The Tea Scoop

Go Loco for Local

This weekend we finally managed our annual tradition of apple picking at Stribling Orchard.  We took my two nieces, aged 5 and nearly 8, who had a blast jumping up and trying to find the perfect apple.  Last night Mr. Tea Scoop baked two apple pies, and there is apple butter in our future. I also want to try dehydrating some apple pieces to flavor tea.  We bought 39 pounds of apples, so although we plan to share the wealth, there is still plenty of room for experimentation.  I also picked up some honey from their apiary, which we walked by as we picked. 

You hear a lot about going local these days, a difficult ideal to reconcile for tea drinkers, for whom our beverage must be imported over oceans, at least in the States.  (I can't bring myself to only drink American Classic for the rest of my life).  So, I try to do two things.  Buy as many other things local as I can, including the honey that I put in my tea, and support local small businesses as much as I can, like Old Town Coffee Tea and Spice in Alexandria.  When I bought the honey yesterday, I did both.  Plus, with honey there is an added benefit, supposedly. 

I suffer from allergies, like endless numbers of other people. For the pollen part of it, I've been hearing a lot about the benefits of consuming local honey.  The idea is that, like allergy shots, you are exposed to a small amount of allergen to build up your immunity. In addition, honey is said to be a natural immune booster. It sounds like a winning combination to me, but there are not many proven studies backing this up yet.  It is an idea that comes from holistic healing.  As for me, well I'm happy to experiment on myself, since I love honey, and consuming a little bit everyday certainly can't do me any harm.  Just a warning to anyone else: don't give honey to infants. Only one bacterium can survive in honey, but it can be harmful to babies.  

One more fun factoid before I go: honey lasts forever. Seriously. They've found honey in Egyptian tombs, and it's still edible.  It just crystallizes, which can be remedied by warming the container in hot water. Amazing! 

The History of Tea's Health Claims

Health claims have been made about tea from its earliest days in China and continue to this day. You can hardly search Google for tea without being inundated with ads for weight loss tea or teas that will cure cancer. However, as we have examined before, tea's effect on human health is still being studied. That didn't stop 17th century tea merchant Thomas Garawy from making a list of the "vertues" of tea in his advertisements. Some of his claims:

• "It maketh the body active and lusty."
• "It is very good against the Stone and Gravel, cleansing the Kidneys and Uriters, being drank with Virgins Honey instead of Sugar."
• "It prevents and cures Agues, Surfets and Feavers, by infusing a fit quantity of the Leaf, therby provoking a most gentle Vomit and breathing of the Pores, and hath been given with wonderful success."

Fortunately, tea has never provoked a "most gentle vomit" in my case.  But it just goes to show that health claims are frequently unfounded. 

(The list was found in Beatrice Hohenegger's Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West  Read her book for more of this lovely list along with a great deal of other interesting tea history). 

Healthy Hitting's 25 Reasons to Drink More Tea

As if we needed any reasons to drink more tea, the website Healthy Hitting has posted a list of 25 health reasons to drink more tea, with the studies to back it up.  Go to the website to read more about these studies, but here's the basic list

1. Breast Cancer
2. Esophogeal Cancer
3. Liver Cancer
4. Ovarian Cancer
5. Prostate Cancer
6. Reduce Existing Cancers
7. Stomach Cancer
8. Blood Pressure
9. Blood Pressure Health
10. Cholesterol
11. Heart Attack Risk
12. Recovery from Heart Attack of Stroke
13. Halitosis
14. Inhibits Growth of Peridontal Pathogens
15. Osteoporosis
16. Prevent Tooth Loss
17. Promote Bone Creation
18. Reduce Cavities
19. Immune System Boost
20. Increase Metabolism
21. Reduce Dementia Risk
22. Reduce Stomach Fat
23. Skin Care
24. Stop Bleeding
25. Ward Off Arthritis

While the statements in this article are not intended to prevent, treat, or cure disease, this may certainly give you something to think about while sipping your next cuppa!

Green Tea and Health

We've discussed tea and health on this blog before, but with more and more health claims coming out, I thought I'd do a little review, with some new information as well.  WebMD has an article discussing the specific studies about the health benefits of green tea, which is great for documenting all these things that people are saying, and sorting out what is and is not true about this much-lauded beverage.  

Here is what they have to say:

• Most of the studies about green tea and health have been conducted in the Eastern Hemisphere where green tea is a diet staple along with fish and soy protein. Lifestyle may make a big difference in these studies of cancer and heart disease.
• Green tea definitely has antioxidants, but it is still unclear how much must be consumed to make a difference. 
• It does appear that drinking two cups a day or more of green tea does inhibit cancer growth.  
• The jury is still out for green tea's effect on heart disease and weight loss. Limited studies indicate that green tea may be beneficial, but there is not enough evidence to be sure. Exercise is still the way to go.  
• The final recommendation? Drink as much green tea as you like. It won't hurt you, it might help you, and it certainly will work better than green tea supplements.  

L-Theanine

The health benefits of tea just get better and better. L-Theanine is a component in green tea that gives green tea its soothing quality despite the caffeine content. It is an amino acid, and is predominately found in tea leaves. Perfection!

This amino acid means that a cup of green tea can induce a mental state similar to that achieved through meditation, which is great for those of us who might have a little trouble focusing. This may even help with that focusing problem. This study proposes that this could be an alternative to Ritalin for both adults and children, assist in concentration and mental acuity, and treat PMS as well as helping to fight cancer.

I think this is research we can all get behind.

Yahoo! Tea Article

In reading the comments on the Yahoo article mentioned recently, it seemed that while many people were interested in the health benefits of green tea, there was also a lot of confusion about the best way to go about it. (For those who missed it, it was a list of seven reasons to drink green tea)

One of the questions was whether or not flavored (scented) teas had the same health benefits as the plain or unflavored varieties. The answer is: yes! If you love that citrus green tea, keep guzzling. It still has all those antioxidant properties. Plus, some elements used to flavor, such as orange, may add additional vitamins. Scented teas would be great for a lot of people who complained about the grassy flavor of green tea.

There was also a lot of discussion about bottled teas, and warnings that they contain high fructose corn syrup. This is certainly true, but those who desire the convenience of bottled teas need only look for unsweetened or diet versions. Honest Tea carries unsweetened varieties, while even Lipton’s (if you happen to like that brand) carries diet and unsweetened versions as well.

Many people were also concerned about the caffeine in green tea. Yes, green tea does contain caffeine. The amount is usually less than that in black tea and coffee, but for those who are sensitive, I would recommend a decaffeinated variety. I personally do respond to caffeine, but am not so sensitive that I cannot drink a cup of green tea and then go right to bed.

Hot or cold? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Both will give you the same health benefits! Same thing with decaf.

Any other questions? Feel free to leave a comment!

7 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

In case I hadn't stressed the benefits of tea as a health beverage, Yahoo! has Seven Reasons to Drink Green Tea on their food section. Get the details on why tea is good for skin, cancer, and mental health!

For more recent comments, click here

Peppermint Tea and Female Hirsutism

While still in the prelimary stages of research, a new study indicates that drinking spearmint tea may reduce hirsutism in women by decreasing the amount of testosterone in their system, as well as increasing the amount of estrogen. "The next step is to show the effect of spearmint tea on hirsutism scores of the women in a treatment period," Dr. Mehmet Numan Tamer said in an interview in Wednesday's Washington Post.

You can read the article here

The Spearmint Plant

Drink Those Veggies!

According to a recent article on CNN.com, drinking tea is as beneficial as eating vegetables. Why's that?

Tufts University professor of Nutrition Jeffrey Blumberg says, tea is a "a plant-based beverage. You put those leaves in water and you heat them up and what you're doing is extracting these phytonutrients that are very similar to those that you find in fruits and vegetables. It doesn't have some of the vitamins and minerals and the fiber that you find in fruits and vegetables, so it's not quite equivalent, but if we're looking at those phytochemicals, then boy, there's actually a fair amount in tea."

He does warn that research still needs to be done on claims that tea can help everything from osteoporosis to heart health, but still recommends tea as a healthy beverage, simply because it has zero calories if you don't add milk or sugar. And there is another reason not to add dairy. The European Heart Journal recently conducted a study that found tea diluted with milk had diluted health benefits as well.

More and more evidence is being found that tea is good for you. So take Blumberg's advice: "I tell people...if you don't drink tea, try it. Have a cup. I find it an aromatic and delicious drink. If you already drink a cup a day, consider having two. And so if you drink it frequently and consistently, that's where the benefits are seen."

Decaffeination Nation

There's a lot of controversy about caffeine. Is it good for you or bad for you? Well, I'm no doctor, so I'm not going to completely answer that question. Studies have shown results on both sides, and in moderation, it's probably not such a bad thing.

That being said, some people are sensitive to caffeine, other people might want to enjoy a nice cup of tea before bed without being up all night. But there are plenty of options out there.

Herbal infusions such as chamomile or rooibos are all naturally caffeine free, which is a smart choice. (Exception: infusions made from yerba mate do have naturally occurring caffeine, although they are herbal). For black tea lovers, look for a rooibos that mimics strong black tea taste. Trader Joe's Orange Spice Rooibos is a good option in terms of bagged teas. The Shaded Leaf offers a selection of flavored rooibos aimed at caffeine-avoiding black tea lovers. If you have an allergy to caffeine, this is the way to go.

Now, if you are just looking to cut back on caffeine, you have a few more options. Black tea has the most caffeine of all teas, then oolong, then green, then white. White tea is very low in caffeine, about equal to a cup of decaffeinated black tea.

When looking for decaffeinated tea, you want to look for tea that has been decaffeinated through CO2 decaffeination. It's a natural process involving washing, and therefore has no harmful impact on the environment, and it also leaves the health benefits intact.

Imagine this: you're up late in the middle of the week, and know you have to go to bed soon, but you really want a cup of tea to relax with. You open up the cupboard and see only black tea, full of caffeine. But do not despair! In a pinch, you can decaf your own leaves. What you say? Impossible?

While not perfect, you can use the following method to strip out enough caffeine that you can have your tea and sleep too.

1. Prepare your tea as usual, but only steep it for thirty seconds.
2. Pour out the liquor, but keep the leaves.
3. Steep the leaves a second time. The first steeping strips out about 85% of the caffeine in the tea, enough to make a difference.

Notes: This works better with loose leaf tea, as with bagged tea there may be some loss of flavor. This is not recommended for people who are caffeine sensitive.