Tea is a drink that has been enjoyed some 4,000 years. It’s no surprise that the consumption of it has picked up a lot of rituals, traditions and even myths along the way. Take a minute to read about a few of them. You may be surprised in what you learn.
1.Herbal tea is tea.
There is one plant we get tea from — Camillia sinensis. Other herbs, spices or fruits are often blended with leaves from the Camillia sinensis plant, but herbal drinks are very often void of tea. Rooibos, chamomile, mint, hibiscus are just a few herbal blends that are commonly brewed by themselves without a trace of tea. What we know of as green, white, oolong or black teas all come from the Camillia sinenses plant and only differ in the way they are processed.
2.You can take the caffeine out of tea.
Not by yourself. Tea leaves naturally contain caffeine, but some believe that it can be removed by brewing the leaves once, throwing out the water and brewing again. The actual process of decaffeinating tea is much more of a chemistry project and uses a chemical CO2 wash. You merely succeed in washing away many of the healthful catechins and flavonoids when you steep and dump.
3. Adding things to your cup of tea masks the health benefits.
Not necessarily. Adding a slice of lemon or orange to your cuppa will actually help preserve the flavonoids (those compounds responsible for much of tea’s health benefits). And adding a dash of milk to your cup is still under debate. Only one study has shown that the proteins in milk bonded to the flavonoids in tea and it hasn’t been replicated. Meanwhile, another recent study from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that roughly the same amount of antioxidants were absorbed from a plain cup of tea as from a cup with milk added.
4. Tea doesn’t go bad.
Not true. Althoug it may retain some of its flavor when brewed after 6 months to a year, tea starts to lose some of its antioxidants over time. The best way to preserve it is to store it in a cool, dark cupboard in a sealed container. If it’s not consumed in a year’s time, throw it out.
5. Tea will make you lose weight.
Not in and of itself. If you are replacing your afternoon pick-me-up soda with a cup of tea instead, then you have certainly made the healthier choice. Tea has no calories if you don’t add milk or sugar and can give you the extra energy that you need to finish the day. It can even be used to replace a snack – choose a cup of Refreshing Raspberry instead of a kolache or Almond Biscotti Tea instead of a cookie to cut down on calories. As with most healthy choices though, drinking tea is an important part of a holistic, healthy lifestyle.
Get started brewing your own cup and put these myths to rest. What other tales have you heard about tea?