Two Cups and an Herbal.

I'm officially addicted. I can neither wake up, nor get to sleep without tea. 'Nuff said.

Cheers-
Teb

P.S. it being crunch time (of the semester) doesn't help.

I Feel Like

This.

The Onion does a great job satirizing the stereotypical tea drinker. I can't help but imagine myself in a pink bonnet with teddy bears throwing a tea party with tea made from 'pretty flowers'. But for many the high class aspect of tea is very appealing, particularly compared to the incredibly common, and hence mundane, coffee. Because tea is not incredibly ubiquitous in American society the 'classy' and 'British' stereotype is a draw for those looking to try something new, I know it was a pull for me, and it shows in my sign out.

Cheers-
Teb.

Just in time for cold weather: I love iced tea!

For someone living in Salt Lake City this post is totally out of season, but I've been drinking a lot of iced tea even as the seasons change and winter starts to arrive. Part of the appeal of iced tea for me is that it seems to go better with lunch and dinner meals then hot tea. I really can't explain why I don't like drinking hot drinks with my lunch or dinner, but love hot drinks late at night by themselves, or with desert, or at midday with crackers and cheese, but thats the way I am.

Iced tea can be brewed just the same as regular tea, then left too cool, or effectively watered down by adding the ice while the tea is still piping hot. Many iced tea brewers, though, will use the power of the sun to brew their tea, which allows you to make bigger batches, and an easier environment for experimentation with the flavor of your tea.

Whichever way you decide upon, iced tea is a great way to get your tea on in the hotter weather, or when you just don't want a hot drink.

Cheers -
Teb

Why I Drink 2: Flavor

The flavor of tea is obviously a huge factor in why anyone drinks, or doesn't drink, a specific tea but with such a wide swath of teas to choose from there is a flavor for nearly every pallet. Even without herbal teas we can find a huge variety within the true tea family, especially if we include flavored teas.

Black tea: dark and full bodied, black tea is an excellent breakfast drink. It tends to go nicely with eggs, bacon, and toast. A particularly popular version of this tea is Earl Grey which is black tea leaves and bergamot root. Black teas tend to go well with sugar and milk, but my personal favorite additions to a good black tea are lemon and honey.

Green tea: tends to be more bitter then black tea, and slightly lighter in flavor. A really good unflavored green tea should be drunk by itself, but depending on the addition flavors honey or sugar can make a good addition. Flavored green teas tend to reduce the bitterness of the tea by adding dried fruits and flowers and encouraging the addition of sugar or honey.

White tea: much lighter then either green or black tea, these teas are very often flavored because of how light the flavor of the tea is. These whimsical teas are usually excellent by themselves, and light enough not to need sugar or honey, because the flavor of the other ingredients shines through. A white Earl Grey might contain bergamot as well as vanilla to complement the light flavor.

Herbals: this category encompasses way too much to generalize about the flavors. From chamomile to peppermint, pine to citrus to African Rooibos. Just find one that smells appealing, and odds are it will taste just as appealing.

Cheers-
Teb

Tea, Disease, and H1N1

For ages people have been drinking tea to empower them during an illness. Not only does the caffeine help fight headaches, and give you the willpower to keep on keeping on, but many teas also have high antioxidant levels, and white tea has been shown to have antibacterial effects as well as be effective in preventing cancer. The heat of the tea can also help to open your airways, as well as soothe your throat as the drink coats it. Finally, herbal teas (without the caffeine diuretic) can help keep you hydrated.

But besides these normal effects, tea can be particularly effective in battling the biggest new flu on the block (swine flu/H1N1) . Because the H1N1 virus cannot live in your stomach, and because it often lives in your throat, gargling with warm salt water, or drinking hot drinks like tea can help loosen the mucus in your throat, and send the infected cells down to the uninhabitable stomach, helping keep your system swine flu free.

Cheers -
Teb

I Say Herbal You Say No Thanks

The title refers to this video . In honesty I disagree with this take on herbal tea, but unlike tea made from the tea tree I mostly enjoy herbal teas at night. The obvious reason for this is that tea is caffeinated and drinking caffeine right before you want to fall asleep tends not to work out for me.

Herbal teas can be made from a huge variety of plants, so vast that saying 'herbal tea' is close to saying 'a hot drink made by bathing some sort of leaves in water'. Some of the more popular herbal teas include chamomile, made from the chamomile flower, native to Egypt; Peppermint tea, made from peppermint leaves; Red teas are technically herbal as they are not made from the tea tree plant. There are thousands of others, and in fact making your own herbal tea is fairly easy!

So this MC may not love his herbal tea, but give me a chamomile late at night and I'll say "yes please"

Cheers - Teb

Why I Drink 1: Caffeine

This is to be the first post of a recurring theme here at the TTB: why I drink tea. I'm covering Caffeine first because its a big part of a lot of people's lives. Caffeine is a staple in both of the big morning drinks (the other being coffee), as well as in soda drinks. So what draws us to this particular chemical?

Caffeine can be found naturally in coffee, tea, guarana and various other plants. Discovered originally by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, it acts as a natural pesticide in plants. Human consumption of caffeine, however, dates back much further then this.

Caffeine in mild doses has a fairly wide variety of effects including increase alertness, and increased tolerance for labor (mental and physical) , and decreased drowsiness. Its easy to see with these effects why beverages which have caffeine naturally would be popular in breakfast drinks.

Cheers - Teb