Tea and Pregnancy
Pregnancy by Ola Czechowska When I learned I was pregnant, the first thing I did was a little research to find out the things I should eliminate or reduce from my diet. Smoked fish, soft cheese, alcohol, and caffeine topped the list. I love smoked fish, soft cheese, and alcohol, but they’re not things I consume on a daily basis. Caffeine, however, is in something I love and consume daily: TEA! I’m hot, hungry, and tired all the time, and on top of that I’m not supposed to have tea!? Let me look into this a little further. The Yale University School of Medicine published the results of their research on maternal consumption of caffeine during pregnancy in 2003. The concern was that caffeine contributed to low birth weight, but the study determined that “[t]his small decrease in birth weight, observed for maternal caffeine consumption, is unlikely to be clinically important except for women consuming Three other things worth noting: Considering how much tea I drank pre-pregnancy, there’s a good chance that I was consuming around 600 mg of caffeine. So, I have drastically reduced the amount of tea I drink, but I’m relieved that I don’t need to complete eliminate it.
600 mg of caffeine daily (approximately six 10-ounce (1 ounce = 28.3 g) cups of coffee). ”
Posted by Rachel at Tuesday ~ October 02, 2007 | 5 Comments
Category: Herbal Tea, Black Tea, White Tea, Tea Facts, Tea, Health Benefits, Green Tea
…With Green Tea
A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine who imports tea handed me a bit of chocolate to taste. It was dark chocolate with green tea. Milk chocolate tends to overwhelm my tastebuds with sweetness, but dark chocolate has a more complex, interesting flavor. And this particular chocolate wasn’t made with green tea just to be cute or ride a trend, but rather I could actually taste the green tea. And, perhaps more interestingly, I could see the green tea. There were little twisted pieces of tea in the chocolate, and they created a nice crunch while eating the chocolate. I wish I knew what kind of chocolate it was, as I neglected to write down the name and haven’t touched base with my friend since then. Last night, I stopped by my favorite local eco-store. After I had already checked out, I spotted some organic dark chocolate with green tea made by Vivani. I picked up a bar and went back to the counter to make my purchase. It wasn’t long before I was unwrapping the chocolate to take a bite. The flavors were all there, but the crunch wasn’t. This was a different chocolate. Still, I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, this is really good stuff. And I like the company, too. According to their website, all of the ingredients they use are organic and purchased from Third World regions to promote small-scale farming and sustainable agricultural practices. They also have some interesting information about Catechins: CATECHINS protect the heart. Catechins belong to the flavonoid family – a group of biological pigments. They have strong antioxidant capabilities, which have more of an effect than Vitamin C and E. Catechins may help to protect against heart disease and cancer. Catechin content in mg: Neat, huh? Hurray for chocolate and green tea!
Catechins effectively catch free radicals and prevent deposits in the blood vessel walls*, regulate the blood pressure**, and stimulate the immune system.
The positive medicinal effects of Catechins are also found in green tea and red wine.
Dark chocolate (100 g)
53,3 mg
Milk chocolate (100 g)
15,9 mg
Green tea (1 cup)
ca. 25,8 mg
Posted by Rachel at Monday ~ October 01, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Health Benefits, Tea, Green Tea
The Green Tea & Citrus Martini
Let’s forget all the many health benefits of tea for a moment. Why not unwind with one of these cool, calming and citrusy (is that a word?) martinis. Yes it includes green tea, and these babies are popping up all over L.A., New York, and other trendy North American cities. So give it a shot, you might think of tea in a whole different light! Green Tea and Citrus Martini 1 ounce chilled Green Tea Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice, strain into a martini glass, and serve with a twist of lime!
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
2 ounces Citrus Vodka
Posted by CB at Thursday ~ March 15, 2007 | 1 Comment
Decaf your Own Tea
For some tea lovers having a cup is a two sided sword. One side filled with the elegant flavors and relaxing aromas and the other with caffeinated jitters. Personally I drink me tea in the morning to get a kick from the caffeine, but lots of people out there are sensitive to this stimulant. For those of you who want all the flavor without the jitters try this simple method to turn your caffeinated tea in to decaf. 1. Select tea you wish to drink, and steep it for 30 seconds in boiling water. 2. Take the wet leaves and steep in fresh boiled water. 3. Enjoy your newly decaf drink. This method will take away around 80% of the caffeine in your drink, which is also an excellent way to make tea at night if you get a craving and want to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Posted by CB at Thursday ~ March 15, 2007 | 4 Comments
Category: White Tea, Recipes, Tea Processing, Tea Facts, History of Tea, Green Tea, Tea, Health Benefits, Uncategorized
Read Tea Leaves
Tea has so many great attributes, everything from increasing mental ability to fighting off harmful bacteria. It doesn’t surprise me that tea has also been associated with mysticism. Looking in to the future by interpreting how tea leaves fall at the bottom of a steeped cup has been practiced by cultures in Asia, the Middle East and even ancient Greece. Each culture independently began engaging in tea leaf reading, which is known as tasseography. Well now you can give it a shot as well: 1. You make a cup of tea with loose tea leaves 2. Drink the tea, while making sure not to ingest the leaves. 3. Then comes the tricky part, letting your imagination spot symbolism in the way the tea leaves lie. Some symbols and their meanings aresnake (enmity or falsehood), spade (good fortune through industry), mountain (journey of hindrance), or house (change, success). A whole list of symbols and their meanings is available here. Vola, now hopefully you will be able to read the future! If you got the knack at reading the symbolism tell me what the heck is going on in the show LOST.
Posted by CB at Wednesday ~ March 14, 2007 | 1 Comment
Category: White Tea, Tea Facts, History of Tea, Green Tea, Uncategorized
The Great Debate: Tea vs. Coffee
Here is some more ammunition for this seemingly never-ending (but one-sided) battle. Everyone and their grandma know that coffee can provide you with a burst of energy. And drinking coffee before exercising can help energize you and contribute to burning more fat. Well as it turns out not only can tea do this, but it has been shown to be vastly more effective for fat loss! Research now shows that tea’s natural caffiene and antioxidants are amazing at promoting fat loss, due to the rise in body heat production. New evidence also suggests that tea can help protect lean muscle tissue and stabilize your blood sugar levels. To put it bluntly, tea is far mor effecient at stimulating fat burners than coffee. One more reason to drop that java in the morning and start steeping!
Posted by CB at Wednesday ~ March 14, 2007 | 1 Comment
Category: Tea Facts, Health Benefits, Green Tea, Uncategorized
Ever Wondered How Green Tea is Made?
This video shows each step in making green tea. Watching this video really gave me an appreciation on how much work goes in to a cup of tea.
Posted by CB at Saturday ~ March 03, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Tea Videos, Tea Processing, Tea Facts, Tea, Green Tea, Uncategorized
23 Reasons to Drink Tea
Posted by CB at Friday ~ March 02, 2007 | 5 Comments
Category: Tea Facts, White Tea, History of Tea, Health Benefits, Green Tea, Tea, Uncategorized
Bigelow Green Tea Review
I got this Bigelow green tea as a Christmas present from a well meaning gifter. The first thing you notice when you see the Bigelow tea container is how classy and clean the white tin container is. Once you open the container it has plastic pouches of four tea bags to preserve freshness I assume. Having run out of my normal green tea stash I broke in to this tin a few days ago, and haven’t been whole heartedly satisfied by the product. However I haven’t been disappointed by this tea either. The tea bags themselves seem to hold less leafy goodness than I’m used to, which causes the finished steep tea to lack some flavor and potency. The flavor itself its fairly typical run of the mill green tea. Nothing about this tea makes me hate it or love it, it doesn’t stand out for its flavor. if this tea was a cereal it might be a generic brand of cheerios. You know what you’re getting and it comes close to meeting expectations but something just isn’t there. I give Bigelow’s green tea a 6/10 Flavor- 6/10 Aroma- 4/10 Presentation- 8/10
Posted by CB at Wednesday ~ February 28, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Tea Reviews, Tea, Green Tea, Uncategorized
Green tea ‘can block cancer’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3125469.stm What better topic for a first post than an article about the miracles of our drink of choice. Ladies and gentleman, green tea can help block cancer. “Scientists already know that green tea contains anti-oxidants which may have a protective effect against cancer. But now they have discovered that chemicals in the tea also shut down a key molecule which can play a significant role in the development of cancer. “ In other news, green tea is now running for president, check the approval ratings!
Posted by CB at Monday ~ February 26, 2007 | No Comments
Category: Tea News, Health Benefits, Tea, Green Tea, Uncategorized