Any Tea drinkers here?

Options
DarianDunn
DarianDunn Posts: 10
in Food and Nutrition
I am reading the benefits and have started drinking tea, but I am seeing contraditory information.

Is there a good source for health information about tea?

Where are the best sources for tea?
I like knowing what I am getting, caffene, antioxidents...
«134

Replies

  • mumblemagic
    mumblemagic Posts: 1,090 Member
    Options
    I drink loads of tea. I am british, so it has been built into my lifestyle since I was very small :)

    Caffeine levels in tea depend on which sub-species of tea plant it is, what the drying or oxidation process was, and how long you brew it. These vary from brand to brand and cup to cup, so it's very hard to get accurate estimates. The internet says there can be between 30 mg and 90 mg caffeine per cup in tea, compared with 80 mg upwards for coffee.

    There are some studies that suggest that tea has some health benefits but more research is needed in this area.
    http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/health-benefits-tea

    Google has a lot of information about tea:
    https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1KMZB_en-GBGB569GB569&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=caffeine+in+tea&spell=1



  • astridtheviking
    astridtheviking Posts: 113 Member
    Options
    Tea is like water, it just has plant leaves in it. There’s loads of contradictory information that says caffeine is bad, caffeine isn’t bad, tea is bad, tea isn’t bad... Do you like tea? Then drink tea. Do you hate it? Then don’t.

    The only important thing to note is that if you truly want any health benefits from tea (if you think that’s really a thing), brew it from loose-leaf, not a tea bag, which is the literal trash of loose-leaf tea. Learn about the process of how tea is prepared, and what the difference between white, green, and black tea is. Learn about how tea is dried, fermented, and oxidized. Drink high-quality tea, not the stuff you get in a grocery store. Go to a tea shop and ask for a crash course.

    To be honest, unless you’re guzzling four or more cups of tea a day, I wouldn’t really look at it as any serious source of health benefits. Drink it because you like it, not because some wacky doctor online says it lowered his cholesterol.
  • DarianDunn
    DarianDunn Posts: 10
    edited January 2015
    Options
    astridtheviking wrote: »
    Tea is like water, it just has plant leaves in it. There’s loads of contradictory information that says caffeine is bad, caffeine isn’t bad, tea is bad, tea isn’t bad... Do you like tea? Then drink tea. Do you hate it? Then don’t.

    You are right and that is what I am dealing with, but isn't that true of everything.

    It is not that I love tea, but I am giving up soda and giving up Tang/Cool Aid.
    I have marginally high blood pressure (prehypertension, not on meds).
    I have marginally high cholesterol (not on drugs....yet).
    And I am on a diet.

    If it helps a little on all the above….

    But I know enough to know I don’t know enough on this subject.

    I started off by stopping at Teavana. They are nice people, but pretty useless for anything more than pulling something off the shelf and running the cash register.

    I expect I will be drinking 4 or more cups a day.
    Currently drinking Silver Needle White Tea, but will stop shortly so the caffeine will not keep me up. This will make 5 cups for the day.

    During the work week, I was drinking Gingerbread Loose Leaf Black Tea at work. I "think" it was helping with controlling my appetite this week as I postponed lunch into very later afternoon. It definatly helped with my want of caffeine in the morning.

    So....can I do better with my choices of tea?
    Should I be doing green, Olong, Pur....?
    What is the best way to do decaff?

    I am currently using a coffee press. It seems to work. It is easy to clean. Is there a better method/tools?
  • rustypep
    rustypep Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    If you can tolerate green tea it has the fraction of the caffeine of black tea. The other option would be to brew it once and toss that batch and then brew a second cup with the same tea leaves. The majority of the caffeine is released in the first brew for both coffee and tea. I buy from teavana and drink green and blooming teas. I load up twice a year during their big sales. I use the same leaves 2-3 times. Drops the price per cup considerably. Just store in refrigerator between brews in a zip lock bag. I drink a cup and half of coffee and green tea each day. I use a half a tablespoon of rock sugar in my tea and a quarter cup of 1% milk in my coffee.
  • astridtheviking
    astridtheviking Posts: 113 Member
    Options
    Teavana can be a good place to start of a relatively blah one. It depends on how much the individuals know about their teas.

    I don’t think of tea as a significant source of caffeine - green tea has about a quarter what a cup of drip coffee does, and black about half. White tea has even less than green. If you’re substituting sugary drinks for tea, you’re going to see a big difference, and quickly - those sugary drinks are affecting your health so removing the offender is going to be the big player in reversing those problems. If tea is what helps you cut back and ensures you that there’s still something you can have at a restaurant, then it’s a totally awesome option.

    What you drink depends on your personal preference - you mainly want to experiment so you know what you like. Just like coffee, each variety has a different flavor. I keep a variety of teas in my cupboard. My staple is an imperial longjing “dragon well” green, but I also keep a genmaicha (puffed rice tea) rose tea, a couple of spiced “chai” teas, a christmas blend, and a few others. I like mainly green, white, and spiced tea, and I’m not so big on black or oolong teas - I don’t like the flavor the oxidization or fermentation gives them. What you’re drinking, silver needle, is an excellent tea.

    Coffee press is a workable method; I use a teapot with an infuser inset (you can get a cheap one online, forget teavana’s overpriced ones!), and a tea infuser spoon for single servings.

    I think you’ll find tea is super flexible and can better serve you than sodas can. If you want it sweet, try a chai with cream and sugar - again, forget the overpriced rock sugar they sell at Teavana! There’s nothing wrong with the store, but I find it’s overpriced on nearly everything. A great site to try a variety of teas and learn about them is adagio.com. I’ve never bought from them but they have pretty handy flavor profiles for everything and they’re affordable - my friends highly recommend it.
  • TrickyDisco
    TrickyDisco Posts: 2,869 Member
    Options
    A life-long tea drinker, I changed to drinking redbush tea (rooibos) a year or so ago and have found I prefer it, naturally sweeter taste as no tannins and apparently has a few health benefits too.
  • DarianDunn
    DarianDunn Posts: 10
    Options
    TrickyDisco wrote: »
    A life-long tea drinker, I changed to drinking redbush tea (rooibos) a year or so ago and have found I prefer it, naturally sweeter taste as no tannins and apparently has a few health benefits too.

    I have found no health benefits to rooibos. Am I missing something?

    I was drinking Blueberry Bliss Rooibos Tea in the evening and Peach something. Based on what I can tell the sweetness comes from the fruit in the mix.

    I don't know where to find a rooibos with no additional elements.
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
    Options
    I drink tons of tea, I grew up as a child drinking tea. It's just part of my routine, I don't do it for any benefit, if there is any...
  • bobbichristine
    bobbichristine Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    green tea has been proven to boost your metabolism! And as long as you aren't adding sugar, has no calories. I find no problems in it, and it tastes great. You can always squeeze some lemon in for sweetness if needed. (:
    The way it gets bad for you is when you are drinking it with sugar. Artificial sugar is not needed at ALL in your diet. It overload your liver, and makes you hold onto fat. Sugars that you get from fruits are all natural.
    So as long as you are good about it, it can be good for you, and a tasty alternative to water.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Options
    Tea is a beverage, no different than any other. Nothing magical about it.
  • jim_just_jim
    jim_just_jim Posts: 148 Member
    Options
    Sipping a hot berry pomegranate right now. Warms you up from the inside :)
  • SyntonicGarden
    SyntonicGarden Posts: 944 Member
    Options
    I brew tea in my coffee pot. I can use loose tea and a coffee filter, or I can just throw the tea bags in the basket. The lovely thing is that I have an entire pot of hot tea. As for the sources, it depends on what you're going for.

    Green teas can be picked up at a local Asian market, if you have one. The store by me usually has these metal tins that are pretty good and seemingly generic enough that I find the same tins in three different states, without fail.

    Blended teas can be picked up or ordered online from places like "The Tea Spot" or "David's" if you're in the US. I DO like Republic of Tea, but unless I get the 1lb bag, it's really pricey.

    If you need a stronger tea, Tetley has a nice British blend, that they make in a regular and a decaf. It's the closest, least cost prohibitive, comparable thing I've found to flavorful black teas in England. (British teas are awesome!)


    If you're just looking for other stuff to drink, I recommend getting a "Primo" brand seltzer maker. I think I picked mine up for $20 at Odd Lots... Big Lots (or one of those stores). The difference between the Primo and the ever popular Soda Stream, is that Primo cartridges can be refilled for $5 at most sporting good stores. I believe Soda Stream cartridges are proprietary and more expensive to fill.

    "Yeah, but seltzer is boring." Actually, there's a line of products that I've found and love. In my store, they're in the baking goods aisle. They're called "True Lemon," "True Lime," and "True Orange. No sugar, <1g carbs, and they're pretty potent little buggers, as far as adding flavor.
  • ravenribbs
    ravenribbs Posts: 288 Member
    Options
    I drink lots of tea--hot in the cold months, iced in hot weather. I really don't care about the caffeine or antioxidants or anything other than I like it. Tigersword is right--nothing magical about it. Now I'm a bad tea person.
  • fitgirlandfoodie
    fitgirlandfoodie Posts: 1,014 Member
    Options
    A mug of Lyons or Barrys tea in Ireland cures all ills. Fact. (and I drink about 8 mugs a day so I should have no ills...)
  • mmabry72
    mmabry72 Posts: 100 Member
    edited January 2015
    Options
    I used coffee to help me break the soda (pop in my part of the world) habit. Worked great but I drank coffee all day long 6-8 + cups. Started adding tea (hot and Ice) to my diet and now I am 100% off of pop and coffee. I’m not sure if it has a health benefit but its sure better than pop and even coffee I’m sure. I don't use milk or sweeteners either. Just straight up tea, both iced and hot.
    At home I use leafy green or black teas in an infuser. I even have some Chinese green tea that one of our salesman brought back from a his last trip over. but I am not a tea snob and I have boxes of lipton and generic tea bags at work to get me through the day. Again I hear the bags are garbage but its better than a pop, right.
    Good luck and enjoy your tea :)

  • mmabry72
    mmabry72 Posts: 100 Member
    Options
    I was worried about all the caffeine and I can't do decaf (I need some caffeine :))
    Plus I got tired of always making coffee in the break room. Whats up with people taking the last drop and not making new!
  • ravenribbs
    ravenribbs Posts: 288 Member
    Options
    mmabry72 wrote: »
    I was worried about all the caffeine and I can't do decaf (I need some caffeine :))
    Plus I got tired of always making coffee in the break room. Whats up with people taking the last drop and not making new!

  • ravenribbs
    ravenribbs Posts: 288 Member
    Options
    Oops.

    The same people who leave their bleeping dishes for others to wash.
  • CGreen177
    CGreen177 Posts: 45 Member
    edited January 2015
    Options
    I'm quite intolerant to tannins (in both tea and wine - although I try to overcome the latter), and Scottish (so I like VERY weak tea). So for me redbush tea is perfect. No tannin, no caffeine. Tastes great - especially if you like weak tea - and has antioxidants - whatever. I drink bucketloads of the stuff (generally in place of water, and more so when it gets cold!)

    Had my first cup of real tea in about 2 years over christmas ... ugh.
  • rustypep
    rustypep Posts: 31 Member
    Options
    I'll second dragon well. That is my primary tea along with Peach Momotaro. Tevana is pricey but their quality was better than some of the dragonwell I brought back from China. You just have to hit their 75% off sales. I have been using one of ther diffusers for five years at work. My favorite though is my Adagio Trinitea brewer at home. Good luck and I hope you find something you like.

Categories