behind Gevalia Green Tea
The Gevalia Green Teas are known to be the “emeralds of the Orient” because of its uniquely smooth and delicate flavor. No other tea could equal the quality, which is complemented by its natural refreshing characteristics aside from being delicious in its own way.
Furthermore, these teas are not just for soothing the taste; they are also good source of antioxidants. These are the properties that the body needs to process and eliminate toxins. In fact, green tea is prized so high in the West because medical studies have proved that their high level can have a positive impact on the human body. And Gevalia is very careful not to destroy these properties with its green tea products.
Therefore, not like black teas, the leaves which are used to produce green tea are not allowed to oxidize. This preserves the pale green color, the distinctive flavor and the natural antioxidant properties. Gevalia always makes sure that the processing of this tea is all natural and no other substances are added. This delicate procedure preserves freshness and does not alter unique properties.
A Tempest in a Teapot – The Truth About High Tea and Low Tea
For most Americans, High Tea invokes images of a very formal occasion in the late afternoon. Hot tea being poured from an exquisite silver teapot into dainty china cups. Finger sandwiches and lavish desserts served from a 3-tiered platter.
Nothing could be more quintessentially English than High Tea. Just ask a Yank, right? Au contraire! Just ask a Brit. High Tea is nothing of the sort. In England High Tea has always been associated with members of the lower classes, not the elite.
In 1838 “a tempest in a teapot” came into use as an idiom indicating a major fuss over a trivial matter. Some might find this expression apropos when applied to what Yanks and Brits consider High Tea. Lest the topic becomes a source of contention between two allies, a lesson in history would be in order.
Dance the Cha-Cha – Drink the Chai Chai
Maybe some of you are reading about chai tea for the first time. We’ll approach the subject as if you were learning the steps to a Latin dance, the cha cha. The first thing an instructor might do is explain how the dance got its name. In the following paragraphs, I will do the same with this increasingly popular drink called chai tea.
Interestingly, chai tea is actually a tautological expression. Simply put, both tea and chai are exactly the same word, only spelled as written in different languages. To differentiate from other types of teas, we will use the term, chai tea, to mean a tea made with four ingredients. Essentially, those are tea, milk, and spices sweetened with either sugar or honey.
What we in the West call chai tea, those in the East call Masala chai. This beverage is extremely popular in southern Asia. In India it is sold in cafés and by street vendors called chai wallahs. These merchants even take their hot tea pots to businesses daily in late morning or mid-afternoon. Along with selling their beverage, chai wallahs also pass along the latest news and gossip.
