Tea: Steeped in Health Benefits

Teapot with a selection of teas: Dr. Weil's green, Twining's classic black teas, Tazo white, and Celestial Seasons

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Anonymous

Tea - cha in Mandarin and much of the world - is the most popular drink after water. Devotees (and there are many of them) insist that hot tea is the perfect drink since it cools you off during hot weather, and warms you up in cold. Or you can do the American thing and dump ice in your tea during the summer. In this post we are referring specifically to "regular" tea from the Camellia sinensis plant instead of herbal tea.

Tea contains 900+ chemicals, of which a multitude of benefits are associated:

• polyphenols (catechins) are the big daddy of positive health benefits in tea (catechins can be up to 30% of dry tea weight!)
• flavonoids are unique antioxidants (including potent ECGC) that help against free radicals that are associated with cancer, heart disease, and clogged arteries
• fluorine helps prevent cavities
• caffeine can help mental alertness (though there is less caffeine per cup than coffee) 
• no calories (as long as it is straight up, without milk or sweetener) 

Sound good? There's a huge variety of tea to choose from, but they are categorized by how they are processed. In order from the least processed and highest level of antioxidants (healthiest):

• White tea -  Unwilted and unoxidized
• Yellow tea -  Unwilted and unoxidized but allowed to yellow 
• Green tea - Wilted and unoxidized 
• Oolong tea - Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized 
• Black tea - Wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized  

Drink your tea! Besides being healthy, it is restorative and social. There's nothing like sharing a cuppa with other people. Just make sure you don't have it with milk or sweeteners. A study published in the European Heart Journal found that casein from milk binds catechins, most notably EGCG - the superstar of the flavonoids. (Yes, this made us very sad too because we love milk in tea. However, we stopped drinking it, so you can too!) If you love the creamy texture from milk, plant milks like soy and almond are fine since they don't contain caseins. We can't vouch for their flavor though - not that it's bad, we've just never had it.

Want decaf? Make sure it is decaffeinated using effervescence (natural process that retains 95% of polyphenols by using water and carbon dioxide) instead of ethyl acetate which retains only 30% if the polyphenols. Or decaffeinate your own, as Dr. Weil recommends by steeping a tea bag in boiling water for 45 seconds, pouring out the first infusion, and then steeping normally. It tastes the same, and reduces 80% of the caffeine.

What to do - Drink Tea

1. Try a variety of different teas and find a few that you like. Teas come infused with lots of different flavors and blends. There are fruity flavors, and there are blends like English Breakfast and Ceylon. White and green may be the most healthy, but if you don't like their flavor, stick with black (or red as it is known in China. Interesting fact - black tea is called black in the West due to the color of the leaves, but it is known as red in China since that is the color of the drink. Same thing, different focus.) There are an uncountable number of teas: Harney & Sons has delicious teas, as does Fortnum & Mason, and the Good Earth.
2. Boil water and steep your tea for 3-5 minutes. It's pretty easy! Some people think certain tea bags are carcinogenic (depends on the paper), so you may want to look out for the bag material. Otherwise you can use loose tea in a teaball or strain it. 
3. If you have never had tea, don't start a bad habit by adding sweetener or milk. If you take tea with either, consider cutting back on it until you have it plain. MindfulEats is not a fan of sweeteners, and milk reduces the health benefits. If you crave more flavor, try spicy blends like the Good Earth Original tea (thanks Brandi!).
4. Drink tea more often. Replace a cup of coffee with tea. Have it after dinner or for an afternoon break (like the British).

Want to learn more? We don't often recommend Wikipedia, but it's a good one. 

What I ate: 16 oz. green juice, 1 grapefruit, 1/2 c. brown rice + soy sauce + sesame oil, seaweed, 1 oz. salmon, 1 large latte, 1/2 c. cottage cheese, 1 coffee, 1 oz. pumpkin seeds, frisee + goat cheese + balsamic vinaigrette, dinner at Gusto (delicious): 1/2 c. bucatini and sardines, 1 slice white bread, 1/2 chocolate and caramel dessert, 45 oz. water

Exercise: 25 min whole-body lifting, 1 hour yoga