Tea supremacy
What is there to expect from a bag of dry leaves and hot water? What makes this colorful peculiar drink so special it might leave us either fully relaxed or energized like coffee maniacs? Life on earth is full of mysteries, so lets unravel this one. I vote for the tea supremacy due to it’s incredible effects on the human body, tea serves you everything! Hot, cold, infused or in tea bags, as in all of the ways to consume the damn tea. The Chinese millions old drink which gathered lots of fans, it seems like a mixture of random herbs but do you know the goods and bads of the so called tea?
The thing is, depending on whether you have serious alterations in your body such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, among others. Our little watery dictator might actually be toxic for you when consumed in large quantities. So I know the taste is good and the flavor wonderful but be careful and consult your doctor before jumping into tea addiction.
Although there are bad stuff surrounding the consumption of tea in excess, there are even greater benefits when consumed in the right way. Specially when treating and preventing diseases for having anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-allergic, immunostimulants properties. That, of course, depending on the type of herbs you use.
Despite being a natural drink, it shows multiple antioxidant activities from it’s chemicals. Some herbs have phenolic acids and flavonoids, which turn to become responsible for the biological activities associated with it. In general, tea has many benefits including in day-to-day life. Although make sure to take a look at the contraindications of the herbs you’re using since some might be good for one thing like mint tea for flu but bad for other things like, don’t use mint tea if you have obstruction in the bile ducts.
Just some specifications on how to consume since you can always see the types of tea but not so much on how to make them: Infusions are made from hot water that after boiled, the fire must be turned off and the water added to the plants, fruits, grains or natural shells, then covered for 10 to 15 minutes. To consume the tea, it’s better to invest on the leaves of the chosen herb cause the nutrients are better preserved. But it’s important to not let the water boil since you can burn the herb, change the flavor and damage the properties less temperature resistant. And although leaves are good there are more practical ways to make tea such as tea bags, dust or capsules, even. They are good for cold weather, specially due to the spread of diseases, inflammations on the lungs and such. To conserve it, keep it for over 3 minutes after the infusion then save it in a glass jar on the fridge or in a thermal bottle to keep it intact for 24 hours.
Some good examples on the uses of tea for health are:
- ginger tea with lemon to combat flu, colds, coughs and sore throat.
- sage tea to relieve sinusitis, bronchitis and headaches.
- thyme tea being an aromatic herb it also has expectorant, antiseptic, antiviral, bronchodilators properties.
- the most common one green tea (camellia sinensis) helps in weight loss and it’s a liver detox enhancer. But beware on using it if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or have high blood pressure.
- hibiscus tea also for weight loss and it lowers blood pressure but must be consumed with caution.
- chamomile tea assist the belly and butt problems and pains, helps to sleep and prevents cracks in dry sensitive skin, it’s also antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and can be used to gargle in cases of mouth, gum and throat infections.
And that’s enough for today, otherwise I would have to write a whole book on it. Thanks for reading until here, I hope you learned something about the tea teacracy. Haha~